Wissenschaft des Judentums

"Wissenschaft des Judentums" (literally in German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the United States it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquiry in American universities) refers to a nineteenth-century movement premised on the critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions. The first organized attempt at developing and disseminating Wissenschaft des Judentums was the Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (Society for Jewish Culture and Jewish Studies), founded around 1819 by Eduard Gans, (a pupil of Hegel), and his associates. Other members included Heinrich Heine, Leopold Zunz, Moses Moser, and Michael Beer, (youngest brother of Meyerbeer). It was an attempt to provide a construct for the Jews as a Volk or people in their own right, independent of their religious traditions. As such it sought to validate their secular cultural traditions as being on an equal footing with those adduced by Johann Gottfried Herder and his followers for the German people. Immanuel Wolf’s influential essay Über den Begriff einer Wissenschaft des Judentums (On the Concept of Jewish Studies) of 1822, has such ideas in mind. Its principal objective, as it was then defined in the Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (1822), was the study of Judaism by subjecting it to criticism and modern methods of research. The failure of the Verein, attributable largely to the far greater attraction, amongst German Jews, of identification with German culture, was followed, significantly, by the conversion to Christianity of many of its leading figures, including Gans and Heine. Despite the lack of success of the Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden, its principles inspired many Jewish thinkers to invest their efforts in a wider Wissenschaft des Judentums movement, and also provoked a conservative reaction (see Opposition).

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Terre crue en milieu urbain: développement d'une architecture bioclimatique au Maroc

Carole Froidevaux

«Je choisirais [de vivre dans] un logement en terre sous condition que toutes les nécessités de ma vie actuelle soient disponibles.» [Propos extraits d'un dialogue à Casablanca. Dans le passé, la personne a vécu dans un logement en terre crue.] Le patrimoine architectural marocain présente de nombreux exemples d'architecture en terre crue, démontrant que celle-ci est bien adaptée au climat local exposé à de fortes chaleurs en été. Au-delà du côté “sentimental” des traditions, la terre crue n'est pas incompatible avec “confort moderne”. Bien qu'éclipsée par l'arrivée des matériaux industriels, la prise de conscience des enjeux environnementaux lui donne un nouvel intérêt dans l'optique de favoriser des cycles courts et des matériaux renouvelables. Alors que le Maroc vient de mettre en place un règlement thermique pour la construction visant l'efficacité énergétique, le projet propose un modèle de logement bioclimatique redonnant une place à la terre dans la conception du bâtiment. Il se situe à Marrakech et se concentre, à l'échelle d'un quartier, sur un nouveau modèle de “maison marocaine” pour la classe moyenne. Proche de l'architecture traditionnelle par sa forme urbaine à patio, il se différencie par sa matérialité. Les murs périphériques des logements sont en adobe créant une enveloppe massive et lisse protégeant des nuisances extérieures. Un revêtement métallique entrelacé recouvre les autres façades plus légères possédant les ouvertures orientées sur le patio. Il module à la fois la vue et la lumière estompant ainsi la limite entre l'espace intérieur et extérieur.

2017

Jewish studies

Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; madey ha-yahadut) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages (Jewish languages), political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.

Jewish mysticism

Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism (c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE), and Ashkenazi Hasidim (early 13th century) around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.

Siddur

A siddur (סִדּוּר siˈduʁ, 'sɪdəʁ; plural siddurim סִדּוּרִים siduˈʁim) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are tefillot (תְּפִלּוֹת‎) among Sephardi Jews, tefillah among German Jews, and tiklāl (תכלאל) among Yemenite Jews. The earliest parts of Jewish prayer books are the Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") (Deuteronomy 6:4 et seq) and the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), which are in the Torah.