Ruth von Bernuth, "Judah the Maccabee between German and Yiddish: Translation and Cultural Transitions in the Early Modern Period"
Ruth von Bernuth analyzes the Yiddish translation of 1 Maccabees, first published in the early 17th century and based on Martin Luther's German Bible. Von Bernuth examines this translation as a case study of linguistic and religious translation within the context of early modern German and Jewish cultural dialogue. The article highlights how Yiddish literature, widely popular among Jewish readers in German-speaking regions, not only translated Hebrew sacred texts but also integrated German literary works, thus reflecting the complex interplay and mutual influences between German and Jewish cultures during this period.
Aya Elyada, "Between Jewish Past and German Present: Yiddish and Nostalgia in Modern Jewish-German Culture"
Aya Elyada investigates the Jewish-German engagement with pre-modern Yiddish literature as a reflection of cultural nostalgia. Focusing on the 1919 essay by Jewish-German intellectual Bertha Badt-Strauss on the Yiddish classic Tzeena U'Reena, Elyada examines how modern German Jews revisited early Yiddish texts to reconnect with their heritage. The article includes a Hebrew translation of Badt-Strauss's essay, highlighting how this nostalgic rediscovery reflects a continuous Jewish-German cultural dialogue bridging early modern and modern eras.
Amir Engel and Guy Paz, "Being European: Judaism and Christianity in the Life of the Zionist Anthroposophist Ernst Müller"
Amir Engel and Guy Paz explore the identity of Ernst Müller, a Jewish-German thinker who integrated Christian-European culture into his Jewish identity. Drawing on Müller’s 1952 autobiographical essay, translated here into Hebrew for the first time, the authors analyze his unique perspective on the spiritual renewal achievable through the synthesis of Judaism and Christianity. Müller, influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy, believed this cultural and religious dialogue could rejuvenate individual and societal spiritual life, reflecting a broader trend among Jewish intellectuals of his time.
Keitha Glenn, "'The Blood Column' by Soma Morgenstern: Language, History, and Ideology in a Holocaust Novel in German"
Keitha Glenn explores the linguistic and cultural challenges Jewish-German writers faced after the Holocaust. Focusing on Soma Morgenstern’s novel Die Blutsäule (The Blood Column), written during his exile in the United States, Glenn examines the novel's themes of "purification" and its layered representations of language, history, and ideology. The article addresses how Morgenstern’s work navigates the ruptures between German and Jewish culture and reflects post-Holocaust Jewish discourse on identity and memory.
Abigail Gillman, "Dialogue of Friends: Bertha Pappenheim and Martin Buber in Conversation"
Abigail Gillman explores the intellectual exchange between philosopher Martin Buber and social activist Bertha Pappenheim during the Jewish renaissance in Weimar Germany. Using letters from Pappenheim to Buber from the mid-1930s, translated into Hebrew for the first time, Gillman analyzes the cultural and intellectual issues central to their dialogue. This relationship embodied the complex German-Jewish encounter and its ultimate dissolution, reflecting the ways both figures engaged with and interpreted Jewish-German identity amid rising Nazi influence.