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The Politics of Assimilation

Nicholas Cook

in The Schenker Project: Culture, Race, and Music Theory in Fin-de-siècle Vienna

A Galician Jew who came to Vienna on a government scholarship, Schenker arrived just as a fully racial anti-semitism was developing; the binary pattern of thought discussed in Chapter 3 became most ... More

A Galician Jew who came to Vienna on a government scholarship, Schenker arrived just as a fully racial anti-semitism was developing; the binary pattern of thought discussed in Chapter 3 became most pernicious when linked to the binary opposition Jew/not Jew. True to the tradition of German cultural conservatism, Schenker constructed his identity through an extreme appropriation of high German culture, while at the same time maintaining his personal adherence to the Jewish tradition. Though attempts to explain Schenker's theory in terms of that tradition are ultimately unconvincing, his situation in an increasingly anti-semitic society explains much about the motivation of Schenker's project and the way it developed. These issues of culture and race are drawn out through comparisons with two of the principal Others of Schenker's cultural and intellectual universe: Richard Wagner, to whom Schenker's entire project can be understood as a response, and Arnold Schoenberg.Less

Hebrew Manuscripts in an Age of Print

Yaacob Dweck

in The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice

This chapter posits Leon Modena's writing practices within the context of early modern Venice, capital of Hebrew printing and center of manuscript production. The circumstances of Modena's life as ... More

This chapter posits Leon Modena's writing practices within the context of early modern Venice, capital of Hebrew printing and center of manuscript production. The circumstances of Modena's life as well as the cultural world of early modern Venice offer some context for why Ari Nohem (The Roaring Lion, 1840) did not appear in print in the seventeenth century. As a work of criticism, Ari Nohem reflected upon the transmission of Jewish tradition, particularly the transmission of esoteric information and the principles of Jewish law. Modena argued that the printing of legal and kabbalistic books had effected a radical change in the transmission of Jewish tradition, a change that he decried in no uncertain terms at several points. Ari Nohem polemicized against one medium, print, in the form of another, manuscript.Less

‘Virgil in the Basket’: narrative as hermeneutics in Hebrew literature of the Middle Ages

Eli Yassif

in Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination: Essays in Honour of Michael Fishbane

This chapter emphasizes the continuity of central ideas over many centuries. Despite tremendous innovation and change within the literature, it persuasively connects folkloric motifs from a medieval ... More

This chapter emphasizes the continuity of central ideas over many centuries. Despite tremendous innovation and change within the literature, it persuasively connects folkloric motifs from a medieval Hebrew folktale with classical images from Jewish tradition. It addresses the question of the authority of narrative texts as historical documents as well as the question of narrative hermeneutics — in all its force and seriousness.Less

Spirituality, Suffering, and Prayerful Presence within Jewish Tradition

Christina M. Puchalski

in A Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Chronically Ill and Dying

This chapter examines spirituality, suffering, and prayerful presence in relation to end-of-life care in the Jewish tradition, describing the Jewish mourning practices and the stand of Judaism ... More

This chapter examines spirituality, suffering, and prayerful presence in relation to end-of-life care in the Jewish tradition, describing the Jewish mourning practices and the stand of Judaism concerning euthanasia, autopsies, and transplantation. It also provides a brief guide to prayerful presence, including pastoral visitation, and explains the Jewish belief that each person has a personal and direct relationship with God. However, Judaism does not place any special sacramental status upon Jewish clergy.Less

Prayer in the Vernacular

Jean Baumgarten

Jerold C. Frakes (ed.)

in Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature

Beginning in the sixteenth century, the problem of translating prayers into the vernacular was one of the important questions confronting Jewish society. The rabbinical authorities adopted an ... More

Beginning in the sixteenth century, the problem of translating prayers into the vernacular was one of the important questions confronting Jewish society. The rabbinical authorities adopted an ambivalent attitude that illustrates the tensions that this issue inevitably caused. As for the Yiddish authors, they decided in favour of a partial vernacularization of the prayers. Meanwhile, the history of bilingual holiday prayer books (makhzourim) followed a development similar to that of the other liturgical works Considered as a whole, these liturgical texts demonstrate the modest inroads made by the vernacular into Jewish religious life and testify to a transformation among the ordinary faithful of their religious experience. These texts were part of a vast religious offensive intended to organize the Jewish masses more effectively and to spread the teaching of Jewish traditions.Less

The Aftermath of Emigration

Tina Frühauf

in The Organ and its Music in German-Jewish Culture

The mass emigration of German Jews during National Socialism in 1933 had a profound impact on the identities of Jewish musicians. Because of their need for social and professional integration, they ... More

The mass emigration of German Jews during National Socialism in 1933 had a profound impact on the identities of Jewish musicians. Because of their need for social and professional integration, they needed to strike a balance between preserving an identity that had been shaped by the European musical tradition and adjusting to a new cultural situation. While the forced relocation and new living conditions affected the creative output of the émigré musicians, these also greatly influenced the musical life of their adopted countries. The US became a popular destination for German–Jewish artists, including musicians who found employment in synagogues to influence Jewish–American service with their organ playing and organ building. Unfortunately, the next generations of synagogue musicians apparently had no interest in further developing the organ in Jewish worship, as the German–Jewish culture seemed to have dissolved into American culture. The British Mandate of Palestine was a popular destination for Zionists from Russia and eastern European countries. Inspired by the new and different environment, German–Jewish musicians took interest in the music of Eastern Jewry and the Arabs. Many composers in the new Israel sought a musical synthesis of East and West either by combining the harmonic and compositional techniques of Western music with the rhythms, melodies, and instruments of Eastern music or by applying Eastern aesthetics without using the actual musical elements associated with Eastern music. Although organ music had not been a central part of the musical life of Palestine, many émigré musicians who were familiar with the organ from their youth in Europe revived their interest in the instrument, giving rise to an organ tradition. Unlike in the US, where organ music has almost disappeared, in Israel the music is still in a unique phase of development.Less

In Praise of Jewish Ritual: Modern Medicine and the Defense of Ancient Traditions

John M. Efron

in Medicine and the German Jews: A History

This chapter describes the complementary relationship enjoyed by science and Judaism. The Jewish scientist was not swayed by the nineteenth-century French philosopher Auguste Comte, who proclaimed ... More

This chapter describes the complementary relationship enjoyed by science and Judaism. The Jewish scientist was not swayed by the nineteenth-century French philosopher Auguste Comte, who proclaimed that in the coming positivist order, scientists, rather than priests, would be canonized. Few Jewish scientists have ever suggested that a man in a lab coat would or should replace the rabbi in his long, black coat. On the contrary, among Central European Jews in the nineteenth century, there were many who sought to make use of science in order to help them bolster their links to Jewish tradition. What this means is that for Jews in the modern period, science and religion have proven to be perfectly compatible, which raises a number of other questions. All of these questions are addressed here.Less

Jewish Philosophers and the Enlightenment

Willi Goetschel

in The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

This chapter examines the works of some of the most notable Jewish philosophers during the Enlightenment Period. It traces themes that unite and divide the projects of Baruch Spinoza, Moses ... More

This chapter examines the works of some of the most notable Jewish philosophers during the Enlightenment Period. It traces themes that unite and divide the projects of Baruch Spinoza, Moses Mendelssohn, and Salomon Maimon in the context of the Enlightenment trajectories in modern philosophy beginning with Michel de Montaigne and Etienne de La Boëtie. It analyzes Spinoza's controversial place in the history of Jewish philosophy and the legacy of the Jewish Enlightenment philosophers. This chapter suggests the Jewish philosophers saw themselves as developing projects that would embrace Jewish tradition as an emancipatory and progressive force and contribute to the project of critically rethinking the problem of the universal claim of philosophy in the face of the particularity that defines the universal terms of the project of modernity.Less

Sharing the Console: The Synagogue Organist

Tina Frühauf

in The Organ and its Music in German-Jewish Culture

While the issue concerning the introduction of organs into Jewish worship services eventually faded, debates over whether organs could be played during Sabbath and holy days and whether Jewish or ... More

While the issue concerning the introduction of organs into Jewish worship services eventually faded, debates over whether organs could be played during Sabbath and holy days and whether Jewish or non-Jewish musicians should be allowed to play them on these days continued well into the twentieth century. Prior to the Second Rabbinical Conference of Frankfurt in 1845, Christian musicians were allowed to play the organ during Jewish liturgy. However, even after rabbis at the conference explicitly recommended that a Jewish musician play the organ, a consistent and enforceable solution remained an issue. Each congregation independently decided whether it wanted to hire an organist of Jewish or Christian faith. The lack of Jewish musicians trained in organ music left many Jewish congregations with no choice but to hire church musicians. In the early nineteenth century, state-supervised training of synagogue organists of Jewish origin started in Germany and other parts of Western Europe and, by the turn of the century, various synagogues had trained organists in place. Synagogue organists, however, continued to perform non-Jewish repertoire as a result of the early practice of hiring church musicians and the lack of Jewish-inspired organ works until the early twentieth century, when composers began writing music based on Jewish liturgical, paraliturgical, and folkloristic–traditional melodies that are distinct from Christian models.Less

Jacob Sasportas and Jewish Messianism

Yaacob Dweck

in Formations of Belief: Historical Approaches to Religion and the Secular

This chapter focuses on Jacob Sasportas and Jewish Messianism. A rabbi in the Western Sephardic diaspora, Sasportas emerged in 1665 as one of the few opponents to the Jewish Messiah named Sabbetai ... More

This chapter focuses on Jacob Sasportas and Jewish Messianism. A rabbi in the Western Sephardic diaspora, Sasportas emerged in 1665 as one of the few opponents to the Jewish Messiah named Sabbetai Zevi. In his response to Sabbatianism, Sasportas held up a series of texts as sources of authority to counter the immediate religious experience of the Sabbatians. He repeatedly emphasized an imperative to doubt and beseeched the recipients of his letters to question the certainty of their messianic sensibility. Documents, not enthusiasm, were what counted to him, and, according to the Jewish textual tradition, Sabbetai Zevi was not behaving as a messiah should. When the Sabbatians answered back citing sources of their own, Sasportas took a closer, critical look and proved them fabricated.Less

Epilogue

in Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah

In the Middle Ages, Kabbalah perforce retained a strong connection to Neo-Aristotelean or Neo-Platonic philosophy and indeed was in many ways inseparable from these discourses. It is problematic to ... More

In the Middle Ages, Kabbalah perforce retained a strong connection to Neo-Aristotelean or Neo-Platonic philosophy and indeed was in many ways inseparable from these discourses. It is problematic to view modern Kabbalah in a proximist manner as an elaboration of medieval Jewish mysticism. The evidence for the persistence of intense and somatic experiences of somatic transformation was drawn from a broad array of texts. While the underscoring of the shamanic elements in Jewish mystical culture certainly brings the study of modern Kabbalah closer to the general scholastic enterprise of religious studies, it should not be seen as a move that removes the body of texts studied here from its anchoring in the broader Jewish tradition. In future works, the exhibition of the continued relevance of the revitalizing forces of Jewish modernity to the broader question of the meaning of traditional Jewish practice in modern global culture is aimed at.Less

Introduction: Disciplining Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

Willi Goetschel

in The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the history of the development of Jewish philosophy and Jewish thought. It suggests that critical reflections on “Jewish ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the history of the development of Jewish philosophy and Jewish thought. It suggests that critical reflections on “Jewish philosophy” are as old as its modern use and that the widening of the scope from “philosophy” to “thought” made it possible to develop a more inclusive approach to Jewish tradition's significance for the emergence of modern philosophy. This volume argues against the presumption of Jewish philosophy as a separate and independent entity and category of philosophy and contends that it should be considered as representing a differential move that engages critically with philosophy, which it seeks to complicate, differentiate, and enrich.Less

Culture, Law, and the Development of Jewish Tradition

Roberta Rosenthal Kwall

in The Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition

Chapter 1 furnishes an overview of cultural analysis and the study of halakhah and the Jewish tradition through a cultural analysis framework. It opens with a discussion of the emerging focus on law ... More

Chapter 1 furnishes an overview of cultural analysis and the study of halakhah and the Jewish tradition through a cultural analysis framework. It opens with a discussion of the emerging focus on law and cultural analysis in the academic world generally and identifies the salient themes of a cultural analysis approach to law. These themes stress the importance of power relationships, environment, cultural dissent, and multiple values in the development of law. Cultural analysis also relies on the narrative model because the lawmaking process is best served with stories representing a broad range of perspectives. This discussion emphasizes that law and culture should not be viewed as two distinct entities but rather as embodiments of one another. This chapter also introduces the book’s central theme: how a cultural analysis paradigm provides an ideal way of understanding the historical development and ongoing evolution of halakhah and the mesorah.Less

Administering the Jews

Iryna Vushko

in The Politics of Cultural Retreat: Imperial Bureaucracy in Austrian Galicia, 1772-1867

This chapter discusses some political and socioeconomic effects of the Habsburg monarchy's reforms against the persistence of Jewish tradition in Vienna and in the province of Galicia. Through the ... More

This chapter discusses some political and socioeconomic effects of the Habsburg monarchy's reforms against the persistence of Jewish tradition in Vienna and in the province of Galicia. Through the initiative of Emperor Joseph II, the reforms flourished with the Edict of Toleration (1785) as its foundation. The Edict of Toleration sought to transform Jewish inhabitants into valuable citizens of Vienna: they would be given right to send their children to German-language state-sponsored schools and access to professional offices. The most compelling response to this decree came from Galicia, which was home to almost two-thirds of the Jewish population of the entire monarchy. The Jews in Galicia struggled with problems involving landownership, in the production and trade of apparel for the Ruthenian clergy, and restrictions on marriage, residency, and migration.Less