by Ben Atlas on Mar 7, 2010 - 21:08
Burning of the Jews during the Black Death, Liber Chronicarum, 1493
Two Jewish treasures discovered in Colmar, Alsace region of France in the 19th century and recently in 1990s in Erfurt (former Eastern Germany) are on display in London at the Wallace Collection. The exhibition will be on the permanent display in the Old Synagogue of Erfurt, one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. Both treasures were hidden during the flight from the towns by the Jewish families. Guardian has a video review of the exhibition. Amazing jewelry and memory.
The Erfurt wedding ring with a bell inside. Many photographs show just the crown of this ring while the most unusual detail are the two folded hands on the bottom of the ring. The tops of the widow decorations are slightly bent inwards so a beautiful bride wouldn’t scratch herself. The stars form what appears to be a three-dimensional Star of David. I feel it is possible to imagine and bring to life the bride that was wearing the ring, bring back her flowing robes and her fleeting dreams. Hes sense of doubt and her generous acceptance. The fragrance and the love.
The image above is part of the Nuremberg Chronicle.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 16, 2010 - 17:42
I weep easily, but this film in Hebrew is just hard to describe. Half a century in half an hour. Lodz, Frankfurt, Auschwitz, Arkhangelsk, Samarkand, Tel Aviv, Rego Park, Paris, Sinai. This film is a heartbreaking masterpiece.
The fatal story of a family discovered with detective precision based on the photos found in a garbage container in Tel Aviv. The film is strikingly minimalist, yet hauntingly beautiful. The dramatic suspense of the biblical fate punctuating one family, one of many. The unsettling proximity of the tragic century (the video is slow to load but well worth it, pay no attention to the commercials): Ynet – תעלומה במכולה הירוקה
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 16:09
David Assaf quoted a lot from Avrom Ber Gotlober, I was looking for his books, till someone pointed to this link. For the reading convenience I converted the html into (PDF) זכרונות ומסעות – אברהם בר גוטלובר This has to be funniest quote in a long time:
ואין סתירה לזה במה שהחסידים מקללים ומגנים את כת שבתי צבי, שהרי כן גם הקראים מגנים את הצדוקים הקדמונים, אף-על-פי שאין ספק, שמהם יצא חוטרם, ונצרם משורשם פרה והרבה קיבלו מהם (כאשר דיברתי מזה באריכות בספרי ‘ביקורת לתולדות הקראים’). בעבור הדברים האלה היו נקראים בפי בעלי התלמוד הכשרים שומרי אמונים בשם חשודים, רוצה לומר חשודים לכת ש”צ. הרבנים בעלי התלמוד, תופשי התורה, שהתקוממו נגדם בראשית היוסדם, היו לרוב במדינת ליטה (כמו שיתבאר עוד לפנינו). בארץ ההיא לא יבדילו היהודים (כבני אפרים לפנים) בין ש ימנית לש שמאלית, ואת שתיהן יבטאו כהברת הס’, ובפרט ההמון הרב בכפרים ובערים הקטנות. וכשנתרבה המחלוקת היה כל העם מדבר מזה ונשמע על שפתם על הרוב השם חשודים אבל בהברה מוטעית חשודים או חסודים, וכשהגיעו הדברים למחוז והלין, פודוליה, גאליציה ופולין בכלל, אשר שם מבטאים היהודים הברת אוּ (שורק וקובוץ) דומה להברת אי (חירק) נעשה מן חסוּדים (ר”ל חשוּדים) חסידים. וחסידים ברנה יגילו, כי מן העז יצא מתוק ומתנגדיהם נתנו להם שם עולם לשבח, וקיימו וקיבלו השם הזה עליהם ועל זרעם
Still remember Musia/Mushka? I will be writing more about this book, it is easily the most important Jewish historical document in the last 200-300 years.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 15:12
But of course I am paraphrasing Solveichik. I met the Rov and I spoke to people who knew him much better, even his early students. The man had the worst social skills that one would expect from an odd genius in the midst of a grand cross cultural mix up. Some of his students still nurse the hurtful ridicule, the mean disdain of his teaching style reminiscent of the notorious European melamdim (this is basically a quote). So back to the loneliness, the social handicapped naturally not to be confused with the universal existential feeling of “the last man on earth”. It’s shared by every person of a minimal depth. But side from that Solveichik was surrounded by the like-minded community, even if they were not his match, they cared and honored him and even rewarded him financially. More importantly the Rov could lean on the centuries of like-minded thinkers.
Enter the Jews on the fringe. Not only there is a disdain from the community, often the lack of family support, but there there is no “institutional memory”. To be sure there been thousands of people who broke with the doctrinal Judaism before but the culture did its best to eradicate their memory, their books and their thoughts. I am amazed by the fact that the rejects have to blaze their own lonely path over and over again, where the trail have been already walked by the thousands. Some of the new blogs that pop up today are oblivious even to the work that was done on the forums less than ten years ago! The glorious literally legacy of maskillim, etc, erased from the cultural history. In short Soloveichik got nothing on that true loneliness.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 10:18
by Ben Atlas on Jan 8, 2010 - 10:31
The 1938 masterpiece by Sergei Eisenstein, music by Sergei Prokofiev. A prophecy about the German invasion. Wikipedia: “The film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by the Russian people, led by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky. It begins as the knights invade and conquer the city of Pskov with the help of the traitor Tverdilo and massacre its population. In the face of resistance by the boyars and merchants of Novgorod (urged on by the monk Ananias), Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod and in a decisive Battle of the Ice, on the surface of the frozen Lake Chudskoe.” The battle was on the 5th of April, 1242. ►►►read more
by Ben Atlas on Jan 2, 2010 - 17:21
Peter the Hermit shows the crusaders the way to Jerusalem. French illumination
So what was happening in the world almost exactly 1,000 years ago? As a rule one will find an intersection of pivotal conflicts at the center of a superpower of the time. In those days it was the Byzantium during the rule of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1056-1118). Alexios certainly a contender for political genius award. I call it Judo politics because Alexios managed a declining empire and he could only win the chess matches with his enemies or friends by using their own power against them, he was breathtakingly scheming. The half hour podcast by Lars Brownworth is simply superb. He describers Alexios struggles with the Normans, the Turks and the First Crusade (via 12byzantinerulers.com).
by Ben Atlas on Jan 1, 2010 - 12:30
Pope Paul II by Cristoforo dell'Altissimo
So I am hearing about all the “Tsars” in the Obama administration, what’s with the name and the authoritarian implications?
Let’s start from the pivotal time in history. Thomas Palaiologina (1409-1465) was a brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI (slaughtered by the Turks after the conquest of Constantinople). Thomas Palaiologina technically ruled over the Greek province of Morea and had the tile of “Despot” (not a bad name in those days). Thomas was eventually kicked out of Morea by the Turks and with his family found a refuge in the Papal Rome. He even converted to the Catholicism before his death. Zoe Palaiologina (1455-1503) was the daughter of the Despot Thomas. The Byzantine royal orphans, Zoe and her brothers, were looked after by the Pope Paul II.
Russia, at the time under the rule of Ivan III (Ivan the Great, 1440-1505), was emerging as a superpower. The Pope had a brilliant idea that proved to be the worst political move ever. In hope of bringing about the reunification of the Russian and the Catholic Churches, he sent Zoe Palaiologina to the widower Ivan III as a bride, together with the Cardinal Johannes Bessarion as a persuader. Ivan took Zoe as his wife and promptly discharged the Cardinal back to the Eternal City (Popes should stay the heck away from the matchmaking business).
Marble plaque with double-headed eagle in Mystras (birthplace of Zoe in Morea, Greece), marking the spot where the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI (Zoe's uncle), was crowned.
Zoe, who changed her name to Sophia while in Rome (Софья (Зоя) Палеолог), had an enormous influence on her husband and on the entire Mother Russia. She initiated Ivan III into the ceremonies and traditions of the Byzantine, more importantly she told him to have fewer consultations with his “parliament” of boyars. Zoe planted in Ivan’s head the idea of Russia as the Third Rome. This was the time when the Russian kings re-branded themselves as Tsars (Csar), a corruption of Caesar. Caesar was originally just the last name of Julius Caesar (ironically caesar being the Latin for hairy) but it became a royal title in the late Roman and Byzantine empires. The name Tsar in Kremlin was intended to solidify the symbolism of Russia as the Third Rome (same as the future German imperial Kaisar). The Double Headed Eagle, the ancient Byzantine symbol, was then introduced as the state seal.
Comrade Putin under the Double Headed Eagle
Ivan III groomed his grandson from his first marriage Dmitry to succeed him as the king. Zoe outmaneuvered Dmitry, convinced Ivan III to install their son Vassily as the Tsar (and had Dmitry and his mother imprisoned). Now, Vassily’s future son was the infamous Ivan the Terrible who was, if are you still following, the grandson of the Byzantine princess raised by the Pope.
At the time in Russia there was the Sect of Skhariya the Jew. Zacharia ben Ahron ha-Cohen from Lithuania was a scholar and translator of scripture who moved to Kiev and then to Novgorod (1470), he was successful in preaching Judaic religious and political concepts to the prominent church authorities and the feudal lords. His sect (Жидовствующие) had powerful patrons including the presumed future king Dmitry and even had the ear of Ivan the Great. (“…this heretical movement spread over Moscow. In 1480, even Ivan III himself invited a few prominent sectarians to visit the city. The Grand Prince’s seemingly strange behavior could be explained by the fact that he had greatly sympathized with heretics’ ideas of secularization and the struggle against feudal division. Thus, the Judaizers enjoyed the support of high-ranking officials, statesmen, merchants”). With the loss of protection from Dmitry, after Vassily’s succession, the Judaic sect was dismantled and some of the heretics burned at the stake (this incidentally might be a factor in the institutionalized monarchical antisemitism in Russia). It’s entirely in the realm of possibility, that if not for the intervention of the Pope’s gift of Zoe, Russia under Dmitry would have become a Judaic state (like the Khazars). Instead, contrary to the Papal political interests, the Great Matriarchy was strengthened as the ideological center of the Greek Orthodoxy and carried on the traditions of the fallen Byzantine Empire.
Zoe's grandson Ivan The Terrible
Back to the New World and the etymological somersault of the term Tsar in America, specifically the executive appointment of a “Drug Tsar” during the Reagan administration (1982). Naturally it made the perfect sense with Russia officially still “the evil empire”. And of course the logical “King” title is historically inappropriate in America. The throwback usage of the intimidating “Tsar” or “Csar” is understandable since the Ceasar(s) brand was relaunched in America as a casino chain, not to mention the crunchy salad that smells of garlic and the Parmesan cheese. The Ceasar(s) American undertone alludes to the hedonistic Rome, inviting the getaway good times and the carnival debauchery, rather than the overtone of the Tsarist, Kremlin-like domination. And the “Tsar” trademark is pretty safe, never to be confused with a salad. It’s like – “Can I have a little “Ivan the Terrible” with extra onions, cucumbers and the Italian dressing on the side?” Don’t think this will catch on.
by Ben Atlas on Dec 28, 2009 - 19:16
Paisij Velyckovs’ky (1722 -1792) was Ukrainian/ Moldovan/Romanian saint and an important figure in the Greek Orthodox monastic and mystical tradition. His autobiography was recentely translated from Ukrainian. He writes there that his maternal great – grandfather was “a famous and wealthy merchant of Jewish origins called Manja, who baptized in Poltava with his entire household.” Paisij Velyckovs’ky spent his formative years in Mount Athos, the independent monastic state in the Northern Greece. Paisij Velyckovs’ky is attributed with the revival of Greek Orthodox mystical tradition. And although women are not allowed to enter Mount Athos, the monks definitely had contacts with the Theesalonica Jews, just few decades after the Shabbatai Zevi. There is a footnote in the autobiography on page 106: “Through the 16th and 17th centuries the monasteries had to borrow money from the Jews of Theesalonica [to pay Turkish taxes]…” The church elders in Ukraine asked Paisij Velyckovs’ky to come back, to strengthen the monastic life there. I find it rather astonishing that Paisij Velyckovs’ky translated Philokalia into Russian simultaneously with the Chassidik eruption. The Saint Paisij Velyckovs’ky overlapped with both Baal Shem Tov and the Mezeritcher Maggid in terms of years and the direct geographic proximity.
by Ben Atlas on Dec 26, 2009 - 12:02
Following “the best documentary ever made” The Century of the Self, in 2007 Adam Curtis produced the three part BBC series The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom. The weakness and the strength of Adam Curtis is that he uses the broadest of the strokes. But he is the master of zeroing in on personalities pivotal for the history of ideas. In the third part of The Trap – We Will Force You To Be Free (Google Video) Adam Curtis describes the central ideological confrontation of the post WWII 20th century. On one side was Sir Isaiah Berlin who believed that the terror and the slaughter inevitable in revolutions should be avoided at all costs. Isaiah Berlin argued that a society without coercion, even if it negates progress and promotes inequality (welcome to America), is better than any progressive violent revolutions. On the other side was the inheritor of the French revolutionary tradition Jean-Paul Sartre who preached terror as just and required for progress. The idea was the underpinning of the African revolutionary Frantz Fanon, Yassir Arafat, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Ali Shariati and Ayatollah Khomeini and many “national liberation movements”. ( BTW, the description of the Lubavitcher Rebbe as existentialist is a severe misreading (The Rebbe and French Existentialism by Ephraim Rosenstein). Just the opposite is true (see my post The Offbeat Biography of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson). This is the classic case of confusion between the rhetoric and reality. The Rebbe for sure sided with his relative Isaiah Berlin, but his revolutionary rhetoric was just that. In fact the Rebbe never failed not take sides in any argument, let alone believed in the active and violent overthrows).
At the end of then film there is Tony Blair and the American neo-cons who imagine a revolution without a revolution, without the terror, etc., the position that proved to be unrealistic, especially in Iraq.
P.S. Today Slavoj Zizek is the most visible proponent of the violent revolutionary ethos (video Žižek on Robespierre and la Terreur).
by Ben Atlas on Dec 23, 2009 - 22:47
1902. Founders of the Jüdischer Verlag. Seated: Berthold Feiwel, Martin Buber, Standing: E. M. Lilien, Chaim Weizmann, and Davis Trietsch.
Gelman Library: “The Jüdischer Verlag was founded in Berlin months after Martin Buber demanded the establishment of a publishing house at the 5th Zionist Congress. It was designed to be a “central agency for the promotion of Jewish literature, art and scholarship.” During the more than three decades of its existence, it achieved most of its goals by publishing a broad variety of translations from Hebrew and Yiddish literature, scholarly works on Jewish issues, and a wide spectrum of German Jewish literature and Zionist ideology. Around the turn of the century, the illustrations of E.M. Lilien and Hermann Struck in the publications of the Jüdischer Verlag reflected the first attempts to make not only the contents but also the exterior of Jewish books more attractive. By the end of the Weimar period, bibliographic activities had become a distinct and well-organized field in the cultural landscape of German Jews.
Simon Dubnow
The Jüdischer Verlag was perhaps the greatest contributor to the formation of a full view of Jewish history and culture. It published both the Jüdische Lexicon and the Goldschmidt Talmud translation, the first complete German translation of the Babylonian Talmud that Lazarus Goldschmidt began around the turn of the century and finished in the Weimar period. The Jüdischer Verlag also produced the pioneering ten-volume World History of the Jewish People, by Russian-Jewish historian Simon Dubnow. Dubnow was living in Berlin from 1922-1933 and had originally written his oeuvre in Russian. However, it first appeared in its German translation by Dr. Ahron Steinberg. Steinberg also translated Dubnow’s most important Hebrew work, the two-volume history of Hassidism.”
by Ben Atlas on Dec 21, 2009 - 10:17
bibleplaces.com: “Expect a media frenzy with the timing of this story a few days ahead of Christmas. A minor sidenote: this discovery should put to rest the theory of at least person who has claimed that since Nazareth is mentioned in the first century only in the New Testament, the city did not exist at that time. It is true that Nazareth is not mentioned in Josephus and other contemporary sources, but that is only an indication of how insignificant the town was.”
Israel Antiquities Authority – A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth.More about the house in the AP Article, especially on the configuration of the house-grotto as a hiding place for the Jews from the Romans.
