Privacy, literacy, and gender in Early Modern Jewish letters from Prague (1619)

How private were Jewish letters in the early modern period? This article discusses Jewish epistolary culture and notions of privacy by examining an extraordinary cache of Jewish letters that were mostly written on a single day—22 November 1619—in a single city, Prague, and sent to a single destination, Vienna. The letters never arrived and ended up in the archives where they were preserved for posteriority. The culture of writing and receiving of letters underwent significant changes in this time and the social function of letter-writing shifted from the public to a more personal sphere. However, family letters can be considered semi-public documents that were written collaboratively and whose contents were shared among relatives. The letters allow us a glimpse into the lives of ordinary Jews in politically tumultuous times in which privacy and confidentiality could never be taken for granted. Situating the letters within the context of Habsburg postal history and the increasingly effective interception, surveillance and censorship of postal communication, the article discusses privacy in an early modern epistolary culture that was heavily shaped by formal and stylistic conventions. Jewish ordinances aimed to protect confidentiality of communication but the awareness that letters might be intercepted led to the use of secret codes and coded language, and Jewish communication networks. This article pays particular attention to gendered communication and privacy. It has been argued that in epistolary culture women are afforded a voice and speak for themselves. The evidence suggests that collaborative forms of writing that involved more than one writer were still common in early seventeenth-century Jewish correspondence, indicating zones of “privileged confidentiality” within larger family networks

Sport and British Jewish identity

This article examines the relationship between sport and Jewish identity. The experiences of Jewish people have rarely been considered in previous sport-related research which has typically focused on ‘Black’ and South Asian individuals, sports clubs, and organisations. Drawing on data generated from interviews ( n = 20) and focus groups ( n = 2) with individuals based in one British city, this article explores how their Jewish identity was informed, and shaped by, different sports activities and spaces. This study’s participants were quick to correct the idea that sport was alien to Jewish culture and did not accept the stereotype that ‘Jews don’t play sport’. The limited historical research on sport and Jewish people and the ongoing debates around Jewish identity are noted before exploring the role of religion and the suggestion that Jewish participation in sport is affected by the Shabbat (sabbath). Participants discussed how sports clubs acted as spaces for the expression and re/affirmation of their Jewish identity, before they reflected on the threats posed to the wider Jewish community by secularism, assimilation, and antisemitism. The article concludes by discussing how the sporting experiences of the study’s British Jewish participants compare with the experiences of individuals from other ethnic minority communities

The politics of food: kashrut, food choices and social justice (tikkun olam)

Engagement in social justice (tikkun olam) has in recent decades become an important focus across all major Jewish denominations. This article explores how notions of tikkun olam inform the food choices of an increasing number of con- temporary Jews and how these can be understood as innovative forms of consumptive practices that shape Jewish identity beyond the traditional dietary laws (kashrut). Examining halakhic responses to animal cruelty in the production of meat, vegetarianism and new initiatives that promote certification for ‘ethical kashrut’, I argue that, despite internal criticism, these practices can give Jewish consumers responsibility for the ethical production of food but also some control in a highly industrialised process that has led to alienation between the production and consumption of food

Navigating Christian space: Jewish responses to Christian imagery in Early Modern German lands

This chapter explores how early modern Jews developed subversive and empowering strategies to counter ubiquitous Christian images, sounds and symbols they were exposed to in public space