ולדמן, אלכס. הגימנזיסטים: חינוך, אקטיביזם ומקורות האינטליגנציה היהודית באימפריה הרוסית; מאגנס: ירושלים, 2023; p. 267.
בתי הספר התיכוניים באימפריה הרוסית היו במבט ראשון מוסדות משעממים להחריד: מסדרונות ארוכים ואפלוליים, משמעת נוקשה; שינון אינסופי של משוואות ומשפטים ביוונית ובלטינית. אבל מתחת לפני השטח, מאחורי גבם של המחנכים חמורי הסבר, שקקו חיי חברה פעילים: חבורות וחברויות, חוגי קריאה וקופות לעזרה הדדית, עיתונים בכתב יד שהביעו רעיונות ביקורתיים ולעגו למורים, ולפעמים אפילו חוגים מהפכניים נלהבים. שלא ברצונם של אנשי הממסד החינוכי האימפריאלי נעשו בתי הספר התיכוניים לסביבה שאפשר לגלות בה עולמות חדשים ולהשתנות מן הקצה אל הקצה.
במחצית השנייה של המאה התשע-עשרה באו בשערי בתי הספר גם תלמידים יהודים רבים. הגימנזיסטים מספר את סיפורם של תלמידים אלה: מקבלת ההחלטה ללמוד בבית ספר תיכון, דרך אתגרי הקבלה ללימודים וההתמדה בלמידה וכלה בהשפעותיו המעצבות של בית הספר, שרבים מבוגריו היו לאקטיביסטים יהודים, אנשי האינטליגנציה היהודית-רוסית. כך עוסק הגימנזיסטים בנושא שחשיבותו חורגת מדל"ת האמות של בתי הספר: הוא מראה כיצד ההשתלבות במערכות האימפריה, שהרחיקה לכאורה את הצעירים מהחברה היהודית, סללה בפועל נתיבות חדשים לאקטיביזם יהודי.
Language: Russian
Memoirs of the prominent historian, publicist and public figure Semion Markovich Dubnov (1860-1941) constitute an encyclopedia of Jewish life in Russia.
Simon Dubnov constructed his memoirs from the diaries that he kept throughout his life; these reflect the rich panorama of events from the second half of nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century. Dubnow was an active participant, and a witness, to the crucial events of the era, such as the decline of the Jewish enlightenment in Eastern Europe, the emergence and development of Zionism and other political movements, the 1905 and 1917 revolutions and the Russian Civil War. Dubnov lived and worked in centers of Jewish life like Odessa, Vilna and St. Petersburg during years of dramatic changes in the life of the Jewish people. He included in this memoir vivid portrayals of his friends and colleagues, among them writers like Sholem Aleichem, Bialik, Frug, Leskov, Volyn, as well as public figures like Vinaver, Gruzenberg, Landau, Sliozberg and many others.
The first two parts of the memoir deal with scientific, social and political life of Russia and Russian Jewry. The third part provides insight into the life of Russian-Jewish immigrants in Europe, where Dubnov resided from 1922-1933. This new edition of Dubnov's memoir not only contains a new preface, but significantly supplemented and revised biographical and bibliographical commentaries.
This published catalogue is the finding aid for the archive of the Israeli Association of Former Prisoners of Zion in the USSR, spanning its activities from 1971-2004. This collection is housed at the Central Zionist Archive (CZA). The Nevzlin Center proudly funded the receipt and organization of this large collection (constituting 25 linear meters) at the CZA in 2004, as well as the publication of this catalogue in 2005, with the opening of the collection to researchers.
The collection includes more than 700 personal files of former Prisoners of Zion in the Soviet Union, institutional and personal correspondence, organizational memoranda, minutes of meetings, posters, newsletters, various publications connected to the subject, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia from the Soviet Jewry movement in Israel. The collection reflects the full activities of the Association in its efforts to free Soviet "refuseniks" and to facilitate their absorption in Israel. A small part of the collection also deals with Prisoners of Zion from Ethiopia and Arab countries.
This issue of Jewish History is dedicated to organized modern Jewish agricultural settlement. The nine essays published here originated in much earlier versions read at the international conference, "To the Land!: 200 Years of Jewish Agricultural Settlement," held in June 2005, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish Diaspora. Museum (Beth Hatefutsoth). The five organizing partners were: the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry and the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, both of the Hebrew University, the Yad Tebenkin Research and Documenta tion Center of the Kibbutz 1v1ovement, the Jewish Diaspora. ivfuseum, and the Chair for the Study of the History of the Jewish National Fund at Bar-Ilan University. The Nevzlin Center at the Hebrew University supported the preparation of these materials for press.
The goal of the conference, and now, even more, of the fully elaborated essays presented here, is to reopen academic discussion on the global dimensions of Jewish agricultural settlement.
In less than a century, Jews in Russia have survived two world wars, revolution, political and economic turmoil, and persecution by both Nazis and Soviets. Yet they have managed not only to survive, but also transform themselves and emerge as a highly creative, educated entity that has transplanted itself into other countries. Revolution, Repression and Revival: The Soviet Jewish Experience enhances our understanding of the Russian Jewish past by bringing together some of the latest thinking by the leading scholars from the former Soviet Union, Israel and the United States. The book explains the contradictions, ambiguities and anomalies of the Russian Jewish story and helps us understand one of the most complex and unsettled chapters in modern Jewish history. The Soviet Jewish story has had many fits and starts as it transfers from one chapter of Soviet history to another and eventually, from one country to another. Some believe that the chapter of Russian Jewry is coming to a close. Whatever the future of Russian Jewry may be, it has a rich, turbulent past. Revolution, Repression and Revival sheds new light on the past, illustrating the complexities of the present, and gives needed insights into the likely future.
Ritual Murder In Russia, Eastern Europe, And Beyond: New Histories Of An Old Accusation; Avrutin, E. M. ; Dekel-Chen, J. ; Weinberg, R., Eds.; Indiana University Press: Bloomington, 2017.This innovative reassessment of ritual murder accusations brings together scholars working in history, folklore, ethnography, and literature. Favoring dynamic explanations of the mechanisms, evolution, popular appeal, and responses to the blood libel, the essays rigorously engage with the larger social and cultural worlds that made these phenomena possible. In doing so, the book helps to explain why blood libel accusations continued to spread in Europe even after modernization seemingly made them obsolete. Drawing on untapped and unconventional historical sources, the collection explores a range of intriguing topics: popular belief and scientific knowledge; the connections between antisemitism, prejudice, and violence; the rule of law versus the power of rumors; the politics of memory; and humanitarian intervention on a global scale.
