Author: Yakov M. Rabkin File Type: pdf Usually, we think of the state of modern Israel, as well as the late nineteenth-century Zionist movement that led to its founding, as a response to anti-Semitism which grew out of cultural and religious Judaism. InWhat Is Modern Israel?, however, Yakov M. Rabkin turns this understanding on its head, arguing convincingly that Zionism, far from being a natural development of Judaism, in fact has its historical and theological roots in Protestant Christianity. While most Jewish people viewed Zionism as marginal or even heretical,Christian enthusiasm for the Restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land transformed the traditional Judaic yearning for Returna spiritual concept with a very different meaninginto a political project. Drawing on many overlooked pages of history, and using on a uniquely broad range of sources in English, French, Hebrew, and Russian, Rabkin shows that Zionism was conceived as a sharp break with Judaism and Jewish continuity. Rabkin argues that Israels past and present must be understood in the context of European ethnic nationalism, colonial expansion, and geopolitical interests rather thanas is all too often the casean incarnation of Biblical prophecies or a culmination of Jewish history. **

Author: Rachel Alpha Johnston Hurst File Type: pdf Versatile, trendy, and resilient, the global cosmetic surgery industry shows no signs of decline, especially with its promises, not just of aesthetic improvement, but of absolute transformation. Introducing the concept of surface imagination, Rachel Hurst discusses the fantasy that a change to the exterior will enhance the interior, or that the outside is more significant because it fashions the inside. Drawing on psychoanalysis, feminist theory, popular culture, the history of medicine, and interviews with women who have undergone cosmetic procedures, Hurst explores the tensions between the two primary surfaces of cosmetic surgery the photograph and the skin. The photograph, an idealized surface for envisioning the effects of cosmetic surgery, allows for speculation and retouching, predictably and without pain. The skin, on the other hand, is a recalcitrant surface that records the passage of time and heals unpredictably. Ultimately, Hurst argues, the fantasy of surface imagination corroborates the belief that ones body is mutable and controllable, and that control over ones body permits control over ones social, emotional, and mental suffering. Acknowledging the varied experiences and opinions of the patients interviewed, but also critiquing the promises made by the industry, Surface Imaginations develops an innovative approach to thinking about cosmetic surgical transformations through the seduction of surfaces. **Review Moving beyond traditional approaches towards cosmetic surgery, Surface Imaginations is a poetic, strong, and innovative study that develops and elaborates on issues of fantasy, photography, and the limitations of the skin. Kathy Davis, VU University Amsterdam About the Author Rachel Alpha Johnston Hurst is associate professor of womens and gender studies at St Francis Xavier University. Versatile, trendy, and resilient, the global cosmetic surgery industry shows no signs of decline, especially with its promises, not just of aesthetic improvement, but of absolute transformation. Introducing the concept of surface imagination, Rachel Hurst discusses the fantasy that a change to the exterior will enhance the interior, or that the outside is more significant because it fashions the inside. Drawing on psychoanalysis, feminist theory, popular culture, the history of medicine, and interviews with women who have undergone cosmetic procedures, Hurst explores the tensions between the two primary surfaces of cosmetic surgery the photograph and the skin. The photograph, an idealized surface for envisioning the effects of cosmetic surgery, allows for speculation and retouching, predictably and without pain. The skin, on the other hand, is a recalcitrant surface that records the passage of time and heals unpredictably. Ultimately, Hurst argues, the fantasy of surface imagination corroborates the belief that ones body is mutable and controllable, and that control over ones body permits control over ones social, emotional, and mental suffering. Acknowledging the varied experiences and opinions of the patients interviewed, but also critiquing the promises made by the industry, Surface Imaginations develops an innovative approach to thinking about cosmetic surgical transformations through the seduction of surfaces. **