Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought

Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought
Ynon Wygoda
 

Course Description:
The aim of the course is to paint a broad panoramic view of modern Jewish thought following both a chronological order (spanning from the 17th to the 20st century), as well as a thematic logic (emphasizing the nexus between the reinterpretation of the classical Jewish sources and the question of national identity). The course will be divided into four sections.
1) The reinterpretation of Scripture and the critique of Jewish particularism in early modern Jewish thought: Spinoza and Mendelssohn.
2) The Rise of Zionism:

1. Anti-Semitism and the forging of political Zionism: Hess, Nordau, Pinsker
2. Cultural Zionism and the controversy concerning the negation of diaspora: Ahad Ha’am, Dubnow
3. Religious Zionism and the controversy as to the religious value of the Jewish state: Kook, Soloveitchik and Leibowitz.

3) Tradition revisited – alternatives to nationalism:

1.  Buber’s dialogical philosophy and the reappropriation of Prophetic and Hasidic Judaism.
2. Rosenzweig’s Jewish existentialism, Biblical retranslation and the quest for Jewish renewal
3. Lévinas and the rereading of the Talmud.

4) The precept of memory and the question of forgiveness after the Shoah: Fackenheim and Jankélévitch.
Grounded in our previous meetings the concluding session will be dedicated to the question what is modern Jewish thought and can one outline what it entails?
Course Requirements and Expectations:
The goals of the course are threefold: To provide the students with an introductory familiarity with some of the central themes and central figures that occupy the world of Modern Jewish Thought. To award the students the tools to read and interpret such texts more attentively. To encourage a discussion as to the role and importance of these texts for our contemporary society in general and Jewish existence in particular.
To meet these three goals an emphasis will be placed on an attentive completion of the weekly readings which will serve as the basis for the classroom lectures and discussions. Classes themselves will be made-up of part lectures pertaining to the cultural
and philosophical background of the weekly texts, part close readings of selected passages and part discussion which will hinge on the level of active engagement with the texts and other members of the class.
All the studied texts will be made available in PDF forms on the course’s website but students are encouraged to seek out the books that are available at the University Library.
 

The following are the three course requirements:
1) Full attendance, preparation of weekly reading assignments, and participation in class discussions.
2) Hand-in weekly 1-2 paragraph long answers pertaining to weekly readings (10%)
3) A mid-term assignment (30%)
4) A final paper (6-10 pages). (60%)

Syllabus:
I. Biblical criticism and the critique of Jewish particularism in Early Modern Jewish Thought: B. Spinoza and M. Mendelssohn
Session 1-2:
Biblical criticism and the critique of Judaism in Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise: The philosophical critique of Chosenness and of Jewish Law
Primary Reading:
- B. Spinoza, Theological-political treatise, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), Introduction, chapters 3, 4, 7, 17, 18.
Secondary Reading:
- Leo Strauss, Spinoza's Critique of Religion (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp. 147-192
- Steven Nadler, A Book Forged in Hell. Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press 2011), pp. 104-142.
Session 3-4:
Mendelssohn’s apology of Judaism in Jerusalem: The distinction between revealed religion and revealed legislation. Mendelssohn’s translation and commentary of the Pentateuch.
Primary Reading:
- M. Mendelssohn, Jerusalem or: On religious power and Judaism (Hanover: Brandeis University Press, 1983), Part II.
- M. Mendelssohn, Light for the Path and selected passages from the Bi’ur in Michah Gottlieb (ed.), Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible, (Boston: Brandeis University Press 2011), pp. 184-230.
Secondary Reading:
- Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1973), pp. 514-552.
- N. Rotenstreich, Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), pp. 6-29
- D. Sorkin, Moses Mendelssohn and the Religious Enlightenment (London: Peter Halban, 1996), pp. 120-146
- Edward Breuer, “Jewish Study of the Bible Before and During the Jewish Enlightenment” in Magne Sæbø (ed.) Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, vol. II: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (1300–1800), (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), 2008, pp. 1006-1023
II. Zionistic Thought, Political Zionism, Cultural Zionism, Religious Zionism, and the negation of Diaspora.
Session 5-6:
Moses Hess: his way from radical Socialism to Zionism.
L. Pinsker and M. Nordau: the question of anti-Semitism and the Rise of Political Zionism
Primary reading:
- M. Hess, Rome and Jerusalem, (New York : Philosophical Library), 1958
- L. Pinsker, "Auto-Emancipation : An Appeal to His People by a Russian Jew" (New York, 1944)
- M. Nordau, "Speech to the First Zionist Congress" (1897); "Zionism" (1902), in: A. Hertzberg (ed.), The Zionist idea : a historical analysis and reader (New York: Atheneum, 1969)
- Max Simon Nordau. “Address at the Second Congress,” Max Nordau to His People: A Summons and a Challenge. Bentzion Netanyahu (ed.), New York: Scopus publishing company, 1941)
Secondary Reading:
- M. Buber, "The First of the last: Moses Hess," On Zion: The history of an Idea (London: Horovitz Publishing, 1973), , pp. 111-123
- S. Avineri, Moses Hess : prophet of communism and Zionism (New York : New York University Press, 1985)
- S. Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: the intellectual origins of the Jewish State (London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981),: pp. 36-46 (Hess); pp. 73-82 (Pinsker); pp. 88-100 (Herzl); pp. 101-111 (Nordau).
Session 7-8:
The polemic concerning the Negation of the Diaspora
Achad Ha’am, the idea of Cultural Zionism
Primary reading:
- Achad Ha'am: "The Jewish State and the Jewish Problem" (1897) and "The Negation of the Diaspora" (1909), in: A. Hertzberg (ed.), The Zionist idea : a historical analysis and reader (New York: Atheneum, 1969), pp. 262-277
- S. Dubnow – “the affirmation of the diaspora (a reply to Ahad Ha’am)”, in Nationalism and History , Essays on Old and New Judaism, Pinson, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1958, pp. 182-191.  F. Rosenzweig – “A Review of H. Cohen’s Germanism and Judaism” in N. Glatzer (ed.) Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought, Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, pp. 33-34.
Secondary Reading:
- M. Buber, On Zion: The history of an Idea, "The doctrine of the centre: Ahad Ha'am", pp. 143-146; "The renewal of Holiness: Rav Kook", pp. 147-153
- S. Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: the intellectual origins of the Jewish State, 112-124 (Achad Ha'am)
- N. Rotenstreich, Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig, "Harmony and Return: Rav Kook", pp. 219-238
Session 9-10 :
Religious Zionism: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, rabbi Dov B. Soloveitchik and Yishayahou Leibowitz
Primary reading:
- A.I. Kook: "The land of Israel" and "The Rebirth of Israel", in: A. Hertzberg (ed.), The Zionist idea : a historical analysis and reader,( Philadelphia: JPS, 1997) pp. 419-426
- A.I. Kook, “World View,” in Contemporary Jewish Thought: A Reader, S. Noveck (ed.)
- J.B. Soloveitchik ,Kol Dodi Dofek, (New York: Yeshiva University and Hoboken, NJ: Ktav 2006)
- Y. Leibowitz, “The Religious Significance of the State” in Judaism, human values, and the Jewish State. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press), 1992, pp. 214-222.
- Y. Leibowitz, “The Uniquesness of the Jewish People” in Judaism, human values, and the Jewish State. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press), 1992, pp. 79-87
Secondary Reading:
- G. J. Blidstein, "On the Jewish People in the Writings of Rabbi Joseph Solovetchik", Tradition 24, 3 (Spring, 1989), pp. 21-44.
- E. Schweid, “Rav Kook: A Land of Destiny that is a Homeland,” in The land of Israel: National Home or Land of Destiny, (Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1985, p. 173-185.
- L. Batnitzky, “Leibowitz: Jewish Religion and the Jewish State,” in How Judaism Became a Religion: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought. (Princeton: Princeton University Press), 2011, pp. 64-71
- E. Goldman, introduction to Y. Leibowitz, Judaism, human values, and the Jewish State. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press), 1992, pp. vii-xxxiv.
III. Tradition Revisited: Three Alternatives to Nationalistic Identity.
Session 11-12:
Martin Buber's reevaluation of the prophetic and hasidic traditions and its relationship to his dialogical philosophy
Primary Reading:
- M. Buber, “Renewal of Judaism” in On Judaism (New York: Schocken Press), 1996, pp. 34-55; "Jewish Religiosity", ibid, pp. 79-94
- M. Buber, Introduction to Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters, Schocken: New York 1968, pp. 1-34.
- M. Buber and H. Cohen, "A debate on Zionism and Messianism", in: P. Mendes-Flohr and J. Reinharz (Eds.), The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 448-453
Secondary Reading:
- E. Berkovits, Major Themes in Modern Philosophies of Judaism (New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1974), pp. 69-137
- Maurice Friedman, “I and Thou” in A. Cohen, Paul Mendes-Flohr (eds.), 20th Century Jewish Religious Thought: Original Essays on Critical Concepts, (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society) 2009, pp. 435-443.
- E. Lévinas, “Martin Buber's Thought and Contemporary Judaism” in Outside the Subject, (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 1993, ( pp. 4-19)
Session 13-14:
Franz Rosenzweig's reevalution of Jewish existence and the study of the Jewish Bible
Primary Reading:
- F. Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,) 2005,), Introduction (pp. 9-12), Part III, Book 1: The Fire or The Eternal Life (pp. 317-355)
- F. Rosenzweig, "On the Significance of the Bible" in N. Glatzer, Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought (New York: Schocken Books,) 1961, pp. 271-275.
- F. Rosenzweig, “Scripture and Luther,” in M. Buber and F. Rosenzweig, Scripture and Translation, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1994, p. 47-69
- F. Rosenzweig, "On Being a Jewish Person,” in N. Glatzer, Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought (New York: Schocken Books,) 1961, pp. 214-227).
Secondary Reading:
- E. Berkovits, Major Themes in Modern Philosophies of Judaism, pp. 37-67
- N. Rotenstreich, Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig, "The Road Back", pp. 174-218
Session 15-16:
Emmanuel Levinas: Talmudic Readings as a platform for the encounter between philosophy and Judaism.
Primary Reading:
- E. Levinas, "Promised Land or Permitted Land", in Nine Talmudic Readings (Bloomington : Indiana University Press), 1990, pp. 51-69.
- E. Levianas, "A religion of Adults", in: Difficult freedom : essays on Judaism (London : Athlone Press, 1990)
Secondary Reading:
- C. Chalier, "Levinas and the Talmud", in: The Cambridge Companion to Levinas (Eds. S. Critchley and R. Bernasconi) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 100-118
IV. The Precept of Memory and the Question of Forgiveness in Post-Shoah Jewish Thought: E. Fackenheim and V. Jankélévitch.
Session 17-18:
Emil Fackenheim's 614th Commandment, Vladimir Jankélévitch
Primary Reading:
- E. Fackenheim, "The 614th commandment", in The Jewish Return into History: Reflections in the Age of Auschwitz, in New York: Schocken Books, 1978, 19-24
- V. Jankélévitch , Forgiveness by Andrew Kelley, 2005, pp.13-70.
- V. Jankélévitch, "Should We Pardon Them?," Critical Inquiry, 22, Spring 1996; pp. 552-572
- Jacques Derrida, “On Forgiveness”' in On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, trans. Mark Dooley and Michael Hughes. (London and New York: Routledge, 2001) pp. 25-60
Secondary Reading:
- Sharon Portnoff, James A. Diamond, and Martin D. Yaffe (Eds.), Emil L. Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew (Brill, 2008)
- Jonathan Judaken, “Vladimir Jankélévitch at the Colloques des intellectuels juifs de langue française, ” in Vladimir Jankélévitch and the Question of Forgiveness , Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, 2013, pp. 3-26.
Concluding Session: What is Modern Jewish Thought?
Primary Reading:
- Akiva Ernst Simon, “Are We Israelis Still Jews? The Search for Judaism in the New Society,” Commentary Magazine 15 (April 1953), pp. 357-364
- Julius Guttmann, “The renewwal of Jewish Religious Philosophy at the end of the Nineteenth Century,” in Philosophies of Judaisms, Garden city, New York: Anchor, 1966, pp. 397-451
- Leon Roth. “Jewish Thought as a Factor in Civilization,” in Is There a Jewish Philosophy? Rethinking Fundamentals.( London and Portland: Littman, 1999