Praying at the Grave of Franz Rosenzweig (original) (raw)
German-Jewish Studies. Next Generations. Edited by Kerry Wallach and Aya Elyada, Berghahn Books, 2023
The historiography of the Holocaust has so far failed to recognize the care taken by German Jewish refugees over the individual graves of deceased family members. This chapter examines letters written by refugees to the rabbis of their former communities asking about family graves, demonstrating the ways burial sites continued to matter to German Jews abroad at a time when so many Jews who had died lacked a proper resting place. Analyzing these letters helps us understand how Jewish rites and mourning practices became a symbol of cultural belonging and Jewishness for the living in a time of mass death.
Ritual Practices Within the Frame of Pilgrimage to the Tombs of the Just in Judaism
The article explores the associated beliefs and rituals, Shrines are the graves of righteous saints among the Jews. The practices and rituals performed by visitors to the graves of the righteous among the Jews were analyzed and discussed, and these actions were discussed extensively so that the reader would forget to understand the nature of these rituals and actions that take place at the grave of the righteous according to the point of view, religion, justice and traditions of the Jewish religion. It must be noted that to this day, there are still many people who still perform and in similar practices participate. Relationships existing between different population groups.
Religions, 2022
Religious Jewish tradition has specific rituals for mourning the loss of a relative. They include receiving visitors during shiva, the recitation of the Kaddish in the first year, and the annual marking of the Yahrzeit. There are also customs for commemorating collective disasters. Foremost among the mare the diminution of joy on specific dates, and setting permanent fast days. Towards the end of World War II, when the extent of the destruction became apparent, initiatives began around the world to process the collective mourning and to perpetuate the disaster in religious settings. Many survivors later joined these initiatives, seeking to establish new customs, out of a deep sense that this was an unprecedented calamity. The growing need to combine private and collective mourning stemmed from an awareness of the psychological and cultural power of private mourning customs. Proposals therefore included the observance of a community Yahrzeit, a collective Jewish shiva, along with a fast for the ages. This article explores the initiatives undertaken between 1944 and 1951—the time when intensive processing was needed for the survivors and the relatives of those who had perished—discussing their motivations, unique characteristics, successes and failures, and the reasons for them.
Prayer on the Tombs of the Righteous and Other Virtues
זהויות, כתב-עת לתרבות ולזהות יהודית, גיליון 7, 2016
Religion, tradition, and belief can assume many and diverse forms. There can be many different practices, a proliferation of affiliations, and weird and different customs. All those who trumpet the slogan of “accepting the Other” must find a way to live in harmony with those whose customs and rituals are the polar antithesis of their own. Those who feel that this is asking too much should at least stop persecuting the practitioners of what they see as strange or different customs and allow them to celebrate their traditions as they see fit. From the preface, Zehuyot (Identities), Journal of Jewish Culture and Identity, vol. 7, 2016 זהויות, כתב-עת לתרבות ולזהות יהודית, גיליון 7, תשע"ו, 2016
Qualitative Report, 2021
This paper is a description of collaborative research that was done together with students during the class “Contemplative Sociology. Experiencing Self, No-Self and the Lifeworld.” The goal of the research was to introduce the students to the contemplative methods that could be used to research lived experiences and the vision of the lifeworld through contemplation of the mind, bodily sensations, and emotions. A project was started on experiencing the cemetery space. The space for experiencing was chosen to sensitize the students to concerns (such as death, religious holidays, everyday life, suffering, etc.) that could be investigated from the first-person perspective by using contemplation as an alternative to survey-sociological methods, psychological methods and ethnography. The students learned the contemplative techniques of meditation, body awareness, self- observation, and self-description to face their concerns, including the ultimate ones. However, the main concern was the role of the mind, body and emotions in cognition and creating the mood.
Making Memory: Jewish and Christian Explorations in Monument, Narrative and Liturgy
2013
The twentieth century has been called a "century of horror." Proof of that designation can be found in the vast and ever-increasing volume of scholarly work on violence, trauma, memory, and history across diverse academic disciplines. This book demonstrates not only the ways in which the wars of the twentieth century have altered theological engagement and religious practice, but also the degree to which religious ways of thinking have shaped the way we construct historical narratives. Drawing on diverse sources—from the Hebrew Bible to Commonwealth War Graves, from Greek tragedy to post-Holocaust theology—Alana Vincent probes the intersections between past and present, memory and identity, religion and nationality. The result is a book that defies categorization and offers no easy answers, but instead pursues an agenda of theological realism, holding out continued hope for the restoration of the world.
Particularity of the Tomb as a Holy Place
Throughout the ages, peoples and tribes have taken pride in place for themselves, especially the graves of the righteous, and they have been sanctified. And, various religious rituals have been performed to the point that these rituals have become integrated into the customs and traditions of those peoples. In this article, we will address the important characteristics that the Jews carry out through the graves of the righteous in the Jewish religion. The definition of the grave of a righteous friend as a holy place will also be discussed. It must be mentioned that after his death, his dignity, actions, and strength remain influential even after his death. Therefore, his burial place and his grave are considered sacred and pure places, and they are considered popular and attract many visitors.
A Memorial Day for the Books Annihilated in the Holocaust: History and Reason
Review of Rabbinic Judaism, 2024
This article focuses on a Memorial Day ceremony that was regularly held during the State of Israel’s first two decades to honor the holy books destroyed during the Holocaust. The ceremony aimed to commemorate the Nazis’ attempt to destroy Judaism, not just the Jewish people. At the forefront of these efforts was Shmuel Zanwil Kahana, who sought to create a mystical atmosphere during the ceremony. His goal was to approach the new altar, represented by the furnace at Mount Zion, and offer a sacrifice of exilic literature to arouse a new spirit within the people of Israel. Despite his almost occult practices and liturgy, Kahana did not achieve the results for which he hoped. His attempts to build the nation through the destruction of its exilic spirit did not succeed.