Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period

The terms Hebrews (Hebrew: / , Modern: Ivrim / Ivriyyim, Tiberian: Irm / Iriyym; ISO 259-3: ibrim / ibriyim) and Hebrew people are mostly taken as synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still nomadic. However, in some instances it may also be used in a wider sense, referring to the Phoenicians, or to other ancient groups, such as the group known as Shasu of Yhw on the eve of the Bronze Age collapse,[1] which, although not an ethnonym,[2][3] appears 34 times within 32 verses[4][5][6] of the Hebrew Bible.

By the time of the Roman Empire, Greek Hebraios could refer to the Jews in general, as Strong's Hebrew Dictionary puts it, "any of the Jewish Nation",[7] and at other times more specifically to the Jews living in Judea. In early Christianity, the Greek term refers to Jewish Christians as opposed to the gentile Christians and Judaizers (Acts 6:1 among others). is the province where the Temple was located.

In Armenian, Italian, Greek, the Kurdish languages, Old French, Serbian, Russian, Romanian and a few other languages the transfer of the name from Hebrew to Jew never took place, and "Hebrew" is the primary word used for a Jew.[8][9][10] The translation of "Hebrew" is used also in the Kurdish language and was once used also in French.

With the revival of the Hebrew language and the emergence of the Hebrew Yishuv, the term has been applied to the Jewish people of this re-emerging society in Israel or the Jewish people in general.

The definitive origin of the term "Hebrew" remains uncertain.[11] The biblical term Ivri (; Hebrew pronunciation:[ivri]), meaning "to traverse" or "to pass over", is usually rendered as Hebrew in English, from the ancient Greek and the Latin Hebraeus. The biblical word Ivri has the plural form Ivrim, or Ibrim.

The most generally accepted hypothesis today[12][13][14] is that the text intends ivri as the adjective (Hebrew suffix -i) formed from ever () 'beyond, across' (avar () 'to cross, to traverse'), as a description of migrants 'from across the river' as the Bible describes the Hebrews.[15] It is also supported by the 3rd century BCE Septuagint, which translates ivri to perates (),[16] a Greek word meaning 'one who came across, a migrant',[17] from perao () 'to cross, to traverse',[18] as well as some early traditional commentary.[19] Gesenius considers it the only linguistically acceptable hypothesis.[20] The description of peoples and nations from their location 'from across the river' (often the river Euphrates, sometimes the Jordan river) was common in this region of the ancient Near-East:[21] it appears as eber nari in Akkadian[22][23] and avar nahara in Aramaic (both corresponding to Hebrew ever nahar), the Aramaic expression's use being quoted verbatim in the Bible, for example in an Aramaic letter sent to the King of Persia in the Book of Ezra[24] or in the Book of Nehemiah,[25] sometimes rendered as Trans-Euphrates.[26]

Genesis 10:21 refers to Shem, the elder brother of Ham and Japheth and thus the first-born son of Noah, as the father of the sons of Eber (), which may have a similar meaning.

Some authors[which?] argue that Ibri denotes the descendants of the biblical patriarch Eber (Hebrew ), son of Shelah, a great-grandson of Noah and an ancestor of Abraham,[30] hence the occasional anglicization Eberites.

Since the 19th-century CE discovery of the second-millennium BCE inscriptions mentioning the Habiru, many theories have linked these to the Hebrews. Some scholars argue that the name "Hebrew" is related to the name of those seminomadic Habiru people recorded in Egyptian inscriptions of the 13th and 12th centuries BCE as having settled in Egypt.[31] Other scholars rebut this, proposing that the Hebrews are mentioned in later texts of the 3rd Intermediate Period of Egypt (11th century BCE) as Shasu of Yhw,[32] while some scholars[33] consider these two hypotheses compatible, abiru being a generic Akkadian form parallel to Hebrew ivri from the Akkadian equivalent of ever 'beyond, across' describing foreign peoples 'from across the river',[34] where the letter ayin () in Hebrew corresponds to in Akkadian[35] (as in Hebrew zeroa corresponding to Akkadian zuru[36]).

In the Hebrew Bible, the term Hebrew is normally used by foreigners (namely, the Egyptians) when speaking about Israelites and sometimes used by Israelites when speaking of themselves to foreigners.[37] In Genesis 11:1626, Abram is described as a descendant of Eber, from which some writers claim the designation Hebrew is derived. In Genesis 14:13, Abraham is described as Avram Ha-Ivri ("Abram the Hebrew"), and which translates literally as "Abram the one who stands on the other side."

Israelites are defined as the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Eber, an ancestor of Jacob (seven generations removed), is a distant ancestor of many people, including the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, Amalekites and Qahtanites.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the terms Hebrews and Israelites usually describe the same people, stating that they were called Hebrews before the conquest of the Land of Canaan and Israelites afterwards.[38] Professor Nadav Na'aman and others say that the use of the word "Hebrew" to refer to Israelites is rare and when used it is used "to Israelites in exceptional and precarious situations, such as migrants or slaves."[39][40]

By the Roman period, "Hebrews" could be used to designate the Jews, who use the Hebrew language.[41] The Epistle to the Hebrews, one of the books of the New Testament, was probably directed at Jewish Christians.[42]

In some modern languages, including Armenian, Greek, Italian, Romanian, and many Slavic languages, the name Hebrews (with linguistic variations) is the standard ethnonym for Jews; but in many other languages in which both terms exist, it is currently considered derogatory to call Jews "Hebrews".[43][44]

Among certain left-wing or liberal circles of Judaic cultural lineage, the word "Hebrew" is used as an alternatively secular description of the Jewish people (e.g., Bernard Avishai's The Hebrew Republic or left-wing wishes for a "Hebrew-Arab" joint cultural republican state).

Beginning in the late 19th century, the term "Hebrew" became popular among secular Zionists; in this context the word alluded to the transformation of the Jews into a strong, independent, self-confident secular national group ("the New Jew") sought by classical Zionism. This use died out after the establishment of the state of Israel, when "Hebrew" was replaced with "Jew" or "Israeli".[45]

Media related to Hebrews at Wikimedia Commons

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

Hebrew is the language of the Bible, Jewish prayer and since the early 20th century a modern language spoken in Israel. Below are seven important things to know about this storied language.

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet (commonly referred to as the aleph-bet, after the first two letters, aleph and bet). In addition, the language includes five final letters: When the letters khaf, mem, nun, pey, and tzade are the last letters of a word, they are written differently.

Hebrew is a Semitic language like Arabic and Aramaic and like most ancient Semitic languages its alphabet has no vowels. However, sometime between the middle and end of the first millennium, rabbis known as the Masoretes instituted a system of dots and dashes to indicate how words were to be pronounced. Torah scrolls and most contemporary Hebrew writing are still written without vowels.

Unlike English, Hebrew is read and written from right to left. There are numerous types of Hebrew script. The most familiar is the block letters used in Torah scrolls and most printed texts. This was originally referred to as ktav ashuri, or Assyrian script. It is contrasted with ktav ivri, which was an earlier script probably used until a few hundred years prior to the Common Era. In addition, there is a cursive script for Hebrew as well as a script named after the medieval commentator Rashi, which was used in Rashis works on the Bible and Talmud, as well as in other texts.

The earliest Hebrew texts date from the end of the second millennium BCE. Hebrew was employed as both a written and spoken language until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. After that, Hebrew was used primarily as a literary and liturgical language.

The Bible (except for parts of Ezra and Daniel) is written in Hebrew, as is the Mishnah, the corpus of Jewish law edited during the second and third century CE.

The Gemara books of rabbinic legal discussions interpreting the Mishnah is largely written in Aramaic with some Hebrew, while medieval Jewish literature is written primarily in a combination of Hebrew and Aramaic.

Because it is the language of sacred texts, Hebrew itself was often considered sacred. In post-biblical times, it was referred to as lashon ha-kodesh, the holy language. Hebrew was often thought to be the language of the angels, and indeed, of God. According to rabbinic tradition, Hebrew was the original language of humanity. It was spoken by all of humankind prior to the dispersion described in the Tower of Babel story in Genesis. In addition, the Hebrew language was thought of as the tool that God used to create the world. A midrash states that, Just as the Torah was given in lashon ha-kodesh, so the world was created with lashon ha-kodesh. Similarly, the mystical book Sefer Yetzirah, describes the creation of the world through the manipulation of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, sparked a renewed interest in Hebrew, particularly biblical Hebrew, which the maskilim (the proponents of the Enlightenment) viewed as a purer form of the language. Journals, newspapers, and literature were written in Hebrew, but there were many problems with adapting this ancient language to the needs of modern prose. Many of these problems were addressed by S.Y. Abramowitz (better known as Mendele Mokher Seforim), who created an amalgam of rabbinic and biblical Hebrew that suited modern literary needs.

While the creation of a corpus of secular Hebrew literature was impressive, the reinstitution of Hebrew as a spoken language was almost miraculous. Hebrew had not been a spoken language for two millennia, and yet at the end of the 19th century, European Jews dreaming of a cultural renaissance in Palestine began to resurrect the language.

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is considered the father of Modern Hebrew. He developed a vocabulary for Modern Hebrew, incorporating words from ancient and medieval Hebrew, in addition to creating new words. In 1922, Hebrew became one of the official languages of British Mandate Palestine, and today it is a modern language spoken by the citizens of Israel and Jews around the world.

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7 Things You Should Know About Hebrew | My Jewish Learning

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

(JTA) I was riding my bike last week when I passed a convoy of honking cars sporting Israeli flags and balloons in various shades of blue and white and immediately felt a wave of clashing emotions.

I felt the pang of recognition I feel whenever I see the flag that dotted the walls of my Jewish day school. And I felt a hit of nostalgia for the songs I sang at school concerts as we dressed in those same Israeli colors songs like Shalom al Yisrael.

But I also felt ashamed. I understood the convoy as I believe it was intended: as a statement of political support for the Israeli government, which at the moment was battering Palestinians in Gaza with an unrelenting assault as Hamas lobbed rockets at Israel. Nowhere was there any awareness of the systemic oppression under which Palestinians live. As the balloons flew in the wind, children were dying. This solidarity march on wheels felt wrong.

I wanted to signal my despair and outrage. But I also wanted to be heard. So I shouted in Hebrew: Laatzor et hamilchama! Stop the war! as I cycled into the intersection.

I was alone in that moment, and I felt it. So I went home and posted to my Facebook network, among whom I count many North American Jews.

I think I need to start a new group, I wrote. A group for Jews who are committed to Palestine solidarity, and who love Hebrew and Israeli culture. A group that feels connected to the place.

I added, In the Venn diagram I observe, there are precious few inhabiting the overlap.

Of course there are American Jews who love Israel and Israeli culture but despise the occupation. But they are all too often silent on the deepest, most entrenched parts of Israeli oppression of Palestinians: refugees, the siege on Gaza, systemic inequality within Israel.

But the kinds of Palestine solidarity groups who advance the aims I would normally sympathize with have never felt like home. The Palestinian-based groups are naturally not focused on Hebrew and Israeli culture. But neither are the few radical Jewish groups, it seems to me, thatarehuman-rights focused. You wont hear Israeli music playing at their conventions from what Ive heard from those who attend, anyway. And some groups, while signaling that Israel should be a state of all its citizens, are not equally committed to Jewishcollectiveequality in that land. Those groups dont do anything to suggest that the language, culture and traditions of both groups should be nurtured equally.

In the activism for which I yearn, the kind that places human rights front and center, I need to know that there are others, like me, who feel an ache in their heart when theyve been away from Israel for too long. Who have a favorite Tel Aviv watering hole or two. Who find ways to stream the Hebrew versions of television shows before they come to Netflix. Who dream about the scent of the refet, cowshed, puncturing the air of a kibbutz evening.

Who, despite decrying the racial profiling at the airport that public figures like Mira Awad havespoken outabout, might drag out a conversation with an El Al agent in order to fit in another two minutes of Hebrew conversation before departing.

I need to know that there are others who feel culturally invested and demand that any reimagined polity extends the idea of political community to both Israeli Jews and Palestinians.

I wasnt planning on starting a group. But as soon as I hit send on my short post, the responses came in fast and furious.

Count me in. Im in. Thats me. Id like to join.

So I delivered on my promise. Last Friday, I created a group, for now on Facebook. (Soon, I hope, we will export it out of the digital realm.) The group now numbers over 200, mostly Jews, who have pledged to support a society that nurtures and elevates the cultural and linguistic traditions of Israeli Jews and of Palestinian Arabs. Neither side, according to our vision, will exert political hegemony over the other, and the safety and security of both peoples will be closely guarded.

Well demand an end to the occupation and to Israels siege on Gaza, and we will call for legal reform in Israel to bring about equity and equality for all its citizens.

The Law of Return, which was designed to provide Jews a refuge after centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, will exist alongside the right of Palestinian refugees to return. I know this last point has been a Jewish communal third rail, but well point to projects like those of the Israeli NGO Zochrot that will help envision what the return of Palestinian refugees might look like, including restitution for property expropriated by Israel.

We will condemn violence against all civilians while not standing in the way of nonviolent modes of resistance against occupation. We do not demand one state or two, though we note that calls for a two-state solution have served, if inadvertently, to entrench the status quo. As the two-state solution has become less of an apparent possibility, the demand for it by Jewish groups and others ends up implying that Palestinians should be patient. We cannot demand patience from Palestinians clamoring to exercise their basic human rights.

And returning to where I began, well look forward to a reimagined polity that elevates the cultural and linguistic traditions of Israeli Jews and of Palestinian Arabs. Well call for the funding of new projects that continue to produce fine Hebrew-Israeli and Arabic-Palestinian cultural offerings including film, literature, television, theater and music. And we will welcome new synergies across these traditions, without one being assimilated into the other. Both communities and cultures must be encouraged to flourish.

As for a name for this group, Ive decided to call itDrachim(ways), after my favorite Israeli-rock album from the 1970s. But in this context, the word drachimwill be much more expansive than perhaps singer-songwriter Shlomo Artzi envisioned when he sang about love and kites and childhood: It will represent a new path forward for Israelis and Palestinians.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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I love Israeli and Hebrew culture, and am committed to Palestinian solidarity. Where's the group for me? - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

Israeli singer Eden Alene released the Hebrew version of the newest anthem of Disney's Ultimate Princess Celebration, less than a week after representing Israel at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, N12 reported.

Called "Starting Now," the song was recorded for Disney by R&B singer Brandy.

The song was also released as the official anthem of Disney's Ultimate Princess Celebration, a year-long, world-wide event that was kicked off in late April and works to spotlight "the courage and kindness these Disney heroines inspire in fans all around the world," Disney announced in a press release.

The song will be featured in the Disney Princess Remixed An Ultimate Princess Celebration music special debuting in August.

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Eden Alene releases Hebrew cover of Disney Princess anthem 'Starting Now' - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

A bone arrowhead found in the ancient Philistine city of Gath may have been fired off by the city's defenders as part of a last stand described in the Bible.

According to the Hebrew Bible, a king named Hazael), who ruled the kingdom of Aram from around 842 B.C. to 800 B.C., conquered Gath (also known as Tell es-Safi) before marching on Jerusalem. "Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem," the Book of Kings says (2 Kings 12:17).

Archaeological excavations at Gath, in what is now Israel, have revealed that massive destruction took place in the late ninth century B.C., the time when the Bible says Hazael conquered Gath, where the Philistines (enemies of the Israelites) lived. The Hebrew Bible describes Gath as the home of Goliath, the giant warrior killed by King David.

Related: Biblical battles: 12 ancient wars lifted from the Bible

In 2019, archaeologists found a bone arrowhead in the remains of a street in the lower city that may have been fired by the city's defenders in a desperate attempt to stop Hazael's forces from taking Gath, a team of researchers wrote in a paper published recently in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology.

The arrowhead has an impact fracture on its tip, and the arrowhead "had been broken close to the mid-shaft, perhaps as a result of this impact," the archaeologists said The damage suggests the arrowhead hit a target, they added.

This arrowhead may have been produced in a workshop in Gath that was frantically trying to manufacture as many bone arrowheads for the city's defenders as possible.

The workshop, which was discovered in 2006, is located roughly 980 feet (300 meters) away from where the bone arrowhead was found. Inside this workshop, archaeologists uncovered several bones from the lower forelimbs and hind limbs of domestic cattle, suggesting that people in the workshop were in the process of making bone arrowheads. "The assemblage represents bones at different stages of working from complete bones, waste, to almost finished products," the researchers wrote in the article.

The defenders may have chosen cattle bone because the material was readily available and crafting a good arrowhead from it didn't take long. One of the researchers, Ron Kehati, a zooarchaeologist with the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project made a replica of the bone arrowhead in about an hour, study co-author Liora Kolska Horwitz, who is also a zooarchaeologist with the project, told Live Science.

This workshop "may have functioned as an emergency, ad hoc production center to supply arrowheads to fight the forces of Hazael of Aram, who put the site under siege," the researchers wrote in the article. The team plans to resume excavations at the site this summer and future discoveries may provide more clues to the fall of Gath.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Arrowhead from biblical battle discovered in Goliath's hometown - Livescience.com

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

Camelia Suleiman, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, is currently staying in Nazareth, Israel, while co-teaching a course at Hebrew University through Zoom.

Many of her students, both Jewish and Palestinian, are participating despite the clashes that have been taking place outside their homes in the Old City of Jerusalem. She wrote the following while reflecting on her class and the street violence that has taken place in Israel and the Gaza Strip this past month. This piece is also featured on the College of Arts and Letters website.

Many of us in the MSU community have been following the news from Israel/Palestine with much concern. I had just arrived in Nazareth at my parents house when everything started. I was scheduled to co-teach a course at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with Dr. Chiara Caradonna, a faculty member from there. The course Women Novelists: (Re)Writing the Nation Across the Mediterranean had been in the making for more than a year.

Young Palestinian students from East Jerusalem have been joining Hebrew University for the past 2-3 years. My presence, as a Palestinian from Nazareth, was to reassure these students, help support them and give them a sense of relevance.

Our course asks students to read womens literature from France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and Israel. Half the students who enrolled are Jewish and the other half Palestinian. As all students and faculty have been vaccinated, we were supposed to meet on campus. But, all of this got disrupted due to the recent developments.

We decided (like many other faculty) to switch the course to Zoom. Students show up to Zoom, both prepared and eager for the class, despite the fighting all around them. Their resilience is admirable, considering that some of them live in hot areas where clashes were happening literally outside their doors.

I am filled with positive emotions unspeakable, when I connect with the students through Zoom. I see humans, and I feel confident and strong when I see them in class, while everything around them is burning. They are the future.

These young people teach us a lesson in resilience, focus and hope. I hope politicians give them a chance to live and live with dignity, and without fears. They are a reminder to all of us of many things, including a reminder that the right to access education is a human right.

We at MSU, while already embodying that, can still be humbled by their courage and resilience. It is also a gentle reminder to us, as faculty, that the humanities can play a crucial role in society and in bringing people together.

While this post is not political, I am full of hope and confidence for an alternative future for both people. A future which allows them the joy of life.

We love life whenever we can. (Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet laureate, 1941-2008)

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Faculty voice: Teaching in Israel amidst the current violence - MSUToday

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

I was riding my bike last week when I passed a convoy of honking cars sporting Israeli flags and balloons in various shades of blue and white and immediately felt a wave of clashing emotions.

I felt the pang of recognition I feel whenever I see the flag that dotted the walls of my Jewish day school. And I felt a hit of nostalgia for the songs I sang at school concerts as we dressed in those same Israeli colors songs like Shalom al Yisrael.

I wanted to signal my despair and outrage. But I also wanted to be heard. So I shouted in Hebrew: Laatzor et hamilchama! Stop the war! as I cycled into the intersection.

I was alone in that moment, and I felt it. So I went home and posted to my Facebook network, among whom I count many North American Jews.

I think I need to start a new group, I wrote. A group for Jews who are committed to Palestine solidarity, and who love Hebrew and Israeli culture. A group that feels connected to the place.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

I added, In the Venn diagram I observe, there are precious few inhabiting the overlap.

Of course there are American Jews who love Israel and Israeli culture but despise the occupation. But they are all too often silent on the deepest, most entrenched parts of Israeli oppression of Palestinians: refugees, the siege on Gaza, systemic inequality within Israel.

But the kinds of Palestine solidarity groups who advance the aims I would normally sympathize with have never felt like home. The Palestinian-based groups are naturally not focused on Hebrew and Israeli culture. But neither are the few radical Jewish groups, it seems to me, thatarehuman-rights focused. You wont hear Israeli music playing at their conventions from what Ive heard from those who attend, anyway. And some groups, while signaling that Israel should be a state of all its citizens, are not equally committed to Jewishcollectiveequality in that land. Those groups dont do anything to suggest that the language, culture and traditions of both groups should be nurtured equally.

In the activism for which I yearn, the kind that places human rights front and center, I need to know that there are others, like me, who feel an ache in their heart when theyve been away from Israel for too long. Who have a favorite Tel Aviv watering hole or two. Who find ways to stream the Hebrew versions of television shows before they come to Netflix. Who dream about the scent of the refet, cowshed, puncturing the air of a kibbutz evening.

Who, despite decrying the racial profiling at the airport that public figures like Mira Awad havespoken outabout, might drag out a conversation with an El Al agent in order to fit in another two minutes of Hebrew conversation before departing.

I need to know that there are others who feel culturally invested and demand that any reimagined polity extends the idea of political community to both Israeli Jews and Palestinians.

I wasnt planning on starting a group. But as soon as I hit send on my short post, the responses came in fast and furious.

Count me in. Im in. Thats me. Id like to join.

So I delivered on my promise. Last Friday, I created a group, for now on Facebook. (Soon, I hope, we will export it out of the digital realm.) The group now numbers over 200, mostly Jews, who have pledged to support a society that nurtures and elevates the cultural and linguistic traditions of Israeli Jews and of Palestinian Arabs. Neither side, according to our vision, will exert political hegemony over the other, and the safety and security of both peoples will be closely guarded.

Well demand an end to the occupation and to Israels siege on Gaza, and we will call for legal reform in Israel to bring about equity and equality for all its citizens.

The Law of Return, which was designed to provide Jews a refuge after centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, will exist alongside the right of Palestinian refugees to return. I know this last point has been a Jewish communal third rail, but well point to projects like those of the Israeli NGO Zochrot that will help envision what the return of Palestinian refugees might look like, including restitution for property expropriated by Israel.

We will condemn violence against all civilians while not standing in the way of nonviolent modes of resistance against occupation. We do not demand one state or two, though we note that calls for a two-state solution have served, if inadvertently, to entrench the status quo. As the two-state solution has become less of an apparent possibility, the demand for it by Jewish groups and others ends up implying that Palestinians should be patient. We cannot demand patience from Palestinians clamoring to exercise their basic human rights.

As for a name for this group, Ive decided to call itDrachim(ways), after my favorite Israeli-rock album from the 1970s. But in this context, the word drachimwill be much more expansive than perhaps singer-songwriter Shlomo Artzi envisioned when he sang about love and kites and childhood: It will represent a new path forward for Israelis and Palestinians.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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Love Israeli culture, committed to Palestinian rights. Where do I belong? - The Jerusalem Post

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Ninety-seven years after the death of Franz Kafka, his long-lost documents have been finally made accessible to the public. One of the most surprising items was the writers notebook filled with doodles and sketches, library archivist and curator Stefan Litt told Czech Radio, upon the occasion of reclaiming the papers:

Franz Kafka|Photo: Atelier Jacobi, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

We know that Kafka did small drawings just for relaxing. Apparently, he never thought that it was big art, as he was generally very sceptical about his own writing and work.

He never intended to publish any of these, and we were not aware that there was another notebook kept in the Swiss bank vaults. So, that was a nice surprise. However, it doesnt really change our understanding of Kafka.

The collection was left to the National Library of Israeli by Kafkas close friend Max Brod, whom Kafka had trusted to destroy all his manuscripts after his death. In the end, he refused to do so.

The Drunk|Photo: The National Library of Israel / Max Brod Archive, Public Domain

When Brod fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, he carried Kafkas papers with him in a suitcase. He went on to publish most of his works, helping to establish Kafka asone of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

In his own will, Brod left the entire archive to his secretary, Esther Hoffe, asking her to make sure it reached the National Library of Israel.

But she held on to the documents, selling some while keeping the rest either in her apartment in Tel Aviv, or in the citys bank deposits and Swiss bank vaults.

Wedding Preparations in the Country|Photo: The National Library of Israel / Max Brod Archive, Public Domain

It was only in 2018, when Esther Hoffes daughter died, that the notary opened the apartment to investigators to look for the missing documents.

Now, after two years of intensive restoration, cataloguing and digitalisation, the long-missing documents are finally available to the public, free of charge.

Apart from the notebook with Kafkas doodles and sketches, the digitised collection also includes three draft versions of his story Wedding Preparations, hundreds of personal letters, and a notebook in which he practised Hebrew. Stefan Litt once again:

Franz Kafka's Hebrew notes|Photo: The National Library of Israel / Max Brod Archive, Public Domain

When we opened it, we saw literature, sketches and drafts written by Kafka. Right in the middle there were around eight sheets which were totally filled with word lists in Hebrew and even small texts that he wrote in Hebrew about events of his time, about 1922 and 1923.

It was modern Hebrew and quite good, actually. He was an advanced student thats for sure. It is interesting for us, of course, to see that he was so actively investing time in studying this language. And for Israeli citizens it is very exciting, of course.

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/literature-and-poetry/authors/franz-kafka

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Franz Kafka's never-before-seen manuscripts and drawings go online - Radio Prague

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Posted By admin on June 1, 2021

8 mins read

They called me Lady Intifada.

Draped in a Keffiyeh, the symbol of Palestinian resistance, Amal Murkus reflects on her life as a Palestinian Arab living in what is now called Israel. When in May 2021, Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, 300 people were left injured and several hundred casualties followed as bombings by Israel continued until the declaration of ceasefire on 21st May. We already knew if there was to be a change, there would be a war, says Amal, and I was afraid for my son and daughter as a mother.

Also read: The Art Of Dissent: In Solidarity With Palestine

Renowned singer and actress Amal Murkus has been making music ever since she was a teenager. Her first album Amal came out in 1998, followed by Shauq in 2004, Nana Ya Nana in 2007, Baghani in 2012 and Fattah Al Ward in 2015. She has also released several singles and collaborations, with her latest songs Dola and Nas out April this year. Her music is heavily influenced by Palestinian and Arab poetry and culture, earning her an international repute. Amals songs also frequently employ strong political undertones. One of her most popular songs, Che Guevara, from the album Fattah Al Ward, sung with a magnetic passion, and written by son Firas Zreik, who is also a composer, a song writer, and a kanun player, goes like this:

To all children of the rocks

Who suffered bitterly

Fear not their fire

Fear not their wall

Revolt like Che Guevara

Amal Murkus was born in Kafr Yasif village of Galilee in north-western Palestine in 1968 (now Israel). At a very young age, Amal realised the antagonism between her identity and the state she was living under. In an exclusive interview with Feminism In India over Google Meet, Amal reminisced with a delicate pensiveness, as she said, I was talking Arabic, singing Arabic, eating Arabic. But when I moved out of my village, I started to hear the Hebrew language, which was the language of the majority.

Born to Nimer Murkus, a Palestinian leader, author and educator, and Nabeeha Murkus, a human rights activist and a feminist leader, Amals life was intertwined with politics from an early age. When her father was fired from his job for his Palestinian identity and activism, Amal began noticing the discrimination that permeated though all spheres of her being. I was raised in demonstrations as a child. When I was 7-years-old, I participated in Land Day and Workers Day gatherings with my parents. I also started to sing at these demonstrations. By the 1980s, her participation and singing started gaining attention and she was invited for interviews on Israeli Television. But I was always made to speak in Hebrew, which is not my language. And I didnt know enough Hebrew, I was just a child. So I started defending my right to speak Arabic as a Palestinian.

I was always made to speak in Hebrew, which is not my language. And I didnt know enough Hebrew, I was just a child. So I started defending my right to speak Arabic as a Palestinian, Says Amal Murkus.

Discrimination against Palestinians in Israel takes many forms: suppression of their cultural identity being the most frequent one. By the First Intifada of 1987, Amal Murkus was already well versed in poetry from around Germany, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Chile and other parts of the world, and was studying music and theater in an Israeli college. I was doing singing lessons, drama and theater all in Hebrew. I was stuck between two worlds: the Palestinian culture that was very important to me and the Israeli culture I was surrounded by at my college. Her political activism increased monumentally in college, which was not well received by her Israeli peers. People called me Lady Intifada. And the Israeli students started coming dressed in their military uniforms. It was one of the most painful times of my life.

Amal Murkus political activism increased monumentally in college, which was not well received by her Israeli peers. People called me Lady Intifada. And the Israeli students started coming dressed in their military uniforms. It was one of the most painful times of my life.

I was living with Israeli communists in college, especially since no one else would house Palestenian students. One day there was a demonstration by fascists outside our apartment against the lady who was housing me. They called her a communist pig. I wanted to go to this demonstration and defend her. But the head of my college said no. He said that I must stay in college and study because when I become a successful Palestinian artist I will be able to anger more fascists.

A significant event in Murkus life, this was when she realised she wanted to write music for her people.

My music is about the memory of my people, she adds proudly, I wanted to stay close to my roots and heritage. However, bold expressions of protest in an oppressive society come with consequences. We were doing a play in Nazareth, and in the middle of rehearsals we were informed that we could not continue with the play. After negotiations with a lawyer, a compromise was decided on- we could sing but not act. In protest, two actresses went on stage with tape on their mouths. That was my first experience with censorship.

In another instance, Murkus project which was supposed to be broadcasted on Cultural Education TV and was already one year into production, was cancelled by the Ministry of Education of Israel. There is certainly a racist and discriminatory atmosphere in Israel. A lot of Israeli artists quit after this. I dont earn like an Israeli singer. I dont have the privilege of an Israeli singer.

Despite continued and frequent battles with censorship, Amal continues to strongly believe in the power of music. I think music gives people morale. It gives you strength. You can cry with this. You can scream with this. You can protest with this. And no censorship can stop music. Art will always have victory over censorship, after a short pause she continues, always, always, always.

Also read: Falling Off The Map: Medias Betrayal Of Palestine

With early influences by revolutionaries like Che Guevara from Latin America and Marxists like Angela Davis, Amal Murkus identifies herself as a feminist and a Marxist. Raised in a working class family with 5 other sisters, Amal recounts how her parents taught her the importance of economic emancipation. We were poor and my mom worked as a farmer and raised six daughters. If she was from a different time, she would have achieved so much. And my father always told us about the importance of economic independence.

The Israeli capitalist regime, and capitalist regimes everywhere have put women in a very bad situation. They sell the woman as a sexual being, you know with her body, her hair, her everything. Its like everything can be bought and sold. And I sing a lot about women. The Palestinian and Arab world is not free because the women are not free. Her song Womens Voice convey these sentiments with a poetic charm:

Her voice is a cinder

A scarlet Rose

Her head held high

Her voice shall cry: Revolt

I believe in womens voice, I think womens voice is the revolution she continues, and the women in Gaza are really suffering. They suffer from the occupation, they suffer from the religious atmosphere, and they suffer from poverty.

Amal points out an interesting interjection between womens rights and the strong religious opposition it faces. In the last 15 years, I had to cancel a lot of my concerts because of religion. They say it is forbidden for women to sing. But if I was doing something like a belly dance, I know they wont ban me. They dont want me because I have a very clear agenda of supporting womens struggle.

Thus, in addition to censorship by Israel, Amal has also experienced calls for ban from religious organisations. On multiple occasions, Amal was prohibited from performing after organisers and concert hall owners were intimidated by threats from religious organisations.

From domestic violence to the poverty of refugees, patriarchy intersects with economy, class, and colonialism to create further disparity for women. Amal calls patriarchy and capitalism a militant society with rampant violence and economic distress. The communist parties in Israel have always housed and supported singers and artists of Palestinian origins. Of course they made mistakes but I will always respect them for this. Nobody is listening to the poor people, and there are a lot of poor people.

Amal believes Palestine is in the process of giving birth to a new generation of women: Women who are more independent, women who are individuals. But as the conflict becomes more difficult, the men are finding it challenging to come to terms with this new wave of thinking.

For the last 10 years, this one womans organisation has been constantly under attack from the political Islamic organisations. They troll them on Facebook. We are tired. And when we go for womens rights demonstrations, the next day we find out another woman has been killed because of domestic violence. And you know its day after day after day..., her voice trails off.

The Al Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah attacks, and the events that followed, have impacted the lives of every Palestinian. This caught me in a period where I wanted to release new music, new projects. But my friends in Gaza were being attacked, and my daughter was in Tel Aviv. I was afraid for my friends all around Palestine. We were all afraid. It was like we were standing on top of a volcano. We didnt sleep. I was crying a lot. But it felt like this time was different, with a contemplative sigh she continues, yes, this time was different.

They always talk about coexistence and peace and thats okay, I want peace. But this is not a symmetric conflict. The Palestinian people are under occupation, and there is a tight regime that has become more and more racist and discriminatory against my people. Its not easy at all Israeli citizens must pay attention and they must protest against this tight regime. The majority has the power for change. My enemies are not the Jewish people. My enemy is the government and the ruling regime, Amal asserts.

Amal Murkus music is birthed in conflict and continues to remain an accurate reflection and voice for the same. She is currently working on a show that will feature new music from her. She has also released two new singles this year. The Israeli government is afraid of songs, and of native voices, she remarks with a smile, and Im trying to climb a mountain, and if I cant reach it I will try to climb it in a different way.

Amal Murkus music is available on all streaming platforms.

All images as provided by Amal Murkus.

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In Conversation With Amal Murkus: A Palestinian, An Artiste, A Woman - Feminism in India

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Posted By admin on May 29, 2021

Left as a smouldering heap of ruins after the Second World War, Warsaw was virtually razed to the ground, while the Polish capitals once flourishing Jewish population suffered a blow from whichit would never recover.

Indeed, of the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, halfwere Polish.

It was a far cry from the Warsaw everyone knew before 1939; a cosmopolitan city boasting glitz, glamour and grandeur, earning it the nickname, Paris of the North.

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Now Warsaws interwar vibrancy and Yiddishkeit has partly returned thanks to director Jan P Matuszynskis sumptuous drama, The King of Warsaw, which premieres atKinoteka film festival next weekand airs on More4 later this year.

But rather than looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses, the eight-part series also presents the poverty, violent crime and brutal politicsof Warsaws underbelly, where fascists, nationalists and Jews allvie for control.

Szapiro is based on Szapsel Rotholc

Based on Szczepan Twardochs bestselling 2016 novel, Krl, the plot revolves around the Warsaw of 1937, where the Jewish mafia rules the city under the leadership of Buddy Kaplica, a Polish gangster-socialist with connections in high places.

His right-hand man is heavyweight Jewish boxer Jakub Szapiro, playedby Polish actor Michal Zurawski.

On the surface, he is a loving husband and doting father, but that belies his insatiable appetite for murder, sex and violence, as well as his ambitions to usurp Buddy and become theking of Warsaw.

While essentially a work of fiction and an almost inconceivable mix of The Godfather with the Orthodox Jewish world of Yentl lead actor Zurawski is keen to mention the historical background is authentic.

For example, Szapiro is based on a real-life personality, Szapsel Rotholc, a Jewish lightweight boxer who became a policeman in the ghetto during the war although he never dabbled in gangsterism. Szapiros back story is however typical, says Zurawski, of Polish Jews whoaspired to climb the social ladder.

Speaking over Zoom, the 41-year-old actor, who was born in Silesia before later moving to Warsaw, explains: I tried to imagine myself in his shoes. He was born to an Orthodox Chassid family, in a very impoverished part of Warsaw. His whole life he wanted to be treated as an equal, to climb the social ladder.

For Jewish people to do that at the time he was born when Poland was a part of Russia they had to speak three languages: Yiddish at home, Polish for the people in the street and Russian to speak to the authorities.

I was trying to understand his brutal ways of doing things and I felt that men like him had no choice, that was the only way out for them to break through.

But Szapiro is a complex character. Despite his desire to break forth from his Orthodox roots, he refuses to forget his Jewish identity altogether.

He still has a Jewish soul and struggles to find that place where he feels comfortable with his heritage, explains Zurawski.

Equally confounding is Szapiros ability to violently murder an Orthodox Jewish man for failing to pay protection money, only to then take his victims 17-year-old son Mojzesz under his wing andtrain him in the gangster tradeas his successor.

Teenager Mojzesz is taken under the wing of gangster Szapiro

Its these dichotomies that made Szapiro all the more appealing as a role to Zurawski, alongside the actors own Jewish heritage.

I was a teenager when my grandfather told me about our Jewish roots, so I felt very connected to this role, he recalls.

My grandfathers story is a complicated one. He came from a Jewish family, but was brought up Catholic. As a teenager, he joined the home army, even though Jewish people were not welcomed. After the war, he went into hiding because the communists persecuted the soldiers.

He only came out of hiding after Stalins death, but he still had to hide his Jewish identity. My grandfather only talked about it when he was an old man and Im determined to find out more about my background.

Zurawski is now in the process of trying to discover the surname of his great-grandmother, who moved to Poland from the Crimea region and married in a Catholic church.

Im hoping I can devote more time to research it, he adds, before revealing he has just become an ambassador for the Jewish community of Warsaw.

The situation is changing here, because there is a growing sense of nostalgia for the citys Jewish heritage. Before the war, one third of the population was Jewish. That was finished first by the Germans, who very efficiently carried through their plans, and then the communists after the war. But when I speak to young people today, I definitely feel they want to learn more. They want to rediscover this part of our history.

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Oys in the hood! Drama explores the Jewish mafia which ruled pre-Shoah Warsaw - Jewish News

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