Although originated thousands of years ago from historical Israel and Judah, the Jewish people today are an ethnoreligious group and a nation that transcends physical borders and is spread throughout the world. Connected by faith, ethnicity, and culture, Jews possess a unique collective identity. The Jewish peoples are a universal phenomenon with a distinct story of multiculturalism, diversity, and constant renewal.
Jewish history and heritage can be found in tangible places and objects as well as intangible heritage such as shared practices, common themes, materials, and ideas. Jewish history and heritage manifests itself in different ways, crossing over time spans and bears numerous tangible and intangible connections. Jewish history and heritage is often not limited by national borders and, like the people it represents, connected as a Diaspora.
Crossing over time and borders, Jewish history and heritage includes themes that appear and disappear, layers of rituals and a combination of identities. It suggests changes over time and space. Therefore, Jewish history and heritage suggests a discussion unbounded by national concepts and theories crossing over time and spatial boundaries.
This means that instead of dealing with a particular issue of a given nation, experts in the field of Jewish Studies are encouraged and obliged to engage in international debates and discussions that address understanding this heritage and these ideas. These frameworks focus on vast and various aspects.
The objective of this volume is to discuss these issues, through case studies and original research of Jewish issues from around the world, from various cultural and geographic settings. We welcome articles from academics, professionals, and advanced graduate students based upon a broad range of Jewish studies approaches. Topics might relate to one of the following topics:
1. Conflicts or connections between Jewish monuments and sub features of Jewish history and heritage with local cultures and sites over the globe (e.g., the influences of specific Jewish features and characteristics and local cultures as manifested in art and architecture)
2. Layers of Jewish history and heritage across time – changes and preserved Jewish features (e.g., development of symbols and structures)
3. Common intangible rituals versus unorthodox traditions (e.g., practice & living heritage, different interpretations …)
4. How do “others” view Jewish history and heritage (e.g., antisemitism and responses to antisemitism, Judaism as a culture in the diaspora and in Israel)
5. Travels of Jewish history and heritage (e.g., Judaism moving with immigrants from one country to another, from Israel to the diaspora and from the diaspora to Israel).
6. Historiographical engagements
7. Recent academic trends (e.g., Decolonizing the bible, Colonial histories, land and resources)
Shelley-Anne Peleg (shelleypeleg@gmail.com) and Hernan Tesler-Mabé (hteslerm@huron.uwo.ca)