Mercédesz Czimbalmos
Biographic Data
| ID | 793059 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mercédesz Czimbalmos |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mercédesz |
| FAMILY NAME | Czimbalmos |
| SIGNATURE | CZIMBALMOS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Åbo Akademi University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8709-4569 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Antisemitism in the Finnish Blue and Black Movement: Ideological Roots and Contemporary Expressions
While far-right organizations often differ in their specific agendas—shaped by the political and geographical contexts in which they operate—antisemitism and anti-Jewish sentiment remain recurring elements across most of them. The Finnish Blue and Black Movement (Fin. Sinimusta liike , SML) was initially founded as an organization, later registered as a political party, and subsequently had its party status revoked in April 2024. As of 2025, it i…
Contemporary Antisemitism as Perceived in Finland: The State of Affairs
This study explores the perceptions of antisemitism among Jews living in Finland, on the basis of a survey conducted between October and November 2023 and 42 semi-structured interviews carried out between March and June 2024. The survey, based on the EU Fundamental Rights Agency's (FRA) questionnaire, gathered 334 responses-representing approximately 17-22% of Finland's Jewish population over the age of 16. A significant majority of respondents r…
From a young Jewish model to a Salvation Army Officer: Fête juive and the case of Chava Slavatitsky
The captivating painting of Helene Schjerfbeck, Fête juive / Lehtimajanjuhla (1883), is considered to this day an exceptional piece of art with significant cultural value. It already carries great value, aside from its artistic quality and how it showcases the Jewish feast of Sukkot. What is not evident from simply looking at the artwork, however, is the intriguing background story to the fate of its models – more specifically, that of its female…
Gendered Differences in Experiences of Bullying and Mental Health Among Transgender and Cisgender Youth
Even though previous studies have shown that transgender youth have poorer mental health and more experiences of being bullied than their cisgender counterparts, and that bullying associates with poorer mental health, knowledge on such associations in different gender identity groups is scarce. This study investigated how mental health problems and experiences of being bullied appear across different gender identity groups, and how bullying is as…
Bending, Breaking and Adhering to Rules of Contemporary Jewish Practice in Finland
This article draws on an ongoing research project that seeks to document ethnographically everyday Jewish life in Finland today. Based on the framework of vernacular religion, it approaches religion "as it is lived" (Primiano 1995) and analyses the many expressions and experiences of rules in day-to-day Jewish life as part of complex interactions between individuals, institutions, and religious motivations. Historical data, institutional structur…
Chabad on Ice: Jewish encounters with fundamentalism in Finland
The article examines the Finnish branch of Chabad Lubavitch as a fundamentalist and charismatic movement that differs from other branches of ultra-Orthodox Judaism in its approaches to outreach to non-observant Jews. Whilst introducing the history of Chabad Lubavitch in Finland and drawing on historical and archival sources, the authors locate the movement in a contemporary context and draw on 101 semi-structured qualitative interviews of members…
Rites of Passage: Conversionary in-Marriages in the Finnish Jewish Communities
Debates over intermarriages and conversions are at the heart of Jewish concerns today. International studies outline a growing number of intermarriages or their considerations within several European countries and the United States. Yet, the Nordic context in general and the Finnish context specifically are understudied. The current study seeks to fill the gap in the existing research by contributing to the field of conversion studies in general …
Yidishe tates forming Jewish families
Jewish communities often do not endorse the idea of intermarriage, and Orthodox Judaism opposes the idea of marrying out. Intermarriage is often perceived as a threat that may jeopardise Jewish continuity as children of such a relationship may not identify as Jews. When a Jewish woman marries out, her children will in any case become Jewish by halakhah – the Jewish law – by which Judaism is inherited from mother to child – and thus usually faces …
Everyone does Jewish in their own way
Shortly after the Civil Marriage Act took effect in 1917 and the constitutional right to freedom of religion was implemented by the Freedom of Religion Act in 1922, the number of intermarriages started to rise in the Finnish Jewish congregations, affecting both their customs, and the structure of their membership. Initially, intermarried members and their spouses faced rejection in their congregations; however, during the second half of the twent…
Boundaries of Jewish Identities in Contemporary Finland
Editorial for issue 30(1) of Nordisk judaistik – Scandinavian Jewish Studies, 'Boundaries of Jewish Identities in Contemporary Finland'
Laws, doctrines and practice: A study of intermarriages and the ways they challenged the Jewish Community of Helsinki from 1930 to 1970
The identities, customs and habits of religious congregations are tightly connected to the history of these congregations and to the specific religious tradition or denomination they consider themselves to be a part of. They are also shaped by the legislative and bureaucratic regulations and processes of the secular society that is surrounding them. The aim of this study is to further our knowledge of some of these aspects of Jewish life as they …
From Yidishe khasene to civil marriage
The aim of this article is to present marriage patterns in the Jewish Community of Helsinki in the period 1919–80 in light of textual records partly preserved in public archives, but partly also in the community itself. The latter corpus of data has not been used previously as source material for ethnographic research. While introducing the legislation of civil marriages in Finland, the goal of this study is to reflect on the patterns of intermar…
Boundaries, identity and belonging in modern Judaism
The subject matter of this book, Jewish identity is and has been of social and religious salience. As Susan A. Glenn and Naomi B. Sokoloff state ‘The question of who is a Jew and what constitutes “
Gendered Differences in Experiences of Bullying and Mental Health Among Transgender and Cisgender Youth
Even though previous studies have shown that transgender youth have poorer mental health and more experiences of being bullied than their cisgender counterparts, and that bullying associates with poorer mental health, knowledge on such associations in different gender identity groups is scarce. This study investigated how mental health problems and experiences of being bullied appear across different gender identity groups, and how bullying is as…
Boundaries, identity and belonging in modern Judaism
The subject matter of this book, Jewish identity is and has been of social and religious salience. As Susan A. Glenn and Naomi B. Sokoloff state ‘The question of who is a Jew and what constitutes “
From Yidishe khasene to civil marriage
The aim of this article is to present marriage patterns in the Jewish Community of Helsinki in the period 1919–80 in light of textual records partly preserved in public archives, but partly also in the community itself. The latter corpus of data has not been used previously as source material for ethnographic research. While introducing the legislation of civil marriages in Finland, the goal of this study is to reflect on the patterns of intermar…
Boundaries of Jewish Identities in Contemporary Finland
Editorial for issue 30(1) of Nordisk judaistik – Scandinavian Jewish Studies, 'Boundaries of Jewish Identities in Contemporary Finland'
Laws, doctrines and practice: A study of intermarriages and the ways they challenged the Jewish Community of Helsinki from 1930 to 1970
The identities, customs and habits of religious congregations are tightly connected to the history of these congregations and to the specific religious tradition or denomination they consider themselves to be a part of. They are also shaped by the legislative and bureaucratic regulations and processes of the secular society that is surrounding them. The aim of this study is to further our knowledge of some of these aspects of Jewish life as they …
Yidishe tates forming Jewish families
Jewish communities often do not endorse the idea of intermarriage, and Orthodox Judaism opposes the idea of marrying out. Intermarriage is often perceived as a threat that may jeopardise Jewish continuity as children of such a relationship may not identify as Jews. When a Jewish woman marries out, her children will in any case become Jewish by halakhah – the Jewish law – by which Judaism is inherited from mother to child – and thus usually faces …
Everyone does Jewish in their own way
Shortly after the Civil Marriage Act took effect in 1917 and the constitutional right to freedom of religion was implemented by the Freedom of Religion Act in 1922, the number of intermarriages started to rise in the Finnish Jewish congregations, affecting both their customs, and the structure of their membership. Initially, intermarried members and their spouses faced rejection in their congregations; however, during the second half of the twent…
Rites of Passage: Conversionary in-Marriages in the Finnish Jewish Communities
Debates over intermarriages and conversions are at the heart of Jewish concerns today. International studies outline a growing number of intermarriages or their considerations within several European countries and the United States. Yet, the Nordic context in general and the Finnish context specifically are understudied. The current study seeks to fill the gap in the existing research by contributing to the field of conversion studies in general …
Bending, Breaking and Adhering to Rules of Contemporary Jewish Practice in Finland
This article draws on an ongoing research project that seeks to document ethnographically everyday Jewish life in Finland today. Based on the framework of vernacular religion, it approaches religion "as it is lived" (Primiano 1995) and analyses the many expressions and experiences of rules in day-to-day Jewish life as part of complex interactions between individuals, institutions, and religious motivations. Historical data, institutional structur…
Chabad on Ice: Jewish encounters with fundamentalism in Finland
The article examines the Finnish branch of Chabad Lubavitch as a fundamentalist and charismatic movement that differs from other branches of ultra-Orthodox Judaism in its approaches to outreach to non-observant Jews. Whilst introducing the history of Chabad Lubavitch in Finland and drawing on historical and archival sources, the authors locate the movement in a contemporary context and draw on 101 semi-structured qualitative interviews of members…
From a young Jewish model to a Salvation Army Officer: Fête juive and the case of Chava Slavatitsky
The captivating painting of Helene Schjerfbeck, Fête juive / Lehtimajanjuhla (1883), is considered to this day an exceptional piece of art with significant cultural value. It already carries great value, aside from its artistic quality and how it showcases the Jewish feast of Sukkot. What is not evident from simply looking at the artwork, however, is the intriguing background story to the fate of its models – more specifically, that of its female…
Gendered Differences in Experiences of Bullying and Mental Health Among Transgender and Cisgender Youth
Even though previous studies have shown that transgender youth have poorer mental health and more experiences of being bullied than their cisgender counterparts, and that bullying associates with poorer mental health, knowledge on such associations in different gender identity groups is scarce. This study investigated how mental health problems and experiences of being bullied appear across different gender identity groups, and how bullying is as…
Antisemitism in the Finnish Blue and Black Movement: Ideological Roots and Contemporary Expressions
While far-right organizations often differ in their specific agendas—shaped by the political and geographical contexts in which they operate—antisemitism and anti-Jewish sentiment remain recurring elements across most of them. The Finnish Blue and Black Movement (Fin. Sinimusta liike , SML) was initially founded as an organization, later registered as a political party, and subsequently had its party status revoked in April 2024. As of 2025, it i…
Contemporary Antisemitism as Perceived in Finland: The State of Affairs
This study explores the perceptions of antisemitism among Jews living in Finland, on the basis of a survey conducted between October and November 2023 and 42 semi-structured interviews carried out between March and June 2024. The survey, based on the EU Fundamental Rights Agency's (FRA) questionnaire, gathered 334 responses-representing approximately 17-22% of Finland's Jewish population over the age of 16. A significant majority of respondents r…
History (11 works) · Judaism (11 works) · Jewish Identity and Society (10 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Archaeology (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works)