Books by Gabi Abramac
Book Chapters by Gabi Abramac
Approaching Pilgrimage: Methodological Issues Involved in Researching Routes, Sites, and Practices, 2023
In: Being a Refugee. A European Narrative. Eds. Anisa Hasanhodžić, Rifet Rustemović, Heidemarie Uhl. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History., 2018
The evacuation to El Shatt represents an important, yet largely forgotten, collective experience ... more The evacuation to El Shatt represents an important, yet largely forgotten, collective experience in modern Dalmatian history. The oral testimonies I have drawn on for this chapter offer profound insights into the experience of being a refugee, of being in exile and of encountering various losses. They also provide instructive accounts of the ways in which the refugees’ social, cultural, and religious life in the camp was organized on a daily basis, and the systematic indoctrination of the camp’s inhabitants with socialist ideology. Drawing on the notion that remembering trauma is integral to public pedagogy, I have assumed that storytelling makes a crucial contribution in this context. In this discussion, I draw on literature, archival records, autobiographical memoirs, my own ethnographic fieldwork observations, and oral histories that I have gathered and analyzed to bring the memory of the El Shatt refugee camp alive.
Papers by Gabi Abramac
Journal of Jewish Languages, 2019
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992) seeks to protect and promote regio... more The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992) seeks to protect and promote regional and minority languages in Europe. The objectives and principles defined by the Charter include the recognition of regional and minority languages as cultural assets. The Charter also commits the signatories to promote the study of, and research on, regional and minority languages. Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Charter in 2005 and officially ratified it in 2010, applying it to seventeen regional and minority languages including Ladino and Yiddish. This paper examines the disparity between the obligations entered into and the actual state of affairs. It also investigates the linguistic repertoire and language ideologies of the Jewish community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the extent and nature of its interest in revitalizing Ladino.
”What’s up with WhatsApp in the Haredi World?”, in Pirc, T. (ed.), Conflict and Transformation, A priori, Ljubljana –Gornja Radgona, Slovenia, 2015, 153-169.
Haredi (pl. Haredim) is a Hebrew word that means ”God-fearing”. It denotes ultra-orthodox Jews wh... more Haredi (pl. Haredim) is a Hebrew word that means ”God-fearing”. It denotes ultra-orthodox Jews who follow a devout lifestyle according to the collective body of Jewish religious laws. Haredim live in a self-imposed exclusion from the modern, secular world. Haredi leaders fiercely discourage the use of the Internet and smart phones. Religious authorities have warned that "He who stumbles into the Internet loses his eyes, heart and feelings toward all that is holy" and "users have no place in the next world"1. Nonetheless, as the Internet is recognized as a useful business tool, the use of filtered Internet access is approved. Hence, kosher Internet filters are advocated and kosher phones are available for purchase. Significant number or Haredim have resorted to the use of use WhatsApp smart phone messenger, as an alternative to online social media networks which they are supposed to completely avoid. However, in February 2014, Der Blat, a Yiddish-language newspaper published by Satmar Hasidim in Brooklyn, reported that rabbis overseeing divorces say that WhatsApp is “the No. 1 cause of destruction of Jewish homes and business”. Through the synthesis of data obtained through narrative interviews, ethnographic research, discourse analysis of Haredi WhatsApp groups, and textual analysis of online content related to the topic, this paper looks into the transformative effect that digital technologies are having in contemporary Haredi society.
Cuando en el año 586 antes de Cristo los Babilonios pusieron fin a la independencia judía, el heb... more Cuando en el año 586 antes de Cristo los Babilonios pusieron fin a la independencia judía, el hebreo como lengua del uso cotidiano de los Judíos fue sustituido por el arameo. El Alejandro Magno, 260 años después, conquistó el Oriente Próximo y lo puso bajo el control griego. Después de eso los Judíos se servían del griego para propósitos administrativos, del hebreo para los rituales, y del arameo para el comercio y la legislación. El hebreo desapareció como lengua del uso cotidiano y permaneció como lengua de los textos sagrados.
Un Judío medio en la diáspora siempre ha sido expuesto al alfabetismo básico en hebreo. Eso era la parte central de la educación judía durante más de dos mil años. Cabe destacar que se trataba en realidad sólo del alfabetismo básico.
El hebreo obtuvo una nueva función ideológica en la segunda mitad del siglo 19 a través del movimiento sionista. El movimiento sionista era un movimiento político y nacionalista que abogaba por el establecimiento de un estado judío. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, considerado el iniciador del renacimiento del idioma hebreo hablado, vinculó la idea del sionismo con la idea de la revitalización del idioma, y sugirió el desarrollo del hebreo en Israel.
Hoy en día el hebreo es la lengua oficial de Israel, aunque en 1880 no tenía ni uno solo hablante nativo. La revitalización del hebreo es sin duda un fenómeno único en la historia humana. Sin embargo, los Judíos ultra-ortodoxos de Europa Oriental nunca han aceptado la idea del sionismo y de la revitalización de la lengua hebrea. Ellos consideraban que Israel era un país secular que alejaría a los Judíos de la fe. Esta ponencia representa los resultados de las investigaciones sociolingüísticas, realizadas en las comunidades ultra-ortodoxas en Nueva York entre los años 2012 y 2014, donde el objeto de la investigación era la actitud hacia el sionismo, hacia el estado de Israel y hacia el hebreo moderno.
Centar Zagreber yidish-krayz za učenje jidiša osnovan je 2014. godine u Zagrebu. Klub organizira ... more Centar Zagreber yidish-krayz za učenje jidiša osnovan je 2014. godine u Zagrebu. Klub organizira tečajeve jidiša, predavanja iz kulture, povijesti i tradicije aškenaskih Židova te književni klub. Premda status jidiša danas možemo svrstati u različite kategorije te ga možemo nazivati mrtvim jezikom, ugroženim jezikom ili jezikom u procvatu – ovisno u geografskoj lokaciji i zajednici koju razmatramo, to je jezik koji hrvatski Židovi više ne rabe. Točnije rečeno, jidiš nije nikada bio primarni jezik aškenaskih zajednica koje su živjele u Hrvatskoj prije Drugoga svjetskog rata. Međutim,
nedvojbeno je bio vernakular određenih obitelji i zajednica, bio je nasljedni
jezik te izvor mnogih posuđenica kojima su se hrvatski aškenaski Židovi koristili u svojemu razgovornom jeziku. Zagreber yidish-krayz pokušaj je oživljavanja jidiša koji rabi teoretski i metodološki okvir lingvistike oživljavanja jezika (engl. revival linguistics), nove lingvističke discipline i paradigme koju je predložio Ghil’ad Zuckermann. Ovaj rad predstavlja osnovne koncepte lingvistike oživljavanja jezika i razmatra njezinu praktičnu primjenu kroz analizu slučaja Zagreber yidish-krayza. U ovom se istraživanju analiziraju mogućnosti i ograničenja oživljavanja jednoga
židovskog jezika u hrvatskome kontekstu, profili učenika te reakcije javnosti na taj jedinstveni projekt.
Proceedings of the International Conference COMUNICATION, CULTURE, CREATION: NEW SCIENTIFIC PARADIGMS, 2015
Hasidic Judaism was founded in the 18th century Eastern Europe by Rabbi Yisroel Ben Eliezer – the... more Hasidic Judaism was founded in the 18th century Eastern Europe by Rabbi Yisroel Ben Eliezer – the Baal Shem Tov. According to Mintz, (1968: 26), ”the core of Hasidic faith has been said to consist in their belief that the presence of God permeates and sustains all living matter and in the intense enthusiasm that they impart to their every action.” By the 1830s Hasidism spread throughout Ukraine, Galicia, central Poland, and there were Hasidic Jews in Belarus, Hungary and Romania. Satmar is a Hasidic sect that originated in Satu Mare in Romania, where it was founded by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum. The Hasidim of Satu Mare lived in a pious community, with a unique social structure, with their own customs, sartorial norms, and they spoke Yiddish as their vernacular. Yiddish or mame-loshn, as its speakers refer to it, was the language of the Ashkenazic Jewry which gained its own sacred status in the Hasidic movement. In the aftermath of WWII, Satmar Hasidim settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and recreated their communities on the American soil, becoming one of the largest Hasidic movements in the world. The transplanted Satu Mare shtetl has retained the customs, social structure and the language of di alte haym. The sociolinguistic field-work conducted in this community from August 2012 to November 2013, describes acquisition, use and maintenance of Yiddish, English and the Holy Tongue.
The aim of this paper is to describe interlaced cultural and linguistic patterns in the ultra-Ort... more The aim of this paper is to describe interlaced cultural and linguistic patterns in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in New York City and in upstate New York. Even though these groups live in metropolitan New York, they are very insular and stringent in fending off external influences and very little research in the field of sociolinguistics has been carried out among them. The findings in this paper are based on the research which was carried out in 2012 and 2013 in Hasidic boroughs of Brooklyn, as well as in Hasidic enclaves in upstate New York. This study examines socio-economic and religious context, as well as political ideologies which govern the life in Haredi communities - shaping and influencing, therefore, their language choice and linguistic policy. The languages used in Hassidic communities are: Yiddish as the vernacular, Loshn Koydesh (Hebrew-Aramaic conglomerate used in prayers and religious study), English – necessary for communication with the outside world and other ancestral languages from Europe (e.g. Hungarian, Russian).
Linguistic prescriptivism addresses socially proper, correct and desirable language use. This pap... more Linguistic prescriptivism addresses socially proper, correct and desirable language use. This paper examines linguistic prescriptivism and planning for Yiddish-speaking Hasidic children in terms of Shmiras HaLashon (avoidance of gossip and other forms of harmful speech, literally ‘guarding the tongue') policy. LashonHara (‘evil tongue’) is a Halachic term which describes the wrongful use of language, such as tale bearing, slander, vengeance and bearing a grudge. Talmud (Erachin 15a), says that evil talk kills three people: the speaker, the listener, and the one who is spoken of. The Chofetz Chaim (1:1) says that Lashon Hara is assur (‘forbidden and condemned’), even if it is true.
This paper is based on a research conducted among Hasidic communities in Brooklyn and in upstate New York between 2012 and 2014. I employed qualitative research methods during this study. I used ethnographic research where I assumed the role of participant-observer and discourse-analytic approach to text and talk.
During the research the reinforcement of language norms was observed and examined both in informal settings (in-family discourse), as well as in public settings through the analysis of textbooks authored for children and articles in family-focused magazines.
In both settings the dinim (‘laws’) of Lashon Hara were translated into practical terms, i.e. examples were given of what is considered Lashon Hara, what is assur and the impact of the evil tongue. I discuss how Lashon Hara, Rechilus (‘tale bearing’), Motzi ShemRa (‘giving someone a bad name’), Dan Lechaf Zechus (‘judging others favorably’) and Onaas Devorim (‘words that hurt’) are explained to Hasidic children in both Halachic and Mussar tradition and how these traditions shape the way in which Hasidic children consciously use the language.
Research findings also show that Shmiras HaLashon has a different pedagogical and social role. While the laws of monitoring one’s speech are intricate and numerous, as much as the repercussions of the mitzvah of proper speech, and the transgression of Lashon Hara, the community which traditionally arranges marriages, depends on being informed about the others and their reputation.
Jezici i kulture i prostoru i vremenu 5
U ovom radu analiziraju se biografski narativi polaznika ljetnog programa jidiša organiziranoga 2... more U ovom radu analiziraju se biografski narativi polaznika ljetnog programa jidiša organiziranoga 2014. godine od strane YIVO Instituta za židovska istraživanja u New Yorku. Rekonstrukcijom jezičnih biografija dolazimo do zaključaka koji motivacijski faktori su presudni u odabiru jidiša kao predmeta izučavanja, koja je uloga emocija u
učenju jidiša, koje stavove polaznici imaju o istočnoj Europi kao mjestu gdje je nakada govoren ovaj jezik, te koji su stavovi njihove okoline prema učenju jezika.
Aškanski Židovi tradicionalno su rabili jidiš kao svoj razgovorni jezik, biblijski hebrejski i ar... more Aškanski Židovi tradicionalno su rabili jidiš kao svoj razgovorni jezik, biblijski hebrejski i aramejski kao jezik svetih knjiga i školstva te jezik iz okruženja za komunikaciju s vanjskim svijetom. Između 1770. i 1880. godine javlja se haskala, odnosno židovsko prosvjetiteljstvo. Berlinska haskala je u početku koristila hebrejski za širenje svojih ideja, no kako se pokret širio prema istoku, jidiš je postajao pravi suparnik hebrejskome jer su se istočnoeuropski Židovi služili jidišem kako svojim vernakularom, a i bili su manje obrazovani pa su i slabije znali hebrejski. Hebrejski je dobio novu ideološku funkciju u drugoj polovici 19. kroz cionistički pokret. Eliezer Ben Jehuda, pokretač oživljavanja hebrejskog kao govornog jezika, povezuje ideju oživljavanja jezika s pokretom povratka u židovsku pradomovinu. Cionistički pokret pokušao je suzbiti korištenje jidiša. Hasidski pokret pojavljuje se u 18. stoljeću u Istočnoj Europi i naglasak stavlja na novi oblik štovanja i jedinstvenu organizaciju zajednice. U hasidizmu jidiš zadobiva status drugog svetog jezika Židova. Terenska istraživanja provedena u hasidskim zajednicama u New Yorku 2012. i 2013. godine pokazuju kontinuitet anticionizma u hasidizmu, odbijanje modernog hebrejskog i zadržavanje jidiša kao svetog jezika i svakodnevnog jezika.
Višejezičnost kao predmet multidisciplinarnih istraživanja, 2015
Pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu sljedbenici su haredskog i hasidskog judaizm... more Pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu sljedbenici su haredskog i hasidskog judaizma koji je nastao među aškenaskim Židovima Istočne Europe u 18. stoljeću, proširivši se kasnije na Srednju Europu i Baltik. Na tim je područjima u spomenutom razdoblju židovska dijaspora koristila triglosičan jezični repertoar, tj. hebrejski kao sveti jezik, jidiš kao razgovorni jezik zajednice i jezik zemlje domaćina. Sociolingvističko istraživanje u hasidskim zajednicama u Brooklynu provedeno je tijekom 2012. i 2013. godine. Pripadnici hasidskih zajednica žive u strogo izoliranim četvrtima, pohađaju isključivo vjerske škole u kojima se nastava odvija na jidišu uz izučavanje svetih knjiga na hebrejskom i aramejskom (lašon hakodeš). Budući da su hasidi po političkom opredjeljenju anticionisti, moderni hebrejski (ivrit) se u školama ne podučava. Engleski jezik smatra se ”nužnim zlom” i uči se samo kako bi se, prema potrebi, ostvario kontakt s vanjskim svijetom. U istraživanju je korištena metodologija jezičnobiografskog narativnog intervjua na temelju kojih su izrađene jezične biografije informanata te je izvršena rekonstrukcija narativnog identiteta i analiza jezičnih biografija.
Cilj istraživanja bio je pokazati kako na početku 21. stoljeća haredska zajednica u Brooklynu nastavlja kontinuitet triglosičnog jezičnog repertoara židovske dijaspore. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo nekoliko hasidskih sekti te je analizirano usvajanje engleskog jezika, lašon hakodeša, ivrita i jidiša, kao i stavovi govornika prema uporabi ovih jezika. Rezulatati istraživanja prikazuju na koji način pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu koriste triglosičan repertoar, te kakav je odnos jezika i etničkoga, kulturnoga i religijskoga identiteta.
Jezik i identitet ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu, 2014
Tema ovog rada su jezik i identitet ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu. Pripadnici ortodok... more Tema ovog rada su jezik i identitet ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu. Pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu sljedbenici su haredskog i hasidskog judaizma koji je nastao među aškenaskim Židovima Istočne Europe u 18. stoljeću, proširivši se kasnije na Srednju Europu i Baltik. Na tim je područjima u spomenutom razdoblju židovska dijaspora koristila triglosičan jezični repertoar, tj. hebrejski kao sveti jezik, jidiš kao razgovorni jezik zajednice i jezik zemlje domaćina. U radu se obrađuje kontinuitet triglosičnog jezičnog repertoara židovske dijaspore u ortodoksnoj židovskoj zajednici u Brooklynu na početku 21. stoljeća.
Sintezom povijesnih i suvremenih podataka ovim se radom želi pridonijeti boljem razumijevanju obrazaca prema kojima su Židovi oblikovali jezike kojima govore, te kako se oblikovao identitet zajednice koja je podložna vanjskim utjecajima. U dostupnoj literaturi ova tema nije obrađivana na ovaj način.
Ključne riječi: jezik i identitet, jidiš, hebrejski, lašon hakodeš, loshn koydesh, diglosija, Hasidi, jezične biografije, narativni identitet, Brooklyn
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Books by Gabi Abramac
Book Chapters by Gabi Abramac
Papers by Gabi Abramac
Un Judío medio en la diáspora siempre ha sido expuesto al alfabetismo básico en hebreo. Eso era la parte central de la educación judía durante más de dos mil años. Cabe destacar que se trataba en realidad sólo del alfabetismo básico.
El hebreo obtuvo una nueva función ideológica en la segunda mitad del siglo 19 a través del movimiento sionista. El movimiento sionista era un movimiento político y nacionalista que abogaba por el establecimiento de un estado judío. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, considerado el iniciador del renacimiento del idioma hebreo hablado, vinculó la idea del sionismo con la idea de la revitalización del idioma, y sugirió el desarrollo del hebreo en Israel.
Hoy en día el hebreo es la lengua oficial de Israel, aunque en 1880 no tenía ni uno solo hablante nativo. La revitalización del hebreo es sin duda un fenómeno único en la historia humana. Sin embargo, los Judíos ultra-ortodoxos de Europa Oriental nunca han aceptado la idea del sionismo y de la revitalización de la lengua hebrea. Ellos consideraban que Israel era un país secular que alejaría a los Judíos de la fe. Esta ponencia representa los resultados de las investigaciones sociolingüísticas, realizadas en las comunidades ultra-ortodoxas en Nueva York entre los años 2012 y 2014, donde el objeto de la investigación era la actitud hacia el sionismo, hacia el estado de Israel y hacia el hebreo moderno.
nedvojbeno je bio vernakular određenih obitelji i zajednica, bio je nasljedni
jezik te izvor mnogih posuđenica kojima su se hrvatski aškenaski Židovi koristili u svojemu razgovornom jeziku. Zagreber yidish-krayz pokušaj je oživljavanja jidiša koji rabi teoretski i metodološki okvir lingvistike oživljavanja jezika (engl. revival linguistics), nove lingvističke discipline i paradigme koju je predložio Ghil’ad Zuckermann. Ovaj rad predstavlja osnovne koncepte lingvistike oživljavanja jezika i razmatra njezinu praktičnu primjenu kroz analizu slučaja Zagreber yidish-krayza. U ovom se istraživanju analiziraju mogućnosti i ograničenja oživljavanja jednoga
židovskog jezika u hrvatskome kontekstu, profili učenika te reakcije javnosti na taj jedinstveni projekt.
This paper is based on a research conducted among Hasidic communities in Brooklyn and in upstate New York between 2012 and 2014. I employed qualitative research methods during this study. I used ethnographic research where I assumed the role of participant-observer and discourse-analytic approach to text and talk.
During the research the reinforcement of language norms was observed and examined both in informal settings (in-family discourse), as well as in public settings through the analysis of textbooks authored for children and articles in family-focused magazines.
In both settings the dinim (‘laws’) of Lashon Hara were translated into practical terms, i.e. examples were given of what is considered Lashon Hara, what is assur and the impact of the evil tongue. I discuss how Lashon Hara, Rechilus (‘tale bearing’), Motzi ShemRa (‘giving someone a bad name’), Dan Lechaf Zechus (‘judging others favorably’) and Onaas Devorim (‘words that hurt’) are explained to Hasidic children in both Halachic and Mussar tradition and how these traditions shape the way in which Hasidic children consciously use the language.
Research findings also show that Shmiras HaLashon has a different pedagogical and social role. While the laws of monitoring one’s speech are intricate and numerous, as much as the repercussions of the mitzvah of proper speech, and the transgression of Lashon Hara, the community which traditionally arranges marriages, depends on being informed about the others and their reputation.
učenju jidiša, koje stavove polaznici imaju o istočnoj Europi kao mjestu gdje je nakada govoren ovaj jezik, te koji su stavovi njihove okoline prema učenju jezika.
Cilj istraživanja bio je pokazati kako na početku 21. stoljeća haredska zajednica u Brooklynu nastavlja kontinuitet triglosičnog jezičnog repertoara židovske dijaspore. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo nekoliko hasidskih sekti te je analizirano usvajanje engleskog jezika, lašon hakodeša, ivrita i jidiša, kao i stavovi govornika prema uporabi ovih jezika. Rezulatati istraživanja prikazuju na koji način pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu koriste triglosičan repertoar, te kakav je odnos jezika i etničkoga, kulturnoga i religijskoga identiteta.
Sintezom povijesnih i suvremenih podataka ovim se radom želi pridonijeti boljem razumijevanju obrazaca prema kojima su Židovi oblikovali jezike kojima govore, te kako se oblikovao identitet zajednice koja je podložna vanjskim utjecajima. U dostupnoj literaturi ova tema nije obrađivana na ovaj način.
Ključne riječi: jezik i identitet, jidiš, hebrejski, lašon hakodeš, loshn koydesh, diglosija, Hasidi, jezične biografije, narativni identitet, Brooklyn
Un Judío medio en la diáspora siempre ha sido expuesto al alfabetismo básico en hebreo. Eso era la parte central de la educación judía durante más de dos mil años. Cabe destacar que se trataba en realidad sólo del alfabetismo básico.
El hebreo obtuvo una nueva función ideológica en la segunda mitad del siglo 19 a través del movimiento sionista. El movimiento sionista era un movimiento político y nacionalista que abogaba por el establecimiento de un estado judío. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, considerado el iniciador del renacimiento del idioma hebreo hablado, vinculó la idea del sionismo con la idea de la revitalización del idioma, y sugirió el desarrollo del hebreo en Israel.
Hoy en día el hebreo es la lengua oficial de Israel, aunque en 1880 no tenía ni uno solo hablante nativo. La revitalización del hebreo es sin duda un fenómeno único en la historia humana. Sin embargo, los Judíos ultra-ortodoxos de Europa Oriental nunca han aceptado la idea del sionismo y de la revitalización de la lengua hebrea. Ellos consideraban que Israel era un país secular que alejaría a los Judíos de la fe. Esta ponencia representa los resultados de las investigaciones sociolingüísticas, realizadas en las comunidades ultra-ortodoxas en Nueva York entre los años 2012 y 2014, donde el objeto de la investigación era la actitud hacia el sionismo, hacia el estado de Israel y hacia el hebreo moderno.
nedvojbeno je bio vernakular određenih obitelji i zajednica, bio je nasljedni
jezik te izvor mnogih posuđenica kojima su se hrvatski aškenaski Židovi koristili u svojemu razgovornom jeziku. Zagreber yidish-krayz pokušaj je oživljavanja jidiša koji rabi teoretski i metodološki okvir lingvistike oživljavanja jezika (engl. revival linguistics), nove lingvističke discipline i paradigme koju je predložio Ghil’ad Zuckermann. Ovaj rad predstavlja osnovne koncepte lingvistike oživljavanja jezika i razmatra njezinu praktičnu primjenu kroz analizu slučaja Zagreber yidish-krayza. U ovom se istraživanju analiziraju mogućnosti i ograničenja oživljavanja jednoga
židovskog jezika u hrvatskome kontekstu, profili učenika te reakcije javnosti na taj jedinstveni projekt.
This paper is based on a research conducted among Hasidic communities in Brooklyn and in upstate New York between 2012 and 2014. I employed qualitative research methods during this study. I used ethnographic research where I assumed the role of participant-observer and discourse-analytic approach to text and talk.
During the research the reinforcement of language norms was observed and examined both in informal settings (in-family discourse), as well as in public settings through the analysis of textbooks authored for children and articles in family-focused magazines.
In both settings the dinim (‘laws’) of Lashon Hara were translated into practical terms, i.e. examples were given of what is considered Lashon Hara, what is assur and the impact of the evil tongue. I discuss how Lashon Hara, Rechilus (‘tale bearing’), Motzi ShemRa (‘giving someone a bad name’), Dan Lechaf Zechus (‘judging others favorably’) and Onaas Devorim (‘words that hurt’) are explained to Hasidic children in both Halachic and Mussar tradition and how these traditions shape the way in which Hasidic children consciously use the language.
Research findings also show that Shmiras HaLashon has a different pedagogical and social role. While the laws of monitoring one’s speech are intricate and numerous, as much as the repercussions of the mitzvah of proper speech, and the transgression of Lashon Hara, the community which traditionally arranges marriages, depends on being informed about the others and their reputation.
učenju jidiša, koje stavove polaznici imaju o istočnoj Europi kao mjestu gdje je nakada govoren ovaj jezik, te koji su stavovi njihove okoline prema učenju jezika.
Cilj istraživanja bio je pokazati kako na početku 21. stoljeća haredska zajednica u Brooklynu nastavlja kontinuitet triglosičnog jezičnog repertoara židovske dijaspore. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo nekoliko hasidskih sekti te je analizirano usvajanje engleskog jezika, lašon hakodeša, ivrita i jidiša, kao i stavovi govornika prema uporabi ovih jezika. Rezulatati istraživanja prikazuju na koji način pripadnici ortodoksne židovske zajednice u Brooklynu koriste triglosičan repertoar, te kakav je odnos jezika i etničkoga, kulturnoga i religijskoga identiteta.
Sintezom povijesnih i suvremenih podataka ovim se radom želi pridonijeti boljem razumijevanju obrazaca prema kojima su Židovi oblikovali jezike kojima govore, te kako se oblikovao identitet zajednice koja je podložna vanjskim utjecajima. U dostupnoj literaturi ova tema nije obrađivana na ovaj način.
Ključne riječi: jezik i identitet, jidiš, hebrejski, lašon hakodeš, loshn koydesh, diglosija, Hasidi, jezične biografije, narativni identitet, Brooklyn
I have spoken about the refugee crisis relying on my three-fold personal experience: the one of a former refugee, the one of a former UNHCR staff member, and the one of a grassroots activist along the so-called Balkan Route.
This talk is dedicated to Rahmat Ullah Hanife whose sad destiny is just one of many.
In the night between February 2 and 3, 2017, Afghani national Rahmat Ullah Hanife (22) drowned in the Tisa River on the Serbian-Hungarian border. Rahmat Ullah tried to cross the frozen river with the group of 15 refugees and migrants who were organized by a smuggler from Pakistan, charging 2,000 EUR each for this extremely risky attempt to reach the European Union. The group also included six minors, aged 10-17. The smuggler divided them into groups and lead them to the river where he encouraged them to walk across ice towards village Horgos in Hungary. Rahmat Ullah was second in line when the ice broke under their feet. He fell into the water alongside the young man who was walking in front and who eventually managed to come ashore.
Rahmat Ullah did not know how to swim and failed to reach the branch that the young man tried to put forward. He was swiftly dragged under water by a strong, cold river current.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork and extensive narrative interviews, this study explores social patterns, languages, values, and identity among a group of 30 Shababniks who left the Haredi fold and relocated to Brooklyn between 2011 and 2015. I show how the stigma they carried in Israel and their placement in ‘correctional’ (kiruv) yeshivas prior to immigration to the United States, has further solidified a common bond, creating strong social solidarity within their subculture and in relation to the superculture. In examining the intersection of their identities, I analyze four main categories: (1) in-group kinship ties, (2) professional life, (3) leisure time, and (4) linguistic repertoire of Shababniks. I further cross-map these findings with the data gathered during my previous study of formerly ultra-orthodox (so-called Off the Derech) New York Jews. In doing so I compare the overlapping and diverging points of these two different groups.
I show how Shababniks creatively restructure their social practices and adapt to new and overlapping linguistic spaces. Narrative accounts also reveal how the speakers’ evaluate and negotiate their identities, and how they position themselves against the background of both Haredi community, and world at large.
This is the first study of Shababniks who have migrated from Israel as a group and the first contrastive study on the trajectories of leaving ultra-orthodox Judaism in two transcontinental contexts.
The Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet Nazi state, was proclaimed on April 10, 1941, after the Axis Powers invaded, occupied and dismembered the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The NDH was comprised of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of modern-day Serbia whereas coastal Croatia (Dalmatia) was annexed by Italian fascists. Persecution of the Jews of Croatia began shortly after the establishment of the Croatian state. By the end of the war, 80% of Jewish population had been exterminated in NDH’s death camps. Those who managed to survive were individuals who joined the partisan forces or fled from Croatia to the region annexed by Italy.
122 Croatian Jewish refugees reached Dalmatia and joined in the plight of the 30,000 Dalmatians evacuated to El Shatt, Egypt. The mass transfer was a joint endeavor of Yugoslav partisans and the Allied forces after Italy’s capitulation in 1943 and ahead of the German occupation of Dalmatia.
Analysis of the data and oral narratives reveals: (1) a historically informative individual narrative reflection on the collective tragedy, (2) insight into organization of the refugees’ social, cultural, and religious daily life in the camp, (3) systematic camp indoctrination with socialist ideology; upon repatriation in 1946, this resulted in the survivors’ abandonment of traditional faith en masse and rapid Jewish assimilation into the newly-founded Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.
Hasidism is a pietistic movement which originated in 18th century Eastern Europe. Its founder was Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or the Besht. Hasidism emphasized the ability to grow closer to God through the concept of serving the God with joy, in contrast to the reigning intellectualist approach of the time. The movement spread quickly to the southwestern provinces of Russia (Kiev, Podolia, Volhynia) and its northern provinces, to central Poland, western Galicia, and eastern Galicia, arriving in Hungary in the 1780s. The only Hasidic community in the territory of former Yugoslavia was established in Senta, Vojvodina. Members of this community referred to themselves as “Sephardim”, although they were all Ashkenazi Jews.
The Hasidim altered the Nusach (“version” of prayer liturgy) they used from the Ashkenazic to the Sephardic tradition, following the belief that Sephardic liturgy was more Kabbalistically oriented and had more spiritual potency than the Ashkenazic one. The Ashkenazic form of prayer that incorporates elements from the Sephardic liturgy is called Nusach Sepharad. It is also known as Nusach Ari after the Kabbalist Rabbi Itzhak Luria (the Ari, 1534-1572) who was the first to integrate Sephardic elements in Ashkenazic prayer.
However, the term “Sephardi” was sometimes used by Orthodox Jews of Eastern Europe to distinguish themselves from other Jewish communities they considered less traditional. In the context of legal administration, the term was also used because secular authorities would not otherwise recognize two Orthodox communities within a given location.
From 1939, of the Senta Hasidic community was led by Rabbi Moses ben Hayyim Zevi Teitelbaum (1914-2006), the second son of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the Rebbe of Sighet. The Senta community of “Sephardi” Hasidim perished in the Holocaust. Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum was liberated from Theresienstadt in 1945. He moved to Sighet, eventually relocating to New York where he succeeded his uncle as the Satmar Rebbe in 1979. The memory of Senta Hasidim lives on in the name of a small synagogue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Zenta-Beirach Moshe Shul, and Zenta Road in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, in upstate New York.
Key-words: kiruv, Jewish outreach, digital media and religion, Critical Discourse Analysis, Fairclough