Rezensiertes Werk: Schwarzwald, Ora (Rodrigue): סדר נשים — סידור תפילות בלאדינו סלוניקי, המאה השש עשרה. Siddur para mujeres en ladino, Salónica, siglo XVI. Edición anotada y traducida. - Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute 5772 [2012]. - 11 S. + 270 S. + 40 S.

Rezensiertes Werk: Haarmann, J.: Hüter der Tradition. Erinnerung und Identität im Selbstzeugnis des Pinchas Katzenellenbogen (1691–1767) (= Jüdische Religion, Geschichte und Kultur, Bd. 18). - Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2013. - 290 S. ISBN 978-3-647-57023-5

Rezensierte Werke: Lohmann, U.: David Friedländer. Reformpolitik im Zeichen von Aufklärung und Emanzipation. Kontexte des preußischen Judenedikts vom 11. März 1812. - Hannover: Wehrhahn 2013. - 576 S. ISBN 978-3-86525-310-1 David Friedländer: Ausgewählte Werke. Herausgegeben von Uta Lohmann. (= Deutsch-jüdische Autoren des 19. Jahrhunderts. Schriften zu Staat, Nation, Gesellschaft. Werkausgaben, Bd. 4). - Köln–Wien: Böhlau 2013. - 322 S. ISBN 978-3-412-20938-4

Rezensierte Werke: Kiwitt, M.: Les gloses françaises du glossaire biblique B.N. hébr. 301. Édition critique partielle et étude linguistique (= Romanische Texte des Mittelalters, Bd. 2). - Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter 2013. - 472 S. Edzard, A.B.: Varietätenlinguistische Untersuchungen zum Judenfranzösischen (= Bonner Romanistische Arbeiten, Bd. 103). - Bern–Berlin–Frankfurt am Main.: Peter Lang 2011. - 398 S. ISBN 978-3-631-61571-3

Rezensiertes Werke: Sucker, J. und Wohl von Haselberg, L. (Hrsg.): Bilder des Jüdischen. Selbst- und Fremdzuschreibungen im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. - Berlin–Boston: de Gruyter 2013. - 394 S. ISBN 978-3-11-027645-9

Rezensiertes Werk: Shumsky, D.: Zweisprachigkeit und binationale Idee. Der Prager Zionismus 1900–1930 (= Schriften des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts, Bd. 14). - Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2013. - 336 S. ISBN 978-3-525-36955-5

Rezensierte Werke: Lintl, P., Fundamentalismus – Messianismus – Nationalismus. Ein Theorievergleich am Beispiel der jüdischen Siedler des Westjordanlandes. - Hamburg: Diplomica 2012. - 245 S. ISBN 978-3-8428-8663-6 Inbari, M., Messianic Religious Zionism Confronts Israeli Territorial Compromises. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012. - 211 S.

This study focuses on biblical Manasseh as a tribal entity, a territorial region, and a literary construct to explore facets of ancient Israels history and the ways in which it (re)constructed this history in the biblical narratives. Many biblical texts describe Manasseh as the only tribe having territory both west and east of the Jordan River in the central hills region of the west and in northern Gilead in the east. This is a striking characterization because the biblical writers generally cast the Jordan River as a boundary between the eastern and western tribes, and while these two Manassite regions do not necessarily represent a contiguous area of land, they are nonetheless viewed as a single tribal unit. Since the Hebrew Bible presents conflicting views of the legitimacy of the east Jordan region and those Israelites that inhabit it, Manasseh operates, at least conceptually, in both the eastern and western worlds. Given that the Bible was in the view of most scholars ultimately written and compiled in a southern Judahite context several hundred years after Israels tribal period, however, this study considers the degree to which the Bibles depiction of the northern tribe of Manasseh represents an ideological picture of the nations past. By examining Manasseh through the lenses of literary analysis, anthropology, archaeology, and historiography, I argue that 1) the biblical portrait of Manasseh has been shaped by two distinct layers of tradition: one tradition knows Manasseh solely, or at least predominately, as a western entity while a second tradition conceives of Manasseh as a rather obliquely defined eastern entity; 2) although the idea of Manasseh as a tribe that spans both sides of the Jordan is a plausible model of tribal organization, ultimately the concept of east Manasseh only makes sense within the framework of the twelve-tribe system which scholars widely recognize as a later ideological construct; and 3) insofar as Manasseh is cast as an east-west entity, the tribe ultimately stands as a complex, ambiguous object that simultaneously subverts and reinforces the biblical distinctions between the areas east and west of the Jordan River.

The short stories of J. J. Steinfeld and Lev Raphael reveal Second Generation sons strong identification with their mothers and their Holocaust experiences. While the mother-son relationships depicted in J. J. Steinfelds stories are exaggerated and verge on surrealism, Lev Raphaels depiction of this relationship is more complex and realistic. The reason for this difference in storytelling lies in each authors emphasis. J. J. Steinfeld strives to emphasize the emotional and psychological trauma that the Holocaust wracks on the lives of Second Generation sons, whereas Lev Raphaels stories illustrate the complexity of the Holocausts effect on the psychological development of the Second Generation. Additionally, Lev Raphaels stories also often explore the difficulties of being gay and Jewish for Second Generation sons and what role their mother plays in their development. Characters in the stories of both authors fluctuate between Lacans Imaginary and Symbolic Orders. Each of Steinfelds characters backtrack through Lacans stages of psychological development: they each experience a second mirror stage, which thrusts them from the Symbolic Order back into the Imaginary Order. Although Lev Raphaels characters fluctuate between Lacans orders, there is not an extreme regression into the Imaginary Order. Instead of manifesting a complete loss of self as a result of their mothers Holocaust experiences, these characters identify with their mothers while retaining their own identity and often function as strong examples of gay, Jewish men in a post-Holocaust world. RELIGION In His Mothers Image: A Lacanian Analysis of Second Generation Sons in the Short Stories of J. J. Steinfeld and Lev Raphael Raina L. Shults Thesis under the direction of Professor Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman The short stories of J. J. Steinfeld and Lev Raphael reveal Second Generation sons strong identification with their mothers and their Holocaust experiences. While the mother-son relationships depicted in J. J. Steinfelds stories are exaggerated and verge on surrealism, Lev Raphaels depiction of this relationship is more complex and realistic. The reason for this difference in storytelling lies in each authors emphasis. J. J. Steinfeld strives to emphasize the emotional and psychological trauma that the Holocaust wracks on the lives of Second Generation sons, whereas Lev Raphaels stories illustrate the complexity of the Holocausts effect on the psychological development of the Second Generation. Additionally, Lev Raphaels stories also often explore the difficulties of being gay and Jewish for Second Generation sons and what role their mother plays in their development. Characters in the stories of both authors fluctuate between Lacans Imaginary and Symbolic Orders. Each of Steinfelds characters backtrack through Lacans stages of psychological development: they each experience a second mirror stage, which thrusts them from the Symbolic Order back into the Imaginary Order. Although Lev Raphaels characters fluctuate between Lacans orders, there is not an extreme regression into the Imaginary Order. Instead of manifesting a complete loss of self as a result of their mothers Holocaust experiences, these characters identify with their mothers while retaining their own identity and often function as strong examples of gay, Jewish men in a post-Holocaust world.

This dissertation argues that in late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England there was a rise of black ethnic rhetoric in religious preaching and texts. Appropriated from the language and culture of the Renaissance, itself a rebirth of classical antiquity, early modern black ethnic religious tropology was used symbolically to reflect the universal condition of human sin, the Protestant drama of salvation, and the possibilities of sanctification. Black imagery was not only coterminous with established negative perceptions of Africans during the early modern period, but also engendered a contemporary theological and intellectual climate amenable to burgeoning hostility, despite evidence of English ministerial service to Africans.