Midrash, a Polish social and cultural profile magazine (published since April 1997), is a monthly journal that is a representative of the so-called ‘minor press’. The magazine is connected with the Midrash Library publishing house. Its founder was Konstanty Gebert and the current editor is Piotr Paziński. The articles of Midrash magazine give answers to such questions as: How are women described and treated in modern patriarchal Judaism culture? In what context is it possible to talk about issues connected with women and Zionism. Midrash magazine also deals with a positive interpretation and presentation of women via the multitude of interviews and articles concerning strong, talented, and determined women. Despite their hard lives these women were and are able to create successful careers and wonderful families. Their voices are an important element in discussions that refer to culture, faith, and historical heritage. The image of the woman as presented by Midrash will be confronted with the cultural recognition of the woman in the Jewish community. This article will use quantitative analysis (the linguistic method and literature studies) with help from the qualitative case study research method. 

The educational, social and economic situation of Jewish women in Wałcz County (West Prussia) from the 18th to early 20th century

In this article, I analyze the functioning of women in Jewish communities in the Wałcz County (Kreis Deutsch Krone), which was part of West Prussia until the end of 1945. This area, located initially between West Prussia and Pomerania and later between several Prussian provinces, was particularly conducive to Jewish settlement. As a result, for example in Miroslawiec (Märkisch Friedland), located in the Wałcz district, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Jewish population constituted as much as 55%. So far, few publications have been written about the Jewish communities functioning in that area. The text is of a historical nature; in the course of its preparation, I have made use of archival materials, the Jewish press of the time, and I have also referred to Prussian legal regulations. As a result, I have analysed the economic, legal and, in particular, educational situation of Jewish women living in the area, taking into account two types of factors that conditioned it – religious orders and Prussian legislation. I also discuss the changes and their causes, to which the functioning of women in these communities was subjected in the period from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the gradual assimilation of the Jewish population, progressing until World War II, which put an end to the presence of Jews in this area.

“We are trying to be a multicultural family...” – dualistic transmission of cultural heritage (a research report)

In this article, intercultural education in a mixed family (in Catholic-Jewish marriages) is explored. In particular, my focus is on the construction of various secular and religious patterns of bicultural family life and the possible forms and content of intergenerational family transmission in the adult generation of Jews. The research conducted in 2018–2022 was based on the biographical method – a total of 15 in-depth interviews were carried out. In the article, only a part of a broader project is presented. The biographies of four women of Jewish origin are explored – three of them are representatives of the third post-war generation. All of them try to combine ethnic and dualistic education, due to the type of bicultural marriage or the attitude to the dominant culture. The analytical part is a short reconstruction of the type of family origin, self-identification, cultural definition of one’s own family and opinions regarding the transmission of the Jewish heritage of each woman. Statements of the participants of the research about the ways of celebrating double holidays are collected in a table. The narrators create a culturally open type of their own family and in one case a culturally declared type (according to Alicja Szerląg’s classification).