Dickinson students, Denise del Gaudio and Lily Hoffman, interviewing Hilda Krawieki at the Macabi Club near Buenos Aires, 1/10/10

Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Since January 6, 2010, 8 Dickinson students, along with numerous Argentinean students who are part of ORT’s Oral History Project, have been visiting neighborhoods, shops, synagogues, libraries and other cultural institutions, and also conducting oral interviews with a wide range of Jewish community members: young and old, religious and secular, Ashkenazic and Sephardic… The group spent 2 days at the Macabi social/sports club’s “camp” in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, and is currently traveling for 3 days to several Jewish colonies in Entre Rios, to the northwest of Buenos Aires: Villaguay, Dominguez, Villa Clara, and Concordia.  Next, we will be traveling to Carlos Casares, a Jewish colony to the southwest of Buenos Aires.

Blog: http://historiaoralort.blogspot.com/

Website: http://campus.almagro.ort.edu.ar/cienciassociales/historiaoral

Visit this site for updates on our interviews, photos, etc. in the coming days.

I decided at the beginning of the course that I would know I had had a successful learning experience if I came away from the class with a better understanding of several things. The first was I wanted to gain a new understanding of the cultures, traditions and life experiences of the Jewish people throughout the world. An example of a tradition that I was unfamiliar with prior to this class was the wedding tradition involving henna. This practice is not a traditional American custom and was very interesting to learn about. I never knew that henna symbolized the hope for a bride’s fertility, while at the same time serving as a reminder to the bride and groom to maintain family purity and abstain from sex during the woman’s menstruation. I was also fascinated by some of the customs and traditions we learned about that occur for Jews in Muslim Libya. For example, I knew that breaking glass was customary at Jewish weddings, however I didn’t know that breaking an egg at a wedding symbolized the bride’s virginity. It was very interesting learning about the plethora of traditions that occur as a part of Jewish life outside the United States.

The other criteria I decided to use as a measurement of how successful this class was would be if I enjoyed my time learning and immersing myself in the material we were studying. I think I can safely say this criteria was met. I greatly enjoyed learning about Jews around the world as well as those in America, and all the while learning more about myself as a Jewish woman and my Jewish identity. This course really got me thinking in and outside the classroom. Overall, I think this class was a very successful learning experience and I truly enjoyed it!

When I realized we would be doing a reading about the Holocaust as a myth, I was intrigued, but a little horrified as well. Although this may sound harsh,  prior to learning the definition of myth we constructed in class, I was very confused how the Holocaust could possibly be considered a myth. However, after absorbing the definition we developed in class as well as the definition in the reading, I found myself curious to see what arguments were made in this reading.

I think what I was most intrigued by was what Abramson considered the function of a myth to be. According to the article, the function of a myth is “to be selective and shrink the complex details of the past down to a manageable size”. He then goes on to explain that there is a core narrative that seems to be represented in the majority of Holocaust literature. These core themes, according to Abramson, are anti-Semitism, the total powerlessness of the Jews facing violently anti-Semitic dictator egged on by bloodthirsty anti-Semitic sadists and murderers, post-Holocaust survival, and the moral imperative for both Jews and the rest of the world to remember the catastrophe, that it should never happen again (Abramson, 124). The point that this article is making is that there is actually very little about the Holocaust that people know or need to know. However, these core narratives act as a myth for the Jewish people in that it provides Jews with justifications for maintaining their identities as Jews. This idea was a completely new concept to me and really made me reconsider how it is I identify as Jewish and what I really know about my history. This reading really left me thinking, which I see as a very positive thing and something I appreciate taking away from the course.

Something that I found absolutely fascinating during this portion of the semester was the Ketubbah artist who visited class. Because my parents were married by a Justice of the Peace and removed all religious aspects from their wedding ceremony, I was unfamiliar with the what a Ketubbah was and its importance to a Jewish couple.

I was intrigued by how the Ketubbah artwork evolved over time. The intricate and elaborate designs that decorated each Ketubbah of early European Jews were extremely beautiful. The details of each piece were unique and different for each of the couples. Although the early Ketubbah designs were lavish and brilliant in many ways, I found myself attracted to the samples of Ketubbah artwork the presenter had made previously. I really enjoyed seeing what designs each couple came up with so that their Ketubbah expressed their interests as well as their relationship and the start of their lives together. Although some of them were a little strange and untraditional, I liked the concept of designing your own Ketubbah so that it would be personal and particularly meaningful for the couple. I found myself thinking of what designs or details I would include in my own Ketubbah!

It was also a nice change of pace seeing this presentation as a supplement to the reading we had done prior to class. It brought a very realistic and practical application of the topic being studied which made learning more interesting. Overall I took a great deal of information away from this class and truly enjoyed learning about this great marriage tradition.

Before the diaspora, Jewish identity was based around the temple.  At the temple, they would make sacrifices and congregate there three times a year.  The holidays of Sukkot, Passoverm and Shavu’ot were all strategically organized in that people could come during those times without taking a lot of their agricultural work.  After the temple was destroyed, the Jews had to find a way to unify and find their identity.  They found their identity through books and rituals done at home.  The Talmud and Hebrew Bible codified and became commonplace.  From then until the time of the Holocaust, Jews were mostly a religious group that predominately defined themselves through their books.  After the Holocaust, I think you could argue that the Jews became more secular.  They started to assert themselves more politically and religious than they ever had before (to my knowledge) with the formation of the state of Israel.  Not Jewish identity shifted from religious practice, to religious understand and secular awareness.  I say secular awareness as a term to describe Jewish culture and a need for a separate identity, not religiously bond.  With the formation of Israel, this can be seen, as many Israelis are secular, but have a cultural understanding/appreciation/participating view on Judaism, while they might not be outwardly religious.  It is interesting to examine what major events change or shift Jewish identity in other directions.

If today was like in biblical times, the Holocaust would soon develop a ritualized way of remembering the tragedy.  A time would be chosen to commemorate the struggle, and then celebrate it for redemption from God.  All there is today is a Holocaust Remembrance Day called Yom HaShoah.  Yom HaShoah only remembers those Jews lost in the Holocaust.  It is very secular as it aims to teach people to never forget and to remind them of the atrocities.  It is interesting that if this were biblical times, wouldn’t there be more religion involved?  If the Holocaust is a major event in Jewish history, one that rivals that of Biblical times, should there be room to write about it in the Bible.  Is there room to write another book if all other major struggles in Jewish history have books about them?

Upon doing some research about them, they believe themselves to be in line with the first generation of gentiles and Jews who followed Jesus during his life, then after his death.  They believe that he is the Jewish Messiah, and that other Jews should realize this.  They present themselves as Jews for Jesus rather than Christian which leads me to believe that should not take Paul’s doctrine into consideration.   After reading all of his writings, I found Paul to be anti-Semitic at points.  I would think they would dissociate themselves from Paul because Jesus is their Messiah, but Paul would be accepting and recognizing Christianity.  However, they like Paul and even go as far as saying that he would denouce God for the safety of the Jews in Romans 9.  I imagine this is up for interpretation.

So why haven’t Jews for Jesus converted to their own sect of Christianity rather than being a group trying to only get Jews to accept Jesus.  As a Christian, my answer from a Jew who recognizes Christ would be because Jesus was Jewish.  He wasn’t out to create his own religion, rather reform the one he believed in.  I always have long conversations with my mom about how if Jesus came back, he would probably be horrified about Christianity, and how a truer form of Christianity in the sense of how Jesus taught it would be something that would look a lot more like Judaism did in Jesus’ time.