Exclusive Inclusivity: Identity Conflicts between the Exiles and the People who Remained (6th-5th Centuries BCE) 9781472550415, 9780567080066

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To the families of the late Sula, Dvora, and Mina

ABBREVIATIONS AB ABD AnBib AOTC AS ATD BA BDB BHS Bib BibOr BWANT BZAW CAD CBC ErIs ETSMS FAT FRLANT GTA HALAT

HAT HBS HDR HKAT HSM HTR HUCA IB ICC IDBSup JANES

Anchor Bible Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York, 1992 Analecta biblica Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries Assyriological Studies Das Alte Testament Deutsch Biblical Archaeologist Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907 Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by K. Elliger and W. Rudolph. Stuttgart, 1983 Biblica Biblica et orientalia Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago, 1956– Cambridge Bible Commentary Eretz Israel Evangelical Theological Society Monograph Series Forschungen zum Alten Testament Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments Göttinger theologischer Arbeiten Koehler, L., W. Baumgartner, and J. J. Stamm. Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament. Fascicles 1–5, 1967– 95 (KBL3). ET: HALOT Handbuch zum Alten Testament Herders biblische Studien Harvard Dissertations in Religion Handkommentar zum Alten Testament Harvard Semitic Monographs Harvard Theological Review Hebrew Union College Annual Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by G. A. Buttrick et al. 12 vols. New York, 1951–57 International Critical Commentary Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: Supplementary Volume. Edited by K. Crim. Nashville, 1976 Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society

xii JAOS JBL JCS JJS JNES JSJSup JSOT JSOTSup JSPSup JSS JTS KAT KBL3 LHBOTS LSTS LXX

NCBC NICOT NJPS

OBT OLA OTG OTL OTS PHSC SAA SBLDS SBLMS SBLSymS SBT ScrHier SNTSMS SSN SVTP TDOT

TynBul VT VTSup WBC WMANT ZABR ZAW 1

Abbreviations Journal of the American Oriental Society Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Cuneiform Studies Journal of Jewish Studies Journal of Near Eastern Studies Journal for the Study of Judaism: Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha: Supplement Series Journal of Semitic Studies Journal of Theological Studies Kommentar zum Alten Testament Koehler, L., and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti libros. 3d ed. Leiden, 1997 Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies Library of Second Temple Studies Septuagint New Century Bible Commentary New International Commentary on the Old Testament Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation according to the Traditional Hebrew Text Overtures to Biblical Theology Orientalia lovaniensia analecta Old Testament Guides Old Testament Library Old Testament Studies Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and Its Contexts State Archives of Assyria Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series Studies in Biblical Theology Scripta hierosolymitana Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Studia Semitica Neerlandica Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigraphica Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. J. Botterweck, H. Ringgren, and H.-J. Fabry. Translated by J. T. Willis, D. E. Green, and D. W. Stott. 14 vols. Vols. 1–2 revised. Grand Rapids, 1974–2004 Tyndale Bulletin Vetus Testamentum Vetus Testamentum Supplements Word Biblical Commentary Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtgeschichte Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

PREFACE My ¿rst attraction to the topic dealt with in this monograph was the seemingly great difference between current Jewish history and the biblical evidence concerning the relationships between the dispersed and homeland Judean communities, following the deportations from Judah in the early sixth century B.C.E. Boronovitch, Byten, and ¿nally Warsaw, were the places left behind by most of my family members between the two world wars. The ¿rst family member to immigrate to the land of Israel was my great-uncle, Ze’ev Kovensky, who by 1920 had arrived at Jaffa port as a Üalutz (pioneer), to help build Tel Aviv. At approximately the same time, Sula, his older sister, along with her husband Abraham Swetitsky (later shortened to Sweet) and their ¿rstborn child, Betty, left for the United States and arrived in Kansas City. In the mid-1930s, the youngest of the Kovensky siblings, my grandmother Mina, with her husband David Rabinowitz and her one-and-a-half-year-old son, my father Joseph, accepted the certi¿cates of immigration sent by her brother Ze’ev and headed to the land of Israel. The oldest Kovensky brother, Aaron, and his wife remained in Poland, along with their sister, Devorah, her husband Moshe Swetitsky (Sweet) and four of their ¿ve children (their older son, Zvi, immigrated alone to Israel); by the early 1940s they had all been massacred by the Nazis. This is the beginning of our family’s modernday Diaspora story: the story of two “family-tribes,” one in the United States, the other in Israel. This shorthand report is by no means exceptional. It is the very common story of, I would assume, many thousands of Jewish families in the twentieth century. Due not only to the two world wars in Europe, but also to other factors, such as the inspiration and activism of the Zionist movements that preceded them; ongoing antisemitism and persecution in the Soviet Union; periods of distress and persecution in the Arab countries of the Middle East; and so on, Jewish families the world over have been separated. Some members have immigrated to the land of Israel; others have found refuge in other Diaspora communities.

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Preface

One clear common denominator has united us all—there was never a question that #1%1 -'% -'