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Editorial 14 (2020), 27

Dear readers and friends of Medaon,

due to the pandemic, everybody involved in this issue is still in the difficult and time-consuming process of organizing and adapting oneself to the new structures and procedures. For this reason, they deserve special gratitude for their time and voluntary commitment that has once again enabled us to bring you interesting insights into the different research fields on Jewish history and the educational landscape. We are happy to welcome Rahel Blum and Martin Munke to the editorial team.

Very different topics are in the spotlight of our peer-reviewed contributions: Alexander Friedman devotes his text to Rabi Meir Kahane (1932–1990), his political career, and to his reception in Israel, the West and in the Eastern Bloc, while Dani Kranz discusses the picture that research work paints of Israelis in Germany. Futhermore, Martina Mampieri presents us with Italian Hebrew manuscripts of the Nauheim Collection in the National Library of Israel.

Julia Bertschik and Vicky Baum continue the series on biographies of Jewish women. And the series ‘Einblendung’ is this time devoted to things and objects in German-Jewish film history.

Julia Wolrab introduces us to the complicated questions of ownership rights in the case of the Freiburg Synagogue and Jacob Ole Müschen looks at how Johann Gottlieb Fichte is reflected in the work of Saul Ascher.

In the reviews, we are provided with a broad spectrum of topics. We wish you an inspiring read.

Completing this issue could once again not have been done without the support of our reviewers. Steffen Schröter von text plus form, Cathleen Bürgelt, Sophie Máriássy, Margi Schellenberg and Phillip Roth corrected and translated texts with the usual diligence – we thank them all dearly!

We want to refer you to our future plans and recommend to you our call „Jüdische Geschichte. Perspektiven junger Forscher:innen”.

The editors of Medaon, November 2020.

Rabbi Meir Kahane (1932–1990), die Jewish Defence League und sowjetische Juden

This study features the American Rabbi and controversial Israeli politician Meir Kahane, who founded the Jewish Defence League in New York in the late 1960s. The League fought for the emigration of Jews from the USSR to Israel and established itself as an irreconcilable opponent of the communist Superpower. Heavily criticized in the US due to his radicalism and inclination towards extremism, and apprehended in Israel due to his racist and anti-democratic tendencies, Kahane has became one of the most important targets of the Soviet anti-Israel propaganda. The latter has brought up the enemy image of a “fascist Rabbi” Kahane and didn’t shy away from defamations and falsifications. This villainized reporting was received by many Soviet Jews who – especially the ones criticizing the regime and willing to leave the country – looked up to Kahane and considered him a hero.

From Frankfurt to Jerusalem: Jewish Manuscripts in the Nauheim Collection at the National Library of Israel

The present article sheds light on a small but valuable collection of manuscripts belonged to the German-Jewish collector, Sigmund Nauheim (1874-1935). While his large collection of silver Jewish ceremonial objects is today preserved in the Jewish Museum of Frankfurt-am-Main, his manuscripts and books are housed in the National Library of Israel (Jerusalem). Besides describing the manuscripts, the article will put the Nauheim collection in the context of the trade and collection of Hebraica and Judaica in the interwar period.