Yaron Peleg | University of Cambridge (original) (raw)
Papers by Yaron Peleg
Journal of Israeli History
Jewish Film & New Media: An International Journal
Written by the core faculty of the Hebrew Program at Brandeis University, Brandeis Modern Hebrew ... more Written by the core faculty of the Hebrew Program at Brandeis University, Brandeis Modern Hebrew is an accessible introduction to the Hebrew language for American undergraduates and high school students. Its functional and contextual elements are designed to bring students from the beginner level to the intermediate level, and to familiarize them with those linguistic aspects that will prepare them to function in advanced stages. This volume reflects some of the main principles that have shaped the Brandeis Hebrew curriculum during the past decade. These include: *an emphasis on the learner's ability to use the target language in all four skills areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing *an effort to contextualize each unit within a specific subject or theme *exposing the student to authentic and semi-authentic materials (texts written by native speakers) *exploring different elements from Israeli and Jewish culture in the language drills, reading passages, and in selections of sources from the Hebrew literary canon The text in this edition comprises a short introduction to the instructor, 11 units, supplementary Hebrew proficiency guidelines, and a vocabulary list. Included is a CD that contains audio material for some of the exercises and an enrichment program linked to the text.
Much has been written about the influence of postmodernism on Israeli literature in the last thre... more Much has been written about the influence of postmodernism on Israeli literature in the last three decades or so. Fewer studies tried to look beyond postmodernism at the attempt of more contemporary Israeli works to overcome some of its limitations, especially the reluctance of so-called postmodern texts to represent "truth" or objective reality. The following chapter will address this difficulty by looking at the work of Asaf Schurr, who published five novels in quick succession between 2007-2014. While Schurr's first three novels, which focus on the imagined worlds of single individuals, seem to parody postmodernism, his last two novels expand their social scope and express a greater realism. Read together, these novels invoke the crisis of representation in the postmodern age while at the same time offer a tentative solution to it as well. By restoring a clearer sense of self and a clearer sense of community these novels reconstruct historical subjectivity and abandon the idea of an "imagined national community" in favor of smaller but more tangible social units.
This is the author accepted manuscript. It is permanently embargoed to comply with the publisher’... more This is the author accepted manuscript. It is permanently embargoed to comply with the publisher’s copyright terms. The final version is available from Warsaw University Press via https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.15.014.4605
Casting a Giant Shadow, 2021
Choice Reviews Online, 2009
... the kind of emblematic similarities that can be more readily gleaned in the works of Etgar Ke... more ... the kind of emblematic similarities that can be more readily gleaned in the works of Etgar Keret, Gadi Taub, Uzi Weil, and Gafi ... like Benny Morris and Tom Segev, but especially by writers like Meir Shalev, David Grossman, Orly Castel-Bloom, and Yosef Al-Dror, whose diverse ...
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2016
Choice Reviews Online, 2012
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2005
This article presents an alternative queer reading of the relationship between David and Jonathan... more This article presents an alternative queer reading of the relationship between David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel, and suggests looking at the relationship between the two men not as homosexual but as heterosexual, as the attraction and love between David, who performs the role of a man, and Jonathan, who performs the role of a woman. This study argues that the text seeks to justify David’s rise to power not only by discrediting Saul on political and religious grounds, but also by undermining the eligibility of Jonathan as the king’s successor through a subtle manipulation of gender roles. This article shows how, in order to justify the termination of the Kish dynasty, the text sexualizes the relations between Jonathan and David, and then destabilizes these relations until it finally reverses them to portray Jonathan as David’s ‘female bride’. The article concludes that by describing him as passive and effeminate the text does not suggest that Jonathan is ‘homosexual’ but rather t...
Jewish Film & New Media: An International Journal
The article examines changes in the relationship between film and religion in contemporary Israel... more The article examines changes in the relationship between film and religion in contemporary Israeli cinema by looking at three films that exemplify these changes, Ushpizin (2003) by Shuli Rand and Gidi Dar, The Wedding Plan (2016) by Rama Burshtein and Tikkun (2015), by Avishai Sivan. As a pioneering religious film, Ushpizin introduced two cinematic elements that were developed by subsequent Israeli films that deal with religion or faith. The first element draws its inspiration from the romantic comedy genre and is visible in The Wedding Plan, a romantic comedy that demonstrates the partiality of Israeli religious cinema to a genre that has been marginal in local cinema until recently. The second element explores the power of cinema to convey transcendent, spiritual or meditative sensibilities in the film Tikkun, an arthouse film that begins to articulate a new cinematic vocabulary of Jewish religious sensibilities.
Jewish Film & New Media, 2018
From the beginning of its history, the Zionist workers' society in the Land of Israel was pla... more From the beginning of its history, the Zionist workers' society in the Land of Israel was plagued with fundamental identity problems. Chief among them was the tension between the socialist vision of Zionist ideologues and their wish to cast that socialism in a national Jewish mold as well. The blurry lines between socialist ideology and national identity became progressively more apparent as the country matured and developed, especially after the neo-liberalization of Israel since the 1990s. One of the most problematic legacies of this tension is the persistent socio-economic differences between two groups of Israelis, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, which are often cast in ethnic terms. This article looks at cinematic articulations of this tension and examines the tendency of Israeli culture, which is reflected in films, to relate to the gaps between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim as folklore rather than as a social and economic problem. In doing so, many filmmakers in Israel fail to use their art for promoting social and political change, as many of them try to do, for instance, with respect to the conflict with the Palestinians. The article describes this phenomenon, examines its nature and focuses on the social cinema of writer, director and social activist, Doron Tzabari, as a notable exception to this dynamic.
זאת עם הפנים אלינו, על יצירתה של רונית מטלון, 2018
Journal of Israeli History
Jewish Film & New Media: An International Journal
Written by the core faculty of the Hebrew Program at Brandeis University, Brandeis Modern Hebrew ... more Written by the core faculty of the Hebrew Program at Brandeis University, Brandeis Modern Hebrew is an accessible introduction to the Hebrew language for American undergraduates and high school students. Its functional and contextual elements are designed to bring students from the beginner level to the intermediate level, and to familiarize them with those linguistic aspects that will prepare them to function in advanced stages. This volume reflects some of the main principles that have shaped the Brandeis Hebrew curriculum during the past decade. These include: *an emphasis on the learner's ability to use the target language in all four skills areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing *an effort to contextualize each unit within a specific subject or theme *exposing the student to authentic and semi-authentic materials (texts written by native speakers) *exploring different elements from Israeli and Jewish culture in the language drills, reading passages, and in selections of sources from the Hebrew literary canon The text in this edition comprises a short introduction to the instructor, 11 units, supplementary Hebrew proficiency guidelines, and a vocabulary list. Included is a CD that contains audio material for some of the exercises and an enrichment program linked to the text.
Much has been written about the influence of postmodernism on Israeli literature in the last thre... more Much has been written about the influence of postmodernism on Israeli literature in the last three decades or so. Fewer studies tried to look beyond postmodernism at the attempt of more contemporary Israeli works to overcome some of its limitations, especially the reluctance of so-called postmodern texts to represent "truth" or objective reality. The following chapter will address this difficulty by looking at the work of Asaf Schurr, who published five novels in quick succession between 2007-2014. While Schurr's first three novels, which focus on the imagined worlds of single individuals, seem to parody postmodernism, his last two novels expand their social scope and express a greater realism. Read together, these novels invoke the crisis of representation in the postmodern age while at the same time offer a tentative solution to it as well. By restoring a clearer sense of self and a clearer sense of community these novels reconstruct historical subjectivity and abandon the idea of an "imagined national community" in favor of smaller but more tangible social units.
This is the author accepted manuscript. It is permanently embargoed to comply with the publisher’... more This is the author accepted manuscript. It is permanently embargoed to comply with the publisher’s copyright terms. The final version is available from Warsaw University Press via https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.15.014.4605
Casting a Giant Shadow, 2021
Choice Reviews Online, 2009
... the kind of emblematic similarities that can be more readily gleaned in the works of Etgar Ke... more ... the kind of emblematic similarities that can be more readily gleaned in the works of Etgar Keret, Gadi Taub, Uzi Weil, and Gafi ... like Benny Morris and Tom Segev, but especially by writers like Meir Shalev, David Grossman, Orly Castel-Bloom, and Yosef Al-Dror, whose diverse ...
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2016
Choice Reviews Online, 2012
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2005
This article presents an alternative queer reading of the relationship between David and Jonathan... more This article presents an alternative queer reading of the relationship between David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel, and suggests looking at the relationship between the two men not as homosexual but as heterosexual, as the attraction and love between David, who performs the role of a man, and Jonathan, who performs the role of a woman. This study argues that the text seeks to justify David’s rise to power not only by discrediting Saul on political and religious grounds, but also by undermining the eligibility of Jonathan as the king’s successor through a subtle manipulation of gender roles. This article shows how, in order to justify the termination of the Kish dynasty, the text sexualizes the relations between Jonathan and David, and then destabilizes these relations until it finally reverses them to portray Jonathan as David’s ‘female bride’. The article concludes that by describing him as passive and effeminate the text does not suggest that Jonathan is ‘homosexual’ but rather t...
Jewish Film & New Media: An International Journal
The article examines changes in the relationship between film and religion in contemporary Israel... more The article examines changes in the relationship between film and religion in contemporary Israeli cinema by looking at three films that exemplify these changes, Ushpizin (2003) by Shuli Rand and Gidi Dar, The Wedding Plan (2016) by Rama Burshtein and Tikkun (2015), by Avishai Sivan. As a pioneering religious film, Ushpizin introduced two cinematic elements that were developed by subsequent Israeli films that deal with religion or faith. The first element draws its inspiration from the romantic comedy genre and is visible in The Wedding Plan, a romantic comedy that demonstrates the partiality of Israeli religious cinema to a genre that has been marginal in local cinema until recently. The second element explores the power of cinema to convey transcendent, spiritual or meditative sensibilities in the film Tikkun, an arthouse film that begins to articulate a new cinematic vocabulary of Jewish religious sensibilities.
Jewish Film & New Media, 2018
From the beginning of its history, the Zionist workers' society in the Land of Israel was pla... more From the beginning of its history, the Zionist workers' society in the Land of Israel was plagued with fundamental identity problems. Chief among them was the tension between the socialist vision of Zionist ideologues and their wish to cast that socialism in a national Jewish mold as well. The blurry lines between socialist ideology and national identity became progressively more apparent as the country matured and developed, especially after the neo-liberalization of Israel since the 1990s. One of the most problematic legacies of this tension is the persistent socio-economic differences between two groups of Israelis, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, which are often cast in ethnic terms. This article looks at cinematic articulations of this tension and examines the tendency of Israeli culture, which is reflected in films, to relate to the gaps between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim as folklore rather than as a social and economic problem. In doing so, many filmmakers in Israel fail to use their art for promoting social and political change, as many of them try to do, for instance, with respect to the conflict with the Palestinians. The article describes this phenomenon, examines its nature and focuses on the social cinema of writer, director and social activist, Doron Tzabari, as a notable exception to this dynamic.
זאת עם הפנים אלינו, על יצירתה של רונית מטלון, 2018