Jewish Studies Journal | Shandong University | Research on Jewish Culture and Comparative Religion

Study on Anti-Semitism in the Times of the American Economic Crisis, 1929-1933

GAO Longbin CHENG Weiyi — 2025-12-01

The development of anti-Semitism in the United States has profound historical roots. The resurgence of anti-Semitism, spurred on by the economic crisis of 1929-1933, became a direct reflection of the social unrest and economic difficulties of the time. The economic crisis served as a catalyst to exacerbate the existing anti-Semitic prejudices, which made anti-Semitism in this period characterized by complexity, expansion, extremism, organization, and the fusion of multiple extremist ideas. Archives from the American Jewish Committee, such as “The Silver Shirts, Their History, Founders, and Activities,” “The Influence of Hitlerism in the United States,” and “Report of William Dudley Pelley,” are important for understanding the background, founders, and anti-Semitic activities of anti-Semitic organizations during this period. The Jewish Intelligence Agency’s reports help to understand the emergence of anti-Semitic voices in local legislatures and governments in the United States. Other social groups discriminated against Jews to varying degrees in different fields, which worsened the living conditions of the Jewish community and directly contributed to the development of the Jewish left-wing movement.

From Jewish Sensibility to Messianism: The Jewish Perspective of Ernst Bloch’s Philosophy

SUN Kejia CHEN Ying — 2025-12-01

Ernst Bloch, as an important German-Jewish philosopher of the 20^th century, has long seen the Jewish dimension of his thought overlooked in academia. This paper examines Bloch’s Jewish identity and his unique interpretation of the messianic concept, revealing how Jewish Sensibility permeates his utopian philosophy and eschatology. Growing up in Germany at the turn of the century, Bloch’s intellectual formation was influenced by Zionism, gradually breaking free from the constraints of Enlightenment and Bildung rationality and turning toward a messianism imbued with eschatological overtones. In Bloch’s philosophy, messianism manifests in three key traits: dialectical unity (restorative and utopian impulses), a catastrophic eschatology, and an anarchist tendency. These characteristics shape his ontology of “not-yet-being” (Noch-Nicht-Sein) and revolutionary utopianism, which emphasizes the redemption of a new world through the destruction of the old order. Bloch’s conception of the Messiah not only critiques capitalism and the Enlightenment notion of progress but also highlights human agency and emancipatory potential within the Jewish tradition. This paper argues that the trajectory from Jewish Sensibility to Messianism is central to understanding Bloch’s thought, demonstrating how Jewish tradition profoundly influences modern critical theory in the tension between hope and reality.

National Narratives in the Arena: The Construction of Jewish National Identity through International Sporting Events

ZHENG Tiancheng — 2025-12-01

Traditional Jews have been extremely hostile towards sports. However, with the rise of Jewish nationalism in the late 19th century, Jews began to change their attitude towards sports, viewing it as an important tool for national education and the construction of a national state. In 1932, Jews organised their own regional sports event — the Maccabiah Games. Over time, the scale of the Maccabiah Games continued to expand, and its influence grew steadily. In 1951, Israel officially became a member of the International Olympic Committee and established the Israeli National Olympic Committee. Since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Israel has actively participated in every subsequent Summer Olympics. Overall, Israel has achieved extraordinary significance through its active participation in and hosting of international sports events in terms of reinforcing international recognition of its sovereign state identity, alleviating geopolitical tensions, enhancing the social status of women, and showcasing the secular characteristics of a modern nation. However, international sports events also exhibit negative characteristics such as ethnic chauvinism, militarised management, and constraints imposed by traditional values in the construction of Jewish national identity.

The Sin Offering in Hebrew Law

JI Cheng — 2025-12-01

The Hebrew law, including sacrificial regulations, is an element of the covenant. As for the type of the source of law, sacrificial regulations are mainly case law. In the society of ancient Israel, one of the important functions of the sacrificial system is to remove the danger caused by sin. Sin offerings are supposed to be brought to deal with unintentional sin, intentional sin, or major impurities. The main purpose of the sin offering is to make atonement for the worshipper by means of the principle of substitution and to remove the pollution caused by sin. The laws for sacrifice were for everyone in ancient Israel's society to note, and they were completely different from the secrecy of priestly legislation found in the surrounding nations. Even the Roman law did not come into a stage of publicity until around 300 BC, which was about a thousand years later than that of Hebrew law. There are principles of proportionality of crime and punishment, and principle of equality in the sacrificial system, which combines rules and affections in its ways of dispute resolution. The motivation for Israelites to obey the sacrificial regulations includes fear, faith, and gratitude. Characteristics of the Sacrificial Law provide beneficial illustrations and rationale for us to understand the principles of the rule of law.

The Yiddish Press and the Transformation of Low-rung Eastern European Jews

CHEN Hongmei — 2025-12-01

The traditional Eastern European Jewry was segregated and impoverished in general, but the separation and isolation began to collapse under the impact from its inner ideological movements and the outer major events between 1881 and 1925, and it came to embrace the open and civilized modern urban life. In this tremendous social transformation and cultural conflict, the development and prosperity of the Yiddish press was a remarkable manifestation of Eastern European Jewish culture. This essay attempts to explore the role the Yiddish press has played in the transfiguration and maintains that Yiddish journalism as mass medium is both a result from and generative mechanism of the modernization of Eastern European Jewry, the two of which have promoted each other and accomplished their mission.

Modern Medical Value of Jewish Brit Mila

YANG Meng ZHAO Qiwen — 2025-12-01

Jewish circumcision ritual is a Jewish tradition with a long history. According to their tradition, Jewish baby boys have to be circumcised on the eighth day. This paper first reviews the research on Jews' circumcision, also the correlation between circumcision and the prevention of genital disorders and sexually transmitted diseases. Then, demonstrate the medical value of Jews' circumcision according to the theory of modern medicine, including preventing male penile cancer, reducing the probability of female partners suffering from gynecological disorders, and having a positive effect on preventing AIDS infection between partners. At the same time, the paper explains the reasons why the Jews' tradition requires the ritual to be performed on the eighth day of birth according to modern medical theory. Also focuses on the clinical and biomedical applications after circumcision, such as it can be used as a transplant donor area and has made an important contribution to the research of interferon. In addition, circumcision, as a traditional ritual, has also sparked various social debates throughout the development processes of societies worldwide, deserving attention and reflection.

The Liji from a Jewish Perspective: An Exploration of Challenges and Approaches in Comparing Jewish and Confucian Classics

Aryeh Amihay Tr. YANG Jiaqi — 2025-12-01

This article adopts a Jewish perspective to explore the methodologies and challenges in the comparative study of the Liji (Book of Rites) and Jewish classical texts. It proposes two comparative pathways: first, at the textual-structural level, comparing the Liji with the rabbinic legal code known as the Mishnah to analyze their similarities in editorial logic, thematic classification, and hermeneutic methods; second, at the spiritual-conceptual level, juxtaposing the concept of li (ritual propriety) in the Liji with that of covenant (berit) in the Hebrew Bible, examining their philosophical commonalities and differences in constructing social order, addressing real-world challenges, and pursuing an ideal world. Although Confucian and Jewish traditions differ significantly in historical context, textual genre, and religious framework, a careful selection of appropriate comparative texts and core concepts, coupled with in-depth structural and conceptual analysis, can reveal potential spaces for dialogue and scholarly value in Jewish-Confucian cultural exchange.

Creation and Intention: Maimonides' Argument Revisited

Meir Buzaglo — 2025-12-01

Maimonides devoted particular attention to demonstrating what he termed the "possibility of the Torah." In a world governed by necessary and universal laws, how can one account for the election of a specific prophet, place, time, or nation? By posing this question, Maimonides identified a fundamental issue in Jewish thought, one that also challenges any philosophical framework that affirms divine wisdom while seeking to accommodate distinctions between the sacred and the profane. He ties the very possibility of such distinctions to the metaphysical question of whether the world necessarily emanates from God or is instead the product of divine will. In a world devoid of intentionality, meaningful differentiation cannot be sustained. Several chapters in the second part of The Guide of the Perplexed are devoted to establishing that the world is not a necessary emanation from God. In this article, I argue that Maimonides' position acquires renewed significance in light of the discovery of symmetry violation in physics during the 1950s - a finding that profoundly unsettled the scientific community.

Ibn Daud's Concept of Evil and Its Relationship to Free Will

Amira Eran — 2025-12-01

Abraham Ibn Daud's The Exalted Faith (al-ʿAqīdah al-rafīʿah), composed around 1160, is a seminal work that represents an ambitious and pioneering attempt to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Jewish theology. Despite its rigorous philosophical style, which closely follows Avicenna's ideas and phrasings, scholars have highly praised Ibn Daud's integration of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic concepts, his engagement with Islamic philosophical traditions, and his influence on subsequent Jewish thinkers. Although his work was somewhat overshadowed by Maimonides, it remains a valuable resource for understanding the development of Avicennian thought in late medieval Judaism. Since Ibn Daud defines the purpose of The Exalted Faith as a solution to the problem of free will, I aim to explore this idea in this brief article. To do so, I will focus on the second chapter of the sixth principle, where Ibn Daud declares that he fulfills the aim of his book by linking the problem of free will with divine omnipotence, foreknowledge, and providence. I will argue that his innovation lies in integrating free choice within the framework of divine providence, preserving an absolute possibility within the causal chain.

Sources of Knowledge: Between a Prophecy and a Philosophy in Medieval Jewish Thought

Racheli Haliva Tr. SHEN Jianyu — 2025-12-01

Isaac Polqar, the Jewish Averroist from the fourteenth century, is perceived to be one of the most radical defenders of Averroes, oftentimes directly criticizing Maimonides. One topic in which he deviates from his two teachers, Averroes and Maimonides, is the way he perceives the dichotomy between the character traits of the philosopher and the character traits of the prophet. According to the Maimonidean, Averroist, and Avicennian view, the prophet attains the highest intellectual level, for he receives emanations from the Active Intellect onto both his intellectual faculty and his power of imagination. In this sense, for both Averroes and Maimonides, every prophet is necessarily a philosopher. Polqar, who anticipates Spinoza's distinction between a philosopher and a prophet, separates the realm of philosophy from the realm of prophecy; while the philosopher receives the emanation from the Active Intellect directly onto his intellectual faculty, the prophet, on the other hand, receives the emanation onto his power of imagination, "skipping" his intellectual faculty. This dichotomy between a philosopher and a prophet would imply that the ultimate man, the philosopher, in Polqar's view, who is engaged in the theoretical sciences and conjoins with the Active Intellect, unlike the prophet, is governed.

`On the Cosmology of Sefer Yetzirah from the Perspective of Kabbalah: A Comparative Study with the Heavenly Dao Ideas in the Commentaries on the Book of Changes

JIANG Ying — 2025-12-01

The origin of the universe is a topic that has been discussed by various ethnic groups. This article analyzes the creator and the starting point of creation and the essence of the creature in Sefer Yetzirah = The Book of Creation: In Theory and Practice by Kaplan, and compares it with the heavenly Dao ideas conceived in Commentaries on the Book of Changes. It involves the subject of the universe's generation, the process of universe creation, etc. The methods such as comparing Sefirot and the eight trigrams are inspiring for us to examine the respective theoretical constructions within the framework of cultural mutual learning.

Theological Parting of the Ways before 70 CE: Dunn Revised through John, Phil 2:6-11, and Col 1:15-20

LI Xi — 2025-12-01

This article revises James D. G. Dunn's influential account of the "parting(s) of the ways" between Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. First, it defends the legitimacy of Dunn's theological model alongside sociological and historical accounts, arguing that a discussion of theological parting remains beneficial as long as it avoids an oversimplified picture of "the partings." Then, it advances a pre-70 CE, rather than Dunn's post-70 CE, date for a theological parting grounded in high Christology in the Gospel of John, Phil 2:6-11, and Col 1:15-20. Dunn treats John as a late first-century composition that indeed portrays a high Christology, but he reads Phil 2:6-11 and Col 1:15-20, earlier than 70 CE, as representing merely a human Christology. This article briefly reconsiders the dating of John to caution against a quick dismissal of an early composition. Moreover, it argues that Phil 2:6-11 and Col 1:15-20 attribute a high Christology to Jesus through claims that he was "in the form of God" and "equal to God" (Phil 2:6) and that "the fullness (of deity) dwells" in him (Col 1:19; 2:9). The result is a revised timeline: while sociological and ritual separations crisscross unevenly across locales and centuries, the theological parting was already underway prior to 70 CE.

Writings of the Western Civilization Dilemma Reflected in the Interaction of American Jewish Communities in Mr. Sammler's Planet

LI Dong — 2025-12-01

The distinct German Jews and Eastern European Jews in the cultural geography of Manhattan, New York, are the two major Jewish groups that Bellow focuses on in Mr. Sammler's Planet. The author emphasizes the "vice" of the former, stressing the "goodness" of the latter. In addition, Bellow, by underlining the ethical "chaos" caused by moral corrosion of the former upon the latter, not only reproduces the historical reality of the interaction between the two major Jewish communities, but also fundamentally concerns the "disorder" dilemma presented by American (Western) society in the 1960s. Bellow believed that the Jewish-Enlightenment-liberated German Jews were the Jewish representatives of the Western Enlightenment, and their pursuit of "individuality" could easily lead to "chaos" and "disorder." Therefore, Bellow labeled German Jews as "evil" and ultimately hinted at the reasons why Western civilization was in trouble in the 1960s.