<i>Ebrei ibridi</i>. A proposito del libro “<i>Un ebreo resta un ebreo</i>”. <i>Vicende dell’ebraismo e del messianesimo nella cultura polacca</i>, a cura di L. Quercioli Mincer, Arezzo 2008

Abstract

Hybrid Jews

The Author reviews some of the issues discussed in “Un ebreo resta sempre un ebreo”. Vicende dell’ebraismo e del messianesimo nella cultura polacca, edited by Laura Quercioli Mincer, with particular reference to Jakub Frank’s movement and his followers. For its “heretical” and syncretic nature within the Ostjudentum, Frank’s movement can be typologically compared to very different cultural phenomena: from the problematic category of “national identity” (Polish identity in particular, one of the most open and inclusive in the European context) to those referring to sexual orientation (especially bi- and transsexuality); from historical expressions of religious hybridity – such as Nicodemism –, to the most varied forms of cultural liminality. In this perspective, Frank’s movement becomes for the Author a pretext to speak about other topics, within general, open and very (post)modern concepts such as “hybridization” and fluid identity.