Author in our series murdered by Hamas: We mourn the death of Hayim Katsman

Only recently we received the news that one of the contributors to our series “European-Jewish Studies” is among the many victims of Hamas’ terrorist violence against Israel.

Hayim Katsman was murdered on October 7, 2023 at the age of 32 in Kibbutz Cholit near the border to Gaza. He was a political scientist, a researcher of Zionism, and an Israeli peace activist. After studying in Israel, Hayim Katsman received his PhD in 2021 from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington (USA) with a thesis entitled “New Trends in Religious-Nationalist Politics in Israel/Palestine.”

In memory of Hayim Katsman, we are publishing here once again his article “Reactions Towards Jewish Radicalism. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg and Religious Zionism,” which was published in 2019 in the volume “Jewish Radicalisms” edited by Frank Jacob and Sebastian Kunze (= European Jewish Studies - Contributions, Volume 39, DOI: 10.1515/9783110545753-010).

The Moses Mendelssohn Center condemns the terrorist attacks of Hamas. We are deeply shocked by the massacres. Our sympathy goes out to the relatives of Hayim Katsman and all the victims. We hope that the hostages, who are still being held by Hamas, will be released soon. At the same time, we deeply fear for the country, the society and the region. Our thoughts are with our many colleagues in Israel, and we declare our solidarity with Israeli civil society, which has risen above in these days and weeks since October 7, and which has meant so much to Hayim Katsman. May this be in his spirit and his memory a blessing.

Miriam Rürup together with the team of the Moses Mendelssohn Center, Potsdam