Digital Commons Network^™

Contributors

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

.

Folk Narratives Of “The Wandering Jew” (Atu 777) In Latvian Folklore, Svetlana Pogodina

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

This essay reports field-collected texts of “The Wandering Jew” (ATU 777) recorded in the twentieth century in Latvia to determine if they are distinctive within the global tradition of the folk narrative. The Archives of Latvian Folklore (Latviešu folkloras krātuve) collection contains versions of the narrative recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. These texts have not previously been published in English translation. An interpretation is made that the narratives borrow elements from Jewish stereotypes that exist in a local folklore tradition. Comparing the Latvian material to the European and Slavic versions of the story of the Eternal Jew, a major …

Communities Of Caring: A Jewish Response To The Earth Charter, Bill S. Tepper

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Language, Literature, And Culture Newsletter, Twelfth Edition (January 2026), Language, Literature, And Culture Department, Clark University

Language, Literature, and Culture

The twelfth issue of the Language, Literature, and Culture department newsletter, which went out in January 2026. The Language, Literature, and Culture department newsletter aims to "share stories, news, ideas, achievements, and important information about and within our academic department that can be helpful to the campus community at large".

The Desecration Of Sacred Spaces In The Dead Sea Scrolls And Pre-Nicene Latin Christianity: A History Of Interpretation Of The Eschatological Motif Of The Defiling Enemy In Apocalypticism, Rodrigo De Galiza Barbosa

Dissertations

Problem

The motif of the polluting enemy in the sanctuary is an important point of departure in the articulation of community boundaries in Hebraic-Christian culture. This particular motif has the potential to explain, at least in part, how Jewish and Christian communities would have understood the apocalyptic evil other and, from this understanding, set boundaries for their holy communities. Texts such as Dan 8 and 2 Thess 2 have been the locus classicus of the so-called antichrist, and ever since their interpretation has shaped how Christians and Jews have understood the enemy to their respective communities. In the history of …

Perspectives On Cognitive Psychology In Ktu 1.40: Moral Implications And Prescribed Emotional Responses To Foster Unity, Richard Jarvis Iii

Studia Antiqua

This paper examines the Ugaritic ritual text KTU 1.40 through the framework of cognitive psychology to explore its moral implications and prescribed emotional responses. While earlier scholarship has debated whether this ritual carried moral weight, my analysis demonstrates that it prescribes the removal or amelioration of five moral emotions—disgust, fear, anger, empathy, and a sense of justice—to promote unity within the community of Ugarit. Building on Thomas Kazen’s approach and Gregorio del Olmo Lete’s translation, this study argues that the repeated structure and inclusive nature of KTU 1.40 reflect an intentional effort to bridge emotional divides among the many groups …

Contributors

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Contributors to Volume 4.

From A Shtetl House To An Urban Apartment: The Soviet Jewish Home Negotiated, Transformed, And Reimagined, Anna Kushkova

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

This essay argues that despite the powerful forces of assimilation, official campaigns against Jewish religion/languages, and grassroots/state antisemitism, the “Jewish home” did not disappear, as is sometimes assumed, but continued to present a site of Jewish ethnic production and transmission, creativity, and resistance during the Soviet regime. In the Soviet Union, especially in the postwar period, Jewish ethnic culture was forced to leave the public sphere, where it became unwelcome and even dangerous, and withdrew into the less visible space of domestic interiors. The degree of Jewish public presence varied geographically: the situation was generally better in the Baltic Republics, …

Theorizing Rabbinic Folklore: The Miraculous Sleep Of The Holy Man, Gal Sela

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

The miraculous sleep (ATU 766) is a well-known, recurring tale-type observed in Abrahamic folktales since the Second Temple period. This study compares variants of ATU 766 on three levels of analysis: as a popular tale in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writings from late antiquity and early medieval times; as a Jewish rendition; and as a multiple tale-type in rabbinic literature. The analysis engages with Dan Ben-Amos’s critical work concerning the use of syntactic methods in folklore studies to analyze Midrash and Aggadah. The essay offers a new theoretical perspective on rabbinic folklore using the notions of tale-type, ecotype, …

Fear, Trembling, And Wonder: Psalms Of Awe, Solomon Aleph

University Honors Theses

This thesis proposes an expansion of genre form criticism within the Book of Psalms to include an additional category: Psalms of Awe. Building on scholarship that emphasizes the Psalms as expressions of religious experience, it draws from philosophical, theological, and critical scholarship to define the experience of awe as a distinct religious experience not fully captured by form critical scholarship. The thesis argues that awe is reflected in the Psalms through the combination of three key Hebrew roots: ירא (fear/reverence), פחד (fear/dread), and פלא (wonder). This is done by analyzing several psalms to explicate how each term captures a different …

The Nuptial Metaphor From Genesis To Revelation: An Examination Of Yahweh’S Divine Romance With Israel And Mankind In Scripture, Clement Chen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study demonstrates that the nuptial metaphor is not merely a marginally interesting literary motif but deeply embedded in the meta-narrative of the text of the Bible and hermeneutically significant in providing an interpretive thematic framework for rightly reading the Scriptures. In other words, this study is a literary and thematic biblical theological study, utilizing historical, biblical, grammatical, and canonical theological approaches to the entire biblical text, of the nuptial metaphor found throughout Scripture as a thematic framework that is hermeneutically significant. Contemporary studies of the nuptial metaphor that recognize and value the nuptial metaphor of God marrying His people …

Living The Text: A Phenomenological And Metacognitive Analysis Of Nehemiah 9 As The Embodiment Of Scripture In The Processing Of Stored Trauma, Dimitrije Stanojevic

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study defends the thesis that Nehemiah 9:5–37 is a sermon with psychotherapeutic qualities, aimed at processing unaddressed and cross-generationally stored trauma. It does so through two modes of interpretation: מְפֹרָשׁ “informing” andשֹׂום שֶׂכֶל “forming.” The sermon is delivered on the Day of Atonement, in the aftermath of a communal Scripture reading in Jerusalem, sometime after the return from the Babylonian Exile. Phenomenological and metacognitive frameworks inform the analysis of the passage as transformative and identity-shaping, grounded in repentance and self-reflection.

This textually rich passage weaves together quotations, allusions, echoes, reinterpretations, and summaries—likely the result of multiple editorial hands. Yet, …

Seed Of The Woman, Son Of David, Son Of Abraham: Exploring The Progression Of God’S Redemptive Plan For All Nations And Rethinking Gentile Integration In Messianic Hope, Dieufort Dieujuste

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines and reconstructs the progression of God’s redemptive plan for humanity, exploring its inception from an oracular promise in Genesis and investigating how it unfolds through various promises, covenants, and prophecies culminating in Jesus, the Messiah, identified as the seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15b), Son of David, Son Abraham (Matt. 1:1). Central to this exploration is the theological significance of key biblical figures and historical events while tracing the development of the promise of redemption from Genesis to the New Testament. One can suitably underscore the universal scope of God’s covenant to extend blessings to all nations …

“From The Synagogue To The Streets”: Outsider Rabbis, Mississippi, And The Civil Rights Movement, Holli Elaine Parker

Master's Theses

The historiography of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement is extensive, and recent scholarship has reevaluated the relationships between Jews and civil rights organizations. The role of southern Jews in critical states, such as Mississippi, is often amalgamated into one category: supportive but scared. The focus on two rabbis known for their outspokenness regarding racial equality, Charles Mantinband of Hattiesburg and Perry Nussbaum of Jackson, is central to most southern Jewish studies. However, it neglects aspects of their background. Neither rabbi was a native Mississippian nor accepted as truly Southern due to the stances they took regarding racial equality. Charles …

Front Matter & Editorial, Editorial Board, Assaf Nativ

'Atiqot

No abstract provided.

"Kol Mekadesh Shevi'i": A Liturgical Melody Sung At Home, Naomi Cohn Zentner

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article draws upon the unusual characteristics, origins and prevalence of the melody to the poem "Kol mekadesh shevii" [He who sanctifies the Seventh day] and discusses how it came to be recognized in the past seventy years as a signifier of Ashkenazi pre-Holocaust musical and religious culture and in particular as a sonic marker of liturgical sound, although it was sung at home. The Kol mekadesh melody came over time to represent two vastly different symbolic positions. As a melody adopted from non-Jewish sources bringing new, sometimes controversial sounds into the synagogue, and as a typical synagogal …

“Tikkun” Viewed From The Perspective Of Systems Philosophy, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the idea of tikkun, as it appears in tikkun olam and tikkun ha’yetser, can be enriched by ideas from systems philosophy. From a systems perspective, “moral evil“ – the flaws of individual human beings, which create the need for tikkun ha’yetser – is a special case of “natural evil” – the dangers to life and especially to humanity from the natural world and from societal moral evil, which create the need for tikkun olam. Natural evil is in turn a special case of “metaphysical evil” – flaws in olam (which include those of yetser) that are ubiquitous, …

Dwellings From The Byzantine Period At Pi Maẓuva In The Western Galilee (With A Contribution By Danny Syon) (Hebrew, Pp. 31*–39*; English Summary, Pp. 182–183), Gilad Cinamon, Yoav Lerer

'Atiqot

The excavation at Pi Maẓuva revealed building complexes, some separated by an alley, dating from the Byzantine period. The finds at the site included a bronze cross, an ashlar limestone lintel with a cross engraving, and pottery dated to the sixth–seventh centuries CE, which comprised local types, alongside many imported ones, some adorned with crosses. An interesting find is a high-quality, colorful, seventh-century CE mosaic floor adorned with floral motifs, animal and human figures, and two fragmentary Greek inscriptions. The finds at the site point to the existence of a rural Christian settlement, probably destroyed during the Persian conquest of …

Frontmatter (Volume 18 Issue 1), Bruce R Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

General Editor’s Note:

C. S. Lewis delivered a series of lectures in February 1943 for the University of Durham, published the month prior as The Abolition of Man. It remains a robust defense of moral law and objective values against the onslaught of what Lewis soon labeled “The Poison of Subjectivism.” He argued that children who are not schooled in ancient wisdom regarding mercy, justice, beneficence, and duty become not simply self-centered adults but easily manipulated people. A society bent on pursuing such a path becomes a society in peril.

Last year’s issue of Sehnsucht included a call for papers …

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

No abstract provided.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Race: Racial Discourses, Nationalism And Identity In Nineteenth Century Ireland, Timothy Werlinger

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The 19th century witnessed the rise of race and racism as a dominant framework of worldwide identity politics. These politics shaped the various social hierarchies and nationalist contexts across Europe and the world. Racial constructs adopted cultural, economic, and political components and did not rely exclusively on biological determinism. This had the effect of reinforcing or hardening boundaries between groups. This dissertation examines how racial identity was negotiated within an Irish context. It does this by considering social, scientific and nationalist discourses that engaged race as a device of inclusion and exclusion. By examining how racialized language permeated the Irish …

Adam As Imago Dei Statue In The Hebrew Bible, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

In recent decades, there has been a significant shift in scholarly perspectives on ancient Near Eastern cultic images. This shift moves away from the traditional view that regarded cultic statues as merely idolatrous representations — an attitude often reflected in certain biblical narratives—toward a more nuanced understanding of these images as paradoxical channels for divine presence. Recent research on polemics against idolatry in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish texts reveals efforts to recontextualize traditions of cultic statues within the lives of biblical patriarchs and prophets, portraying them as bearers of the sacred.

The (Im)Possibility Of Separating Rabbinic Texts Into Literary Genres: Form Analysis And Text Linguisticslysis And Text Linguistics, Rivka Ulmer

Faculty Journal Articles

This paper analyzes rabbinic homiletic texts from the perspective of form analysis in combination with text-linguistic theories. My study indicates that, from the perspective of functional considerations, it is not meaningful to lift small literary forms from a coherent text that depends on a co-text to create meaning. Additionally, the concepts of genre and parable need to be abandoned and replaced by text-type and mashal. The form-analytical description of rabbinic homilies is based on research performed at the Institute of Judaic Studies in Frankfurt am Main. The text-linguistic concepts are based on strict formalizations that demonstrate textual relations.These theories were …

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Table of contents and Editorial.

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Table of contents and Editorial

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Table of Contents and Editorial

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Table of contents and Editorial

Transport Wine Amphorae And The Economic System In Southern Phoenicia During The Achaemenid Regime, Yiftah Shalev

'Atiqot

This paper explores the economic system of the Achaemenid Empire in southern Phoenicia through the study of transport wine amphorae, as well as other ceramic vessels, to show that local trade was primarily conducted in an open, free economic system, with minimum intervention of the empire. Furthermore, structures previously unearthed along the coast and defined as fortresses used to monitor trade, are reconsidered in light of their plan, function and date. It was found that the Persian regime focused on taxation and periodic inspection, attesting that the imported Greek wine transported in amphorae flowed freely into the beakers and goblets …

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Wine consumption is an ongoing social act practiced on domestic, religious and state level, and as such, it defines social status, cultural affiliation and identity. The current volume presents a varied range of studies that broadly consider wine, wine production and trade in the Southern Levant.

Front Matter & Editorial, The Editorial Board

'Atiqot

Table of Contents and Editorial