European Judaism

The major part of this issue is the end result of a conversation that began two years ago with Dr Beniamino Fortis. I had contacted him with a view to the possibility of publishing papers from a conference on the Venice Ghetto. When it was clear that they were no longer available, he raised the idea of organising papers based on his own research area at the Selma Stern Zentrum für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg related to modern Jewish philosophy and aesthetics, as well as in the field of Jewish-Christian relations at the Seminar für Katholische Theologie der Freien Universität Berlin under the direction of Professor Rainer Kampling. Since both of these areas are firmly within the remit of the journal, I was happy to invite him to edit a collection of papers which reaches its final form here as ‘Relation in Judaism – Judaism in Relation’. He introduces it as well as contributing his own article, ‘Idolatry and Relation: Martin Buber's View’. I would like to express my gratitude for the work he has undertaken in conceiving, inviting and editing the collection.

The close connection between Judaism and the notion of ‘relation’ can be appreciated by considering two essays by Martin Buber. In the first essay, he presents Judaism as constantly wavering between a condition of separation and a striving for unity. In the second essay, this Jewish polarity extends also to humankind in general, thanks to the paradigmatic meaning Buber recognises in Judaism.

In a brief passage from the third part of Ich und Du, Buber expounds his conception of idolatry as an objectifying disposition that contradicts the relational nature of an authentic religious act. I will show that the main categories of Buber's thought – that is, the Grundworte ‘ich-du’ and ‘ich-es’ – provide the theoretical coordinates through which Buber understands the antithesis between authentic religion and idolatry as one between relationality and its opposite.

This article analyses the different modes of relation that are exhibited in the work of Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995). Starting with the thesis that there is no single definition of relation as such in Levinas's thought, the article focuses, first, on his early work, On Escape (1935), Time and the Other (1947), Existence and Existents (1947) and the captivity notebooks (Carnets de captivité), and elaborates the relation between the I and the Other against the background of his notions of fecundity and eros. The notion of subjectivity is consequently presented in its relationship to the face and the infinite, highlighting an ethical mode of relation between the subject and the Other. Finally, Levinas's Talmudic readings are taken to motivate the messianic mode of relation – opening up, in the conclusion, a new approach to the Other from the perspective of a messianic subjectivity.

The Jewish-Christian dialogue has a dynamic, ongoing character, which impacts greatly not only on the relations between the two faith communities, but also on the self-reflection of each community itself (Kampling).

Considered from a political point of view, moreover, the Jewish-Christian dialogue is characterised by a structural asymmetry, which has at least three underlying reasons: (1) the numerical imbalance between Christian and Jewish communities; (2) the different ways Christianity and Judaism perceive each other; and (3) the different roles assumed by Christianity and Judaism throughout history (Ben Johanan).

Interfaith controversies and disputes regarding the role of reason in interpreting the Scriptures characterised scholarly discussion in the Low Countries between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Jewish author Abraham Gómez Silveira contributed to this discussion with an eclectic body of literature. This article focuses on his Libro Mudo (Mute Book), which embodies his efforts to present the Jewish religion as the only rational one and the Christian dogma as irrational. In order to corroborate his reading, Silveira mostly bases his argumentation on non-Jewish texts. By selecting passages from the New Testaments, Christian religious commentaries as well as Qur'anic excerpts, Silveira aims to demonstrate that even non-Jewish sources prove the rationality of the Jewish theological system. The novelty of Silveira's approach consists in confuting Christian dogma by accepting the Gospels as reliable historical sources. In this argumentative structure, the Qur'an has a similar although not identical function.

This article focuses on a rabbinic controversy between the Greek Jewish scholar Elijah Mizrah_.i and his Iberian colleague Jacob Ibn Ḥabib in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The case at hand concerned specific legal questions regarding levirate marriage. These had become particularly difficult with the involvement of converts, posing fundamental questions about Jewish group affiliation. Analysing the related but contrasting legal opinions of Mizrah_.i and Ibn Ḥabib, I suggest distinguishing between an intellectual approach and a traditionalist approach to answering these questions. Whereas earlier scholarship has attributed the scholars’ diverging conclusions mainly to their different cultural backgrounds, I argue that Mizraḥi and Ibn Ḥabib chose different lines of reasoning for strategic reasons, grounded in their particular political situations.

How does the increasing diversification of both the Jewish and general population in Germany influence Jewish self-positioning in German society? It seems that especially young Jews no longer perceive themselves in a binary relationship to the majority society alone, but as part of a heterogeneous, post-migrant society. The journal Jalta – Positionen zur jüdischen Gegenwart [Yalta – Positions on the Jewish Present], published between 2017 and 2020, served as an important mouthpiece for the young generation's rage and desires. This study identifies and expounds upon three sets of relationships within German society that Jalta wishes to redefine: relationships within Jewish communities, relationships between Jews and the majority society, and relationships of Jews to other minorities.

This article explores complementary dimensions of Jewish diversity in Israel. In the past two decades Jews have evolved in polarising directions: whereas the fringes of ultra-Orthodox and the secular widened, the traditional middle narrowed. Within each sector, religious identification across an individual's life cycle is dynamic, with the ultra-Orthodox and religious bolstering their religiosity and the secular and traditional moving away from any religious patterns. Alongside some significant differences among the religious sectors in attitudes and behaviours, such as the importance of being Jewish or the observance of ongoing rituals, there are broad consensuses on matters of belonging to the Jewish people, the importance of remembering the Holocaust, and the celebration of the major Jewish holidays. Still, Israeli society sees disagreements over values and institutions that the state should maintain, and over tension between Judaism and democracy. The discussion assesses differences in religious identity between Israel and Europe and the implications of this for European Jewry.

Since the world wars, the pandemic, Covid-19, may be the first crisis to engulf us globally, but others, particularly climate change, threaten. What is the role of faith communities and the potential for ethical action for each of us as individuals? How might our theological understanding affect our decisions? This article, which is partly autobiographical, raises issues of time, truth and understanding.

The rabbis considered that a ‘pathology of speech’ in humans brought about the Biblical Flood. Lockdown has reminded us of new threats to our future. In the language of science, positivist certainties have given way to quantum probabilities, often expressed reductively as data. The data-driven society maintains the illusion of individual freedom, while concentrating power in the hands of the few, subjecting the diversity of the many to a standardised norm. The sages also sought to apply a single rule for all, but honoured diversity by training in the art of making careful distinctions. Recent neurological research views the brain as formed by the bodily needs of survival and the common culture of the group. The evolution of language is better understood as the application of conceptual metaphor to the governance of individual and community. This fits well with the rabbis’ understanding of how the misuse of language endangers our collective well-being.

This obituary was first published in the London Jewish Chronicle, 11 August 2022

Rabbi Dow Marmur was one of the G'dolim, the Greats of his generation. Since his generation was that of the Shoah, his defiant determination, scholarship and humanity is an astonishing testimony to the rabbinic and human spirit.

Prof. Dr Peter von der Osten-Sacken is one of the important post-Shoah German theologians who gave many impulses for new paradigms of Christian-Jewish relations in Germany. With his theological work he laid the foundation of a fundamental critique and the redefinition of a Protestant theology in the face of Judaism.