Jews in the News – Representations of Judaism and the Jewish Minority in the Norwegian Contemporary Press

This article provides an analysis of how Jewish rituals and Jews as a minority group are represented and debated in the Norwegian press: How is “news about the Jews” framed by the media? Which discourses dominate the debates? Are notions of what it “takes to be Norwegian” put forward in these cases? The article is also an analysis of Jewish voices in the press, and based on the fact that Jewish advocates refer to minority-based legal rights suggests that the Jewish minority benefits from the use of a broader international human rights discussion in the press. I claim that a multicultural discourse provides the Jewish minority with language that makes it possible to argue for cultural rights without referring to Jewishness; offering protection against a general fear of anti-Semitism.     

The history and culture of the Jews as reflected in post‐Communist Polish historiography and related activities

A Jewish European Modern Intellectual. Moses Gaster: Memorii, Corespondenta (Moses Gaster: Memoirs and Correspondence). Edited and annotated by Victor Eskenasy. Bucharest: Hasefer Publishing House 1998. xxxv+467pp. (Romanian with English and German summaries)

A Very Selective Reading. Cecil D. Edy, Hungary at War (Pennsylvania State University Press 1998), xx+318pp., price unknown

’Setting the Record Straight‘. The Story of Two Shtetls, Bransk and Ejszyszki. An Overview of Polish‐Jewish Relations in Northeastern Poland during World War II. A Collective Work, Toronto/Chicago: The Polish Educational Foundation in North America 1998. Part 1 190pp., part 2 240pp.

A Symbol of the ‘Story‘. Michael Moshe Checinski, My Father's Watch, New York and Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House 1994, 248pp. Glossary. Hard/softcover, US$30; $14.95

A Curious Experiment. Robert Weinberg, Stalin's Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland. An Illustrated History, 1928–1996. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 ix + 105pp. Biblio. Illus. Notes. Index     

Communism and pro‐soviet feeling among the Jews of East London, 1935–45

In the 1945 general election, a Communist was elected to Parliament from Mile End, Stepney, a constituency populated in large part by working‐class Jews of East European origin. Pro‐Soviet feeling in the preceding decade was strong, and was translated into ideological and political activity on behalf of the USSR by various East London branches of trade unions; friendly societies such as the Arbeter Ring (Workers’ Circle); Yiddishist groups, and popular front organizations such as the Jewish Fund for Soviet Russia. In late 1943 two prominent Soviet Jewish emissaries, Itzik Feffer and Shloime Mikhoels, visited England. Among their hosts were the Jewish organizations of Stepney. The effects of their tour, and the emotional intensity with which East London Jews followed the course of the Russo‐German war, were instrumental in creating the climate of opinion enabling the CP to post its 1945 victory.     

The Jews and revolution: Russian perspectives, 1881–1918

Contemporaries and historians of the Russian revolutions have often made a great deal of the Jewish role in the events of 1917. In late 1917, for instance, it was commonplace to assert that the Bolsheviks were simply part of a Jewish conspiracy. This paper takes a look at the various Russian perspectives on the revolution and its Jewish aspects, focusing in particular on the views of leading intellectuals, writers and politicians, such as S.M. Dubnov, Maxim Gorkii and Aleksandr Blok. It reveals that attitudes were not always straightforward, even amongst the liberal elements of the intelligentsia.     

Jewish response to the non-Jewish question: “Where were the Jews during the fighting?” 1941–5

ABSTRACT

The war of the USSR against Nazi Germany led to an increase of negative expressions in regard to Jews. Often members of the Soviet population accused Jews of avoiding combat, of cowardice, and of an inherent incapacity to feel patriotic toward Russia. Such a view was an adaptation of prewar anti-Jewish prejudices to war-time conditions. Some Jews, both at the front and in the rear, viewed these expressions as a sign of the emergence of an ethnic inequality that did not exist in the prewar Soviet Union. Increased Jewish sensitivity to one aspect of the theme of equality (the idea that Jews were fighting as well and as bravely as members of other ethnic groups) inclined Soviet Jews to prefer the term and concept of “Soviet” rather than those of “Russian.” The former represented for them a state of all its ethnic groups, including the Jews, while the latter appeared to reflect a priority accorded to a single ethnic group, the Russians. Anti-Jewish attitudes in the Soviet rear and, to some extent, at the front as well, was one factor that led to the reinforcement of the Soviet Jewish identity.     

State and Regional Professional Associations—the Case of the CSA and the PSA

The CSA and the PSA share several critical challenges including maintaining a stable membership, providing opportunities for students to present their work while at the same time maintaining their position as an organization of professional sociologists, meeting the needs of a diverse membership and balancing the teaching and research needs of this diverse membership. The need is for the CSA and the PSA to work together to form an even closer partnership.     

Women and the Environment

Cleaning-up the environment, the Sewage Disposal Factory in Luzhi Town in suburban Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, centralizes sewage control for the local economic and technological development zone.     

Jews in Belorussia's judicial system, 1944–1953

The relationship and cultural transfer between Jews and Belorussians are still rather unexplored topics. This article aims at analysing a historical process neglected by the historians of both the Jewish people and the Soviet Union: the “Belorussianisation” of the Jewish people in the interwar period. It proposes to scrutinise the impact of the nationalities policy on the crystallisation of a Belorussian‐Jewish identity. On the one hand, it is obvious that Belorussian leading political figures, influenced by Jewish intellectuals, proved to be very favourable to the development of the Jewish culture and to a Jewish‐Belorussian rapprochement. On the other hand, this study suggests that the achievements of the Soviet nationalities policy with regard to the “Belorussianisation” of Jews were ambiguous. In the three fields studied – education, scholarship and art – the results appeared to be mitigated and paradoxical. The “indigenisation” policy led to a separation of the Jewish and Belorussian educational system but stimulated the flourishing of a joined Belorussian‐Jewish scholarship. In contrast, the most profound and fruitful encounter between the Jewish and Belorussian cultures occurred in a domain, the visual arts, where the Belorussian government did not set a clear policy of rapprochement.     

Empowerment,expectations, and the psychological contract—managing the dilemmas and gaining the advantages

Empowerment, participation, self-managing work teams, employee ownership and profit sharing are but a few of the many current forms of employee involvement in workplace decision making. Few theorists or practicing managers question the concept of employee involvement or its potential benefits. However, most employers realize that the degree of involvement varies with the organizational situation, the persons involved and the nature of work. Empowerment creates a dilemma. Empowering employees results in creating beliefs about entitlements that must be unfulfilled eventually. Unfulfilled beliefs about entitlements may constitute a breach of the psychological contract between employer and employee. A breach of the psychological contract may result in employee behavior that is counterproductive in terms of organizational goals.     

Dangjia Village Blends the Old and the New

DANGJIA Village is located nine kilometers north of Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province. The building complex in this village is Oriental in style, and the customs here show the development of Chinese traditional culture. Dangjia Village was established in 1331 A.D. Residents of the village had two family names—Dang and Jia. The descendants of Dang and Jia lived,     

Closing the Gap? Gender and the Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees

Migrant women's organizations, UN Women, and civil society advocacy networks have mobilized to call for greater gender‐responsiveness in migration governance. The development of the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees presented an important opportunity to continue enhancing the international framework for protecting the rights of women and men on the move. This article asks: How has gender been understood/invoked during proceedings leading up to their adoption? In what ways is it incorporated in the resulting compacts and their operationalization? What are the gains and missed opportunities for gender‐responsiveness? Drawing on data gathered through participant observation in the global compact on migration preparatory meetings and member state negotiations in Geneva and New York, and policy analysis of the drafts of both compacts, this paper aims to determine the extent to which the compacts, and the plans to operationalize them, serve to widen or close the gender gap.