Magical American Jew

Author : Aaron Tillman
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2017-11-15
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781498565035

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Magical American Jew by Aaron Tillman Pdf

Efforts to describe contemporary Jewish American identities often reveal more questions than concrete articulations, more statements about what Jewish Americans are not than what they are. Highlighting the paradoxical phrasings that surface in contemporary writings about Jewish American literature and culture—language that speaks to the elusive difference felt by many Jewish Americans—Aaron Tillman asks how we portray identities and differences that seem to resist concrete definition. Over the course of Magical American Jew, Tillman examines this enigma—the indefinite yet undeniable difference that informs contemporary Jewish American identity—demonstrating how certain writers and filmmakers have deployed magical realist techniques to illustrate the enigmatic difference that Jewish Americans have felt and continue to feel. Similar to the indeterminate nature of Jewish American identity, magical realism is marked by paradox and does not fit easily into any singular category. Often characterized as a mode of literary expression, rather than a genre within literature, magical realism has been the subject of debates about definition, origin, and application. After elucidating the features of the mode, Tillman illustrates how it enables uniquely cogent portrayals of enigmatic elements of difference. Concentrating on a diverse selection of Jewish American short fiction and film—including works by Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, Cynthia Ozick, Nathan Englander, Steve Stern, and Melvin Jules Bukiet— Magical American Jew covers a range of subjects, from archiving Holocaust testimony to satirical Jewish American humor. Shedding light on aspects of media, marginalization, excess, and many other facets of contemporary American society, the study concludes by addressing the ways that the magical realist mode has been and can be used to examine U.S. ethnic literatures more broadly.

Author : Joshua Trachtenberg
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2012-10-08
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780812208337

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Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg Pdf

Alongside the formal development of Judaism from the eleventh through the sixteenth centuries, a robust Jewish folk religion flourished—ideas and practices that never met with wholehearted approval by religious leaders yet enjoyed such wide popularity that they could not be altogether excluded from the religion. According to Joshua Trachtenberg, it is not possible truly to understand the experience and history of the Jewish people without attempting to recover their folklife and beliefs from centuries past. Jewish Magic and Superstition is a masterful and utterly fascinating exploration of religious forms that have all but disappeared yet persist in the imagination. The volume begins with legends of Jewish sorcery and proceeds to discuss beliefs about the evil eye, spirits of the dead, powers of good, the famous legend of the golem, procedures for casting spells, the use of gems and amulets, how to battle spirits, the ritual of circumcision, herbal folk remedies, fortune telling, astrology, and the interpretation of dreams. First published more than sixty years ago, Trachtenberg's study remains the foundational scholarship on magical practices in the Jewish world and offers an understanding of folk beliefs that expressed most eloquently the everyday religion of the Jewish people.

Author : Joshua Trachtenberg
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 396 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2004-02-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0812218620

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Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg Pdf

Alongside the formal development of Judaism from the eleventh through the sixteenth centuries, a robust Jewish folk religion flourished—ideas and practices that never met with wholehearted approval by religious leaders yet enjoyed such wide popularity that they could not be altogether excluded from the religion. According to Joshua Trachtenberg, it is not possible truly to understand the experience and history of the Jewish people without attempting to recover their folklife and beliefs from centuries past. Jewish Magic and Superstition is a masterful and utterly fascinating exploration of religious forms that have all but disappeared yet persist in the imagination. The volume begins with legends of Jewish sorcery and proceeds to discuss beliefs about the evil eye, spirits of the dead, powers of good, the famous legend of the golem, procedures for casting spells, the use of gems and amulets, how to battle spirits, the ritual of circumcision, herbal folk remedies, fortune telling, astrology, and the interpretation of dreams. First published more than sixty years ago, Trachtenberg's study remains the foundational scholarship on magical practices in the Jewish world and offers an understanding of folk beliefs that expressed most eloquently the everyday religion of the Jewish people.

Author : Lyn Di Iorio Sandín,R. Perez
Publisher : Springer
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781137329240

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Moments of Magical Realism in US Ethnic Literatures by Lyn Di Iorio Sandín,R. Perez Pdf

A collection of essays that explores magical realism as a momentary interruption of realism in US ethnic literature, showing how these moments of magic realism serve to memorialize, address, and redress traumatic ethnic histories.

Author : Geoffrey W. Dennis
Publisher : Llewellyn Worldwide
Page : 504 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2016-02-08
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9780738748146

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The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism by Geoffrey W. Dennis Pdf

Jewish esotericism is the oldest and most influential continuous occult tradition in the West. Presenting lore that can spiritually enrich your life, this one-of-a-kind encyclopedia is devoted to the esoteric in Judaism—the miraculous and the mysterious. In this second edition, Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis has added over thirty new entries and significantly expanded over one hundred other entries, incorporating more knowledge and passages from primary sources. This comprehensive treasury of Jewish teachings, drawn from sources spanning Jewish scripture, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Kabbalah, and other esoteric branches of Judaism, is exhaustively researched yet easy to use. It includes over one thousand alphabetical entries, from Aaron to Zohar Chadesh, with extensive cross-references to related topics and new illustrations throughout. Drawn from the well of a great spiritual tradition, the secret wisdom within these pages will enlighten and empower you. Praise: "An erudite and lively compendium of Jewish magical beliefs, practices, texts, and individuals...This superb, comprehensive encyclopedia belongs in every serious library."—Richard M. Golden, Director of the Jewish Studies Program, University of North Texas, and editor of The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition "Rabbi Dennis has performed a tremendously important service for both the scholar and the novice in composing a work of concise information about aspects of Judaism unbeknownst to most, and intriguing to all."—Rabbi Gershon Winkler, author of Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism

Author : Jewish Publication Society of America (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1967
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:314908327

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Jewish Magic and Superstition. A Study in Folk Religion by Jewish Publication Society of America (Philadelphia, Pa.) Pdf

Author : Author Series Editor Yuval Harari
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2021-10
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0814348815

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Jewish Magic Before the Rise of Kabbalah by Author Series Editor Yuval Harari Pdf

A comprehensive study of Jewish magic in the late antiquity and the early Islamic period-the phenomenon, the sources, and method for its research, and the history of scholarly investigation into its nature and origin.

Author : David Hopen
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 531 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780062974761

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The Orchard by David Hopen Pdf

A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST A Recommended Book From: The New York Times * Good Morning America * Entertainment Weekly * Electric Literature * The New York Post * Alma * The Millions * Book Riot A commanding debut and a poignant coming-of-age story about a devout Jewish high school student whose plunge into the secularized world threatens everything he knows of himself Ari Eden’s life has always been governed by strict rules. In ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn, his days are dedicated to intense study and religious rituals, and adolescence feels profoundly lonely. So when his family announces that they are moving to a glitzy Miami suburb, Ari seizes his unexpected chance for reinvention. Enrolling in an opulent Jewish academy, Ari is stunned by his peers’ dizzying wealth, ambition, and shameless pursuit of life’s pleasures. When the academy’s golden boy, Noah, takes Ari under his wing, Ari finds himself entangled in the school’s most exclusive and wayward group. These friends are magnetic and defiant—especially Evan, the brooding genius of the bunch, still living in the shadow of his mother’s death. Influenced by their charismatic rabbi, the group begins testing their religion in unconventional ways. Soon Ari and his friends are pushing moral boundaries and careening toward a perilous future—one in which the traditions of their faith are repurposed to mysterious, tragic ends. Mesmerizing and playful, heartrending and darkly romantic, The Orchard probes the conflicting forces that determine who we become: the heady relationships of youth, the allure of greatness, the doctrines we inherit, and our concealed desires.

Author : Gideon Bohak
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2011-02-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0521180988

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Ancient Jewish Magic by Gideon Bohak Pdf

Gideon Bohak gives a pioneering account of the broad history of ancient Jewish magic, from the Second Temple to the rabbinic period. It is based both on ancient magicians' own compositions and products in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek, and on the descriptions and prescriptions of non-magicians, to reconstruct a historical picture that is as balanced and nuanced as possible. The main focus is on the cultural make-up of ancient Jewish magic, and special attention is paid to the processes of cross-cultural contacts and borrowings between Jews and non-Jews, as well as to inner-Jewish creativity. Other major issues explored include the place of magic within Jewish society, contemporary Jewish attitudes to magic, and the identity of its practitioners. Throughout, the book seeks to explain the methodological underpinnings of all sound research in this demanding field, and to highlight areas where further research is likely to prove fruitful.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : First Avenue Editions
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 9780822567462

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The Magic Pomegranate by Anonim Pdf

Three handsome and clever brothers compete to find the world's most unusual gift. Includes a note on doing good deeds, or mitzvot, and discusses the symbolism of the pomegranate in Judaism.

Author : Ortal-Paz Saar
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2017-08-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004347892

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Jewish Love Magic by Ortal-Paz Saar Pdf

In Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages Ortal-Paz Saar explores the supernatural methods employed by Jews in order to generate love, grace or hate, comparing them to contemporaneous Graeco-Roman and Christian love magic.

Author : Stella Setka
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2020-05-19
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781498583848

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Empathy and the Phantasmic in Ethnic American Trauma Narratives by Stella Setka Pdf

Empathy and the Phantasmic in Ethnic American Trauma Narratives examines a burgeoning genre of ethnic American literature called phantasmic trauma narratives, which use culturally specific modes of the supernatural to connect readers to historical traumas such as slavery and genocide. Drawing on trauma theory and using an ethnic studies methodology, this book shows how phantasmic novels and films present historical trauma in ways that seek to invite reader/viewer empathy about the cultural groups represented. In so doing, the author argues that these texts also provide models of interracial alliances to encourage contemporary cross-cultural engagement as a restorative response to historical traumas. Further, the author examines how these narratives function as sites of cultural memory that provide a critical purchase on the enormity of enslavement, genocide, and dispossession.

Author : Richard Perez,Victoria A. Chevalier
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 651 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2020-04-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783030398354

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The Palgrave Handbook of Magical Realism in the Twenty-First Century by Richard Perez,Victoria A. Chevalier Pdf

The Palgrave Handbook of Magical Realism in the Twenty-First Century examines magical realism in literatures from around the globe. Featuring twenty-seven essays written by leading scholars, this anthology argues that literary expressions of magical realism proliferate globally in the twenty-first century due to travel and migrations, the shrinking of time and space, and the growing encroachment of human life on nature. In this global context, magical realism addresses twenty-first-century politics, aesthetics, identity, and social/national formations where contact between and within cultures has exponentially increased, altering how communities and nations imagine themselves. This text assembles a group of critics throughout the world—the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia—who employ multiple theoretical approaches to examine the different ways magical realism in literature has transitioned to a global practice; thus, signaling a new stage in the history and development of the genre.

Author : Gershon Winkler
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2003-01-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1556434448

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Magic of the Ordinary by Gershon Winkler Pdf

A spiritual crisis sent Orthodox rabbi Gershon Winkler to remote regions of the Southwest, where he studied with Native American healers. From them he began to recover the long-lost wisdom of what he calls “Aboriginal Judaism”: the religion’s tribal roots. This book tracks his personal journey and draws from a dazzling mix of sources to detail the surprising connections between two seemingly unrelated religions.

Author : Patrick Coleman
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 389 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2018-10-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780773555709

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Equivocal City by Patrick Coleman Pdf

The study of Montreal as a specific location in French and English writings has long been subordinated to the demands of linguistically divided and politically contentious narratives about national development. In this cross-linguistic study, Patrick Coleman models an inclusive and post-national literary history of the city itself. Tracing a sequence of moments in the emergence of the Montreal novel from World War II to the turbulent 1960s, Equivocal City offers close readings of fourteen key works of fiction, focusing on the inner dynamic of their construction as well as the unexpected convergences and contrasts in the narrative structures they adopt and the aesthetic perspective they seek to achieve. Critically sophisticated but accessibly written, this book gives a sympathetic account of how writers in both languages struggled to give integrated artistic expression to their experience of a city that was still linguistically compartmentalized and culturally insecure. By analyzing the interplay between story and narrative form, the book explores what French and English novelists could – and could not – imagine about the Montreal they sought to portray. From the responsible realism of Hugh MacLennan and Gabrielle Roy to the fractious phantasmagorias of Jacques Ferron and Leonard Cohen, Equivocal City traces the evolution of the Montreal novel with the aim of retrieving a shareable literary past.