Hi Berti
Thanks for reading the 'entire' text, and thanks for your analysis.
I yield to you on all points. In fact I'm pleased that I was incorrect
in the first place. I started my reading because I was looking for a
long time for an authoritative history in English of the Jews of
Bukovina that could be recommended on the website.
It looks like this thesis could well serve that purpose.
Best,
jerome
On 2015-01-05 3:41 AM, Berti Glaubach wrote:
> I beg to somewhat disagree with you Jerome,
>
> It is usually assumed that a doctorate thesis is read in a way that avoids
> the interpretations of words for their connotations.
> What a reader of a thesis is supposed to do, is stick to denotations. Now,
> "usurer" in connection to the history of my grand parents or their fellow
> nationals does not have a pleasant sound, and I would have preferred
> another. Money lender? Loan shark? Money lender at high or preferably low
> interest rates? We don't know to-day what part of the money went to the
> intermediates known to generally be "usurers" and how much to the "Fondul
> Bisericesc". The point that the author justifiable wants to make is that
> the role of the Jews in the administration of land as intermediates, was
> seen as unjust by the peasants and that (this subjective feeling)
> contributed to their attitude towards Jews in general i.e. was part of the
> causes that created antisemitism.
>
> I also cannot find any fault in the roles of the two thesis advisers. It is
> clear from the reading of the text that nowhere is the Jewish population of
> the Bukowina criticized. To enter (even parenthetically) into a discussion
> about the historical causes of Jews as money lenders would be an
> unnecessary and therefore not justifiable enlargement of the scope of the
> dissertation that is a survey of the history of this part of Austria.
> Introducing that subject could only lead to further involvement into
> unnecessary connotations.
>
> Halevai more of the same level of Ph.D. thesis would be around, preferably
> about Czernowitz. But on that point I am sure we all agree,
>
> [Berti Glaubach]
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 12:08 AM, jerome schatten <romers_at_shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> Hardy...
>> None of the above (or below).
>>
>> I find it disturbing that the author touched on this issue in the 'manner
>> that he did' -- that is: setting us up to draw our own conclusions, but
>> leading us with the same tired parenthetical info that 'mostly Jews' were
>> the usurers, the repo guys (again the Jews); the bad debt colletors (who?
>> the Jews again) and so on. He concludes that anti-Semitism was the result.
>> But, most problematical for me -- the next step, a question which the
>> author begs to ask, but appears sensible enough not to: Could these
>> usurers, these Jews, be responsible for their own sad fate? An old,
>> recurrent theme, as Shelly points out.
>>
>> A Ph.D. thesis is by definition part of a right of passage -- the
>> candidate engages in research which produces 'significant new knowledge' in
>> his/her field of study. It is done under the guidance of several advisors.
>> He/she must defend this thesis in front of a select committee. At various
>> stages in the thesis generation process, reviews take place. I am amazed
>> and saddened that this 'old saw' was able to pass muster.
>>
>> jerome
>>
>>
>
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Received on 2015-01-07 15:23:12