This week's Featured Fellow is Moises Orfali, a professor of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University, and a member of the Research Group, "New Christian and New Jewish Discourses of Identity between Polemics and Apologetics". We spoke to Moises about interdisciplinary collaboration, Homo Deus, and Spanish New Christians…
What research are you working on during your time at the IIAS?
The phenomenon of the Spanish New Christians – Jews who converted to Christianity often under duress in 1391 – has been, and continues to be, studied from many perspectives. Yet, one feature remains somewhat neglected, that of the relationship between the changes in the mentality and attitudes of members of this group and their behavioural manifestations, including the authorship of literary works. My research at the IIAS deals with a specific group of New Christians, those who rabbinical jurisprudence treats as “apostates” or “renegates” (mešummadim) for being engines of change, creating a mentality quite distinct from that of their ancestors. These cognitive changes found expression in new attitudes as well as new identities and frequent participation in anti-Jewish behaviour, ranging from religious polemics, proselytising, Christian apologetics and the incitement of riots, among others.
How did you first get involved in this area of research?
Ever since I wrote my doctorate on the attacks of a New Christian on Jews and Judaism, one of the questions that remained in my mind concerned the psychological reasons that led him, and other New Christians like him, to such anti-Jewish actions. Undoubtedly, the external climate of suspicion and the struggle for integration by New Christians in Iberian Christian society were sufficient to engender a set of mechanisms that guided the New Christians attitude. I have focused on three psychological concepts – ego ideal, shame, and cognitive dissonance – that appear to be particularly apt to describe the mechanisms that influenced the construction of identity and behaviours.
Can you share an interesting or thought-provoking fact that you have uncovered in your research?
My selection of the analytic framework was motivated by the multidimensionality of the conversion process and by the aim of my Research Group devoted to the multi-disciplinary study of New Christians’ and New Jews’ Discourses of Identity between Polemics and Apologetics. As an historian who is trying to apply a psycho-historical approach in my research, I was fortunate to find at the IIAS a parallel Research Group on "Meta Reasoning: Concepts, Open Issues and Methodology", whose members I could consult, and who graciously advised me on cognitive dissonance processes, particularly on the cognitive states of individuals who convert. I am especially grateful to Prof. Klaus Fiedler from Heidelberg University who introduced me to the different paradigms of cognitive dissonance, and to Prof. Monica Undorf from the University of Mannheim who provided me with a useful bibliography and introduced me to different patterns of psychological behaviours and defence mechanisms. I would not be able to find such genuine and fruitful cooperation even in my own university.
Were you always interested in going into academia?
To be honest, my academic studies were firstly in educational administration and then in Jewish history. As the subject of Jewish history was emotionally ingrained in me, my advanced studies have tended to be more historical than administrative. Although my main occupation in academia has been teaching and researching Jewish history, I have no regrets about the time I invested in studying educational administration, as over time I was able to apply some of the theories that I learned in various managerial positions that I held in academia and in the Jewish community in Madrid.
How has your experience been so far at the IIAS?
It has been an outstanding opportunity to develop my research project as well as to finish two articles that were pending, and if it were not for the motivating and encouraging research atmosphere provided by the IIAS I would not have been able to advance all these and conclude some of them so quickly. Our group seminars were interesting, and the organizers, Prof. David Graizbord and Prof. Claude Stuczinsky, to their credit, knew how to choose interesting and leading researchers in their field, and for that, they are to be congratulated. The administrators, from the Director, Prof. Yitzhak Hen, to each one of the staff, generously gave of their time to meet all my needs.
Do you have any hobbies outside of your research?
Volunteering, photography, cooking and visiting museums.
What's your favourite spot in Jerusalem?
The city itself is for me a favourite spot. I have lived in Jerusalem for 36 years and very much love its unique climate with its surreal splendour, the Israel Museum’s special ambience and the Cinematheque's largest collection of Jewish and Israeli films.
And lastly, give us a book recommendation:
I recommend reading Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, in which he explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will affect the 21st century, from overcoming death to creating artificial life. He asks fundamental questions as to where we go from here. How will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.