This is all about the contribution brought, in recent years, by the centres and institutions doing research on the history of Jews in Romania, France, Poland, and Slovakia to reconstitute some significant aspects of the past of this population with a tragic fate during the Second World War.

A review of the work and contributions of Pompiliu Teodor to the study of the Romanian past.

Maramures (Hungarian: Máramaros) was a north-eastern county of the Hungarian monarchy. Due to its rough terrain, which was ill suited for agriculture, and its remote location, it was poorly inhabited. Jews, usually immigrants from nearby Galicia, constituted one quarter to one third of its population, which made it the most "Jewish" county in greater Hungary. The Jews of Maramures were known for their Hasidic and pious lifestyle. The population of the region, which consisted of Hungarians, Romanians, Germans and Ruthenians, was known for its poor socioeconomic status and lack of basic education. Following WWI, Maramures county was divided between the newly formed Czechoslovakia, who got its northern part, which was included in the Carpatho-Rus' region, and Romania who got the southern part, including the county's capital – Sighet (Hungarian: Máramarossziget, Romanian: Sighetu Marmatiei). The Romanian ruled in Maramures until 1940, and during WWII, Hungary took over Carpatho-Rus' and the Northern part of Transylvania. Despite the poor economy and the scattered population, the newspaper industry of Maramures flourished. Starting in 1865 with the first newspaper of Maramures and ending with the last Jewish newspaper published after the Holocaust, roughly one hundred newspapers and magazines were published. Most of the papers were published in Sighet, but a few were also published in the smaller villages and towns. During that period, Jews played a significant role in the newspaper industry. They served as printers, publishers, editors, and correspondents in both Jewish and non-Jewish press. Considering the fact that during that time, Hungary and Romania were known for their anti-Semitism, this type of collaboration is all but obvious.

“And They Shall Be One Flesh”: On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism, Adam Afterman offers an extensive study of mystical union and embodiment in Judaism. Afterman argues that Philo was the first to articulate the notion of unio mystica in Judaism and is the source of the henōsis mysticism in the later Neoplatonic tradition. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Jewish medieval trends that developed different forms of mystical union and mystical embodiment through the divine name and spirit. The book argues that the development of unitive mysticism in Judaism is the fruit of the creative synthesis of rabbinic Judaism and Hellenistic and Arab philosophy, and a natural outcome of the theological articulation of the idea of monotheism itself.

Most synagogues in Moldavia are adorned with a wide array of murals. The subjects decorating the ark and its surroundings, as well as those ornamenting the walls and ceilings, reveal two main tendencies: preservation of a tradition common to the Jewish East European visual legacy, and new themes, which found their way into pictorial expressions.

Son dönem Timurlu tarihinin önde gelen kaynaklarından ve Farsça tarih yazımı geleneğinin kilometre taşlarından biri olan Ravzatu’s-Safâ birçok modern araştırmada çeşitli yönlerden ele alınmıştır. Lakin bu çalışmalarda aktarılan bilgiler bazı noktalar açısından oldukça dar kapsamlı olmuştur. Dolayısıyla Siyaset, Himaye ve Tarih Yazımı: Timurlu Âlîm-Bürokrat Ali Şir Nevâyi'nin Tarih Yazımı Projesi ve Ravzatu’s-Safâ başlıklı bu çalışmada Ravzatu’s-Safâ’nın Timurlularda himaye sistemi, Timurlu tarih yazıcılığı ve İslam tarihçiliği içerisindeki yeri gibi diğer çalışmalarda eksik kaldığı düşünülen hususiyetleri tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Özellikle Timurlularda himaye sistemi üzerinden eserin sebeb-i telifi belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu bağlamda eserin, aynı zamanda bir tarih-şinas olan Timurlu alim-bürokratı Ali Şîr Nevâyi’nin, yazarı Mîrhând’a sipariş edildiği tespit edilmiştir. Bu ise Nevâyi’nin son dönem Timurlu dinî-politik sistemine karşı tehdit olarak algıladığı tasavvuf menşeli militan Mehdîci hareketlere yönelik entelektüel argümanlar üretilmesi adına girişimlerinden ileri gelmiştir. Çalışmada izlenen yöntem “içerik analizi”, “anlatı analizi” ve “söylem analizi” tekniklerinin bileşiminden oluşan sentez bir yöntemdir. Bu üç tekniğin sentezi üzerinden elde edilen yöntem ile çalışmada ele alınan metnin yazarı Mîrhând’ın ve hamisi Nevâyi’nin, özellikle sebeb-i telif bağlamında, dinî-politik ajandası ortaya konulmak istenmiştir. Neticede bu çalışmanın, özellikle Ortaçağ İran ve Orta Asya Türk Tarihi ile İslam Tarihi’nin diğer bütün alanlarında çalışan araştırmacılara, sıklıkla kullandıkları Ravzatu’s-Safâ’nın içeriğine ve onu oluşturan müellifi ile hamisinin zihin dünyasına yapacakları yolculukta kılavuzluk görevi ifa etmesi amaçlanmıştır.