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1 Jewish Society and Culture II: the Early Modern and Modern Jewish Society and Culture II: The Early Modern and Modern Experience Jewish Studies 563:202/History 506:272 Spring 2014 Professor Edward Portnoy [email protected] Office Hours: TBA Office Location: Miller Hall, 14 College Avenue, 108 The advent of the modern period wrought huge changes in Jewish society and culture, and forced Jews to question their political and societal statuses in the countries in which they lived. Are the Jews a religion, a race, a nation, or an ethnicity? How would Jews reconcile their traditions with modernity, and how would new concepts such as secularization, gender equality, and religious tolerance affect them? How would they respond to new forms of antagonism or hatred against them? In this course, we will explore these questions through a careful study of the social, economic, political, religious, and cultural history of the Jews from the 17th century to the present. Throughout the semester, students will learn to read critically and analyze a variety of primary sources, including philosophical treatises, community petitions, parliamentary debates, religious injunctions, polemics, governmental documents, court decisions, folklore, memoirs, diaries, short stories, letters, photographs, and documentary film clips. The diversity of sources and our classroom discussions about them will give students the opportunity to reconstruct historical moments and movements from different angles and to better understand the motivations and interests of individuals and groups in the course of modern Jewish history. Through a set of short writing assignments, students will develop their critical thinking and writing skills. The two midterms and the final exam will challenge students both to master the most important aspects of the early modern and modern Jewish experience and to synthesize the course’s main themes. Texts: • John Efron, Steven Weitzman, Matthias Lehmann, Joshua Holo, eds., The Jews: A History (Prentice Hall, 2009) [ISBN-10: 0131786873; ISBN-13: 978-0131786875] • Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reiharz, The Jew in the Modern World , 3 rd Edition (Oxford, 2010) [ISBN-10: 0195389069; ISBN-13: 978-0195389067] • All other readings will be posted on Sakai. Please print these and bring them to class on the days when they are scheduled to be discussed. In order to participate in class, you will need these sources with you. 1 Course Requirements Class attendance, preparedness, and participation: Regular attendance of class and active participation in class discussion is required. Students are expected to come to class on time, having prepared the reading due that day, with comments, questions, etc., regarding the assigned material; to respect the protocols of classroom conduct (e.g., turning off cell phones, not eating during class, avoiding distracting chatter); to check their email regularly for class announcements (e.g., changes in assignments); and to turn in written work on the dates due. Students with three unexcused absences will have their course grade reduced. Students with six or more unexcused absences will receive an F for the course. Students should be prepared to provide the instructor with documentation of excusable absences, such as family emergencies, illness, religious observance; these must be submitted by the due date for the final exam. Students who find that they are unable to attend class regularly for some pressing reason are required to notify their dean as well as the instructor. How your grade will be determined: Primary Source Analyses (10% each = 20%) : There will be 2 one-page writing assignments focusing on critical readings of particular primary sources. Detailed instructions will be distributed in class. Midterm exams: There will be two midterms, the first of which is worth 15% of your grade, the second, 20% of your grade (40% total). One final examination worth 25%. Midterm and final exams may include a map section, fill-in-the-blanks with key terms, short answers, passage identification, essays, or other forms of assessment. Details will be provided in the classes preceding each exam. The remaining 15% is reserved for class participation. That is a pretty significant chunk of your grade and something you might want to think about when you’re sitting in class about to text a friend, peruse Facebook, or post a Jewish history selfie on Instagram, when instead you should be engaging in a substantive discussion on the topic at hand. All written work that a student submits must be his/her own independent effort. Students must cite properly all outside sources consulted in preparing written assignments. Failure to comply with this policy can result in failure of the course. Please take a look at this plagiarism tutorial (not a how-to): http://sccweb.scc-net.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/Intro.html Syllabus subject to change. Class schedule 2 1. A picture of pre-modern Jewry. THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD: ENLIGHTENMENT, EMANCIPATION, AND RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS 2. Shabbetai Tsvi: False Messiah • Primary source: Sir Paul Rycaut, History of the Turkish Empire, selections 3. A Jewish Woman’s Voice: Glikl of Hameln; The Nature of Court Jewry • The Jews, 204-217 • Primary sources: Memoirs of Glikl of Hameln, selection 4. Uriel Acosta and Jewish Ecumenicalism; Spinoza and the Question of Biblical Authorship • The Jews, 217-229 • Primary sources: Uriel Acosta; pp. 9-45; Spinoza Theological-Political Treatise, selections; “The Writ of Excommunication Against Baruch Spinoza (1656)” 5. Lessing and Mendelssohn, Enlightenment and Haskalah • The Jews, 269-285 • Primary sources: Lessing, “A Parable of Toleration,” Mendelssohn, “The Right to be Different,” Wessely, “Words of Peace and Truth” 6. European Jewish Emancipation: Christian Arguments • The Jews, 231-258 • Primary sources: C.W. von Dohm, “Concerning the Amelioration of the Civil Status of the Jews (1781);” J.D. Michaelis, “Arguments against Dohm (1782)” 7. European Jewish Emancipation: Jewish Arguments • Primary source: Moses Mendelssohn, “Response to Dohm (1782),” “Remarks Concerning Michaelis’ Response to Dohm (1783);” Assembly of Jewish Notables, “Answers to Napoleon (1806)” 8. Hasidim and their “Opponents” • The Jews, 260-269 • Primary sources: Tales of the Ba’al Shem Tov excerpt; The Herem of Vilna 9. Ottoman and North African Jewish Enlightenment • Primary sources: David Attias, “A Call for Sephardi Enlightenment (1778),” “The Privileges and Immunities of the Non-Muslim Communities (1856),” and “The Cremieux Decree and its Aftermath” 10. Midterm review 11. Midterm Exam #1 3 PART II MODERNIZATION: THE RISE OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS, ANTISEMITISM, AND JEWISH POLITICS 12. Diversifying Judaism, Part I: Reform Judaism • The Jews, 285-288 • Primary sources: Constitution of the Hamburg Temple (1817), Reform Rabbinical Conferences at Brunswick (Patriotism - 1844), Frankfurt (Messianism - 1845) 13. Diversifying Judaism, Part II: Ultra-Orthodoxy and Neo-Orthodoxy • The Jews, 288-291 • Primary sources: Hamburg Rabbinical Court, “These are the Words of the Covenant (1819);” Moses Sofer; Samson Raphael Hirsch, “Religion Allied to Progress (1854);” Akiba Joseph Schlesinger, “An Ultra-Orthodox Position (1864)” 14. Diversifying Judaism, Part III: Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism • The Jews, 290-293 • Primary sources: Reform Rabbinical Conference at Frankfurt, “Hebrew as the Language of Jewish Prayer (1845);” Frankel, “On Changes in Judaism (1845);” Mordecai Kaplan, “The Reconstruction of Judaism (1920) 15. The Rise of Antisemitism – Source Analysis #1 DUE IN CLASS • The Jews, 294-313 • Primary sources: The Damascus Affair; Wilhelm Marr, “The Victory of Judaism over Germandom (1879);” Karl Eugen Duering, “The Question of the Jew is a Question of Race;” Edouard-Adolphe Drumont, “Jewish France (1886);” “Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1902)” 16. Modern Jewish Politics • The Jews, 313-316, 324-326 • Primary sources: Simon Dubnow, “Autonomism (1901);” Bialik, “The City of Slaughter (1903);” The Bund, “Decisions on the Nationality Question (1899, 1901, 1905, 1910)” 17. Jewish Life in Poland and the Soviet Union • The Jews, 338-351; Move Over Miss Polonia; Freaks, Geeks, and Strongmen: Warsaw Jews and Popular Performance. 18. Theories of Zionism • The Jews, 316-323 • Primary sources: Theodor Herzl, “A Solution of the Jewish Question (1896);” Ahad Ha’am, “The First Zionist Congress (1897);” Rabbi Zadok Hacohen Rabinowitz, “The Zionists are Not Our Saviors (c. 1900);” Seventh Zionist Congress, “Anti-Uganda Resolution (1905);” Ber Borochov, “Program for Proletarian Zionism (1906)” 19. Midterm review 20. Midterm Exam #2 4 PART III WORLD WARS AND THEIR AFTERMATH: JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN PALESTINE, THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY, AND RENEWAL IN ISRAEL AND THE US 21. The Great War: World War I in Europe and the Middle East • The Jews, 334-357, 369-372 • Primary sources: “The Balfour Declaration (1917);” The Jewish Community of Baghdad, “Petition for British Citizenship (1918);” Adolf Hitler, “A Letter on the Jewish Question (1919)” 22. The British Mandate in Palestine • The Jews, 357-369 • Primary sources: The Churchill White Paper (1922); Vladimir Jabotinsky, “What the Zionist-Revisionists Want (1926);” “Brit Shalom (1925);” “White Paper of 1939;” “The Biltmore Program (1942)” 23. World War II and the Holocaust – Source Analysis #2 DUE IN CLASS • The Jews, 374-404 • Primary sources: Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf (1923);” The Nuremberg Laws, “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor (1935);” R. T. Heydrich, “Kristallnacht—A Preliminary
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