Editors’ Introduction

Contemporary Jewry https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-024-09623-0 Editors’ Introduction Harriet Hartman1 · Adina Bankier‑Karp2 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024 This issue of Contemporary Jewry includes a special issue on the theme of “Emerging from and responding to crisis,” a prescient reminder and homage to the many crises contemporary Jews currently face and have faced historically, and the resilience that prods Jewish life forward and onward. More on this below. We also have original research articles outside the subject matter of the special issue, research updates, and a record number of book reviews and list of books received. Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue The theme of this special issue, “Emerging from and responding to crisis,” was formulated well before 7 October, during the second year of the global pandemic. We anticipated diverse interpretations of the term “crisis” and expected the original research to reflect a broad range of subjects. The articles and reviews in this special issue highlight the varied experiences and insights of communities navigating crises. Each contribution explores a distinct aspect of how crises—whether global, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or regional, as with recent conflicts in Israel and societal tensions within specific diasporic communities—reshape lives, challenge institutions, and redefine notions of identity and belonging. Collectively, these studies reveal how these crises provoke adaptive responses from religious, educational, and community structures that prioritize mental health, social cohesion, and cultural continuity. The original research articles in this special issue illustrate the multifaceted ways Jewish communities respond to—but may not have yet emerged from—their respective crises. They highlight immediate reactions, adaptive strategies for resilience, and areas requiring additional support. Together, these studies reveal that * Harriet Hartman Adina Bankier‑Karp 1 Rowan University, Glassboro, USA 2 Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Vol.:(0123456789) H. Hartman, A. Bankier‑Karp responding to crises is often a prolonged process, with communities drawing on a range of resources to sustain and adapt Jewish life amid ongoing challenges. Original Research Articles in the Special Issue Adina Bankier‑Karp, Rebecca Cooper, and Jane Southcott examine how religious support influenced the mental health of Australian Jews during the COVID-19 pandemic. In “Remote possibilities: Sermons as religious support during the COVID19 pandemic,” they draw insights from sermons delivered by pulpit rabbis on the first Sabbath of the lockdowns, treating these sermons as “artifacts” offering insights into the support provided by faith communities. Using Nancy Ammerman’s multidimensional model of lived religion, the study reveals how rabbis used sacred texts and core values to reframe congregational life and personal faith practices. Through faith, familiar traditions, and enduring principles, rabbis encouraged congregants to follow health directives, endure disruptions, and sustain hope for the future. The following original research articles focus on the aftermath of 7 October 2023 across Israel, Canada, Australia, and Italy. Maya Gan-Zvi offers “The Bearing Witness Archive – Documenting October 7th and Its Aftermath.” In Israel, the National Library has launched ‘The Bearing Witness Archive,’ an ambitious project documenting the events of October 7 and its aftermath. This initiative collects information on how individuals and organizations have experienced the war. Partnering with organizations in Israel and the Diaspora, it has set up a database to collect both grassroots and institutional commemorations. Maya Gavni, the project manager, explains to us what this initiative is and how we can contribute to it. In “Curriculum on the Front Line: An Ethics of Care during War,” Ziva Hassenfeld presents findings from 41 interviews with Israeli teachers conducted in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, exploring how educators navigated their roles during crisis. The study reveals that, while teachers unanimously prioritized student wellbeing, they approached this care through four distinct orientations toward curriculum: completely setting it aside, maintaining it for normalcy, utilizing it as a care tool, or adapting it to acknowledge wartime realities. This research contributes to the understanding of educational care during crises while offering an empirical critique of narrow conceptions of learning loss, particularly relevant in light of recent COVID-19 discussions. The findings demonstrate that teachers’ decisions—whether to follow or set aside the curriculum—were fundamentally guided by an ethics of care for their students’ wellbeing, challenging simplistic narratives about teaching during crisis periods. Also focused on Israel, in “Hasidim Praying for IDF Soldiers after 7 October 2023,” Levi Cooper explores a range of Hasidic communities’ prayer responses to 7 October and the subsequent war in Israel. Despite their traditional non-Zionist stances and usual detachment from the State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hasidic communities responded with prayer, albeit in ways that carefully maintained ideological distance. Instances of prayers for soldiers were primarily private or general, avoiding the explicit language used by Zionist groups. Cooper concludes that, while subtle Editors’ Introduction shifts appeared in the aftermath, these are unlikely to lead to a lasting change in the Hasidic stance toward the State or its military. Matt Reingold and Shira Reznik’s article, “Navigating crisis together: Canadian Jews, Israel and October 7,” examines how Canadian adolescents and young adults constructed social support and informational resources after 7 October. Interview data from the two cohorts—ninth-graders at a Jewish day school and young adult WhatsApp group participants—were analyzed to understand their respective understandings of the events occurring in Israel at that time, as well as their view on the support offered to them by their belonging to a Jewish day school and WhatsApp group. The need for social support and curated, reliable news updates emerged as salient themes, highlighting the roles of Jewish organizations and digital diasporas in supporting people during times of crisis. Moving into the broader community of global Jews, in the immediate aftermath of 7 October, Adina Bankier-Karp and David Graham analyzed survey data from the Australian Jews in the Shadow of War study, uncovering key factors driving anxiety in the Australian Jewish community. Their findings reveal that social media consumption directly fueled anxiety, while concerns about antisemitism in Australia and fears for Israel’s safety further intensified it. While Jewish communal connections did not seem to lessen these effects, frequent supportiv (...truncated)