La Historia De Un Fracaso

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

La Historia De Un Fracaso Ides Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento DOCTORADO EN CIENCIAS SOCIALES 2008-2014 Acreditación de la Coneau (Resolución 320/04) Tesis para obtener el grado de Doctor en Ciencias Sociales LA HISTORIA DE UN FRACASO: LA RELIGION JUDEO COMUNISTA EN LOS TIEMPOS DE LA URSS (La prensa del ICUF en Argentina entre 1946 y 1957) Alumno: Ing. Israel Lotersztain Director: Dr. Horacio Tarcus Buenos Aires, Agosto de 2014 RESUMEN A fines de la 2º Guerra Mundial una organización denominada ICUF (Idisher Cultur Farband – Confederación de Cultura Judía, en idish), comenzó un muy intenso y exitoso desarrollo en el ámbito de la Colectividad judía en Argentina, en el seno de la cual hasta fines de la década de 1950 fue un factor de singular influencia y magnitud. La caracterizaba una férrea adhesión ideológica al P. Comunista argentino, seguidor estricto de la línea soviética, pero simultáneamente una notable pasión por la cultura judía en el idioma idish, laica y netamente progresista. Si bien su actividad se desarrollaba fundamentalmente en Buenos Aires se extendía además a todo el país. El ICUF había logrado configurar para su militancia un muy extenso y particular espacio socio cultural caracterizado fundamentalmente por una red de escuelas judías, pero unidas además a numerosas y diseminadas Salas de Cultura, una vasta y polifacética actividad editorial de diarios, periódicos y libros, una notable producción teatral, musical, deportiva, etc. que tenía lugar fundamentalmente en idish pero también y crecientemente en castellano. Además una muy amplia red de instituciones financieras generaba recursos no solo para solventar esta actividad sino para derivarlos en parte al P. Comunista argentino. En su apogeo en 1953 el ICUF llegó a obtener casi el 40% de los votos en las reñidas elecciones de la muy politizada AMIA, la mutual israelita de Buenos Aires, sumamente representativa entonces por el alto número de sus socios de todo el judaísmo argentino. La presente investigación se propone analizar, a través de la prensa oficial del ICUF, las características identitarias y a la vez la línea política de la organización entre los años 1946 y 1957 en torno a cuatro ejes muy específicos pero sumamente ilustrativos. El primero se refiere a su peculiar relación con el por entonces recién creado Estado de Israel, donde como se evidencia pasan de un apoyo casi incondicional a una hostilidad furiosa. El segundo eje y el más importante lo constituye la continua y sistemática negación de la evidente supresión de la cultura judía en la URSS y de los 2 distintos sucesos que allí se producían claramente encuadrados en el antisemitismo. Esta continua negativa y es mas, las agresiones por parte de la prensa del ICUF a todos los que se atrevían siquiera a mencionar la posibilidad de que tal cosa tuviera lugar nos conduce al tercer eje: sus tormentosas relaciones con el resto de la Colectividad, que culminaron con su expulsión del seno de la misma a comienzos de 1953, expulsión que constituyó la mayor crisis comunitaria en toda la historia del judaísmo argentino. El cuarto eje lo constituyen las relaciones del ICUF con el primer peronismo (1946-1955) muy variables pero que culminaron con una violenta y poco conocida persecución política que tuvo lugar entre los años 1953 y 1955. Las fuentes primarias que se utilizan en la investigación lo constituyen la prensa que actuaba como vocero político oficial del ICUF en la Argentina: los diarios Der Veg y Haint entre 1946 y 1951 y el semanario Tribune posteriormente. El período que se considera y se describe en profundidad coincide por un lado con la disponibilidad de las fuentes primarias pero además con el comienzo, luego el apogeo del ICUF en Argentina y finaliza con una crisis en su seno en 1956 a la que consideramos casi terminal ya que sin duda origina su posterior decadencia. Concurren a dicha crisis, a la que analizamos con detalle, en primer lugar la revelación de que la tan negada por ellos supresión de la cultura judía en la URSS era una realidad, luego la disyuntiva en la que los colocaba la guerra en el Sinaí en 1956 en la que se hacían eco de los temores que les inspiraba la supervivencia del estado judío pero al mismo tiempo tenían necesidad de acatar las políticas de la URSS y por último la inesperada decisión que adoptaron de abandonar la cultura en idioma idish que era un pilar de su identidad, decisión que motiva el masivo éxodo de militantes y simpatizantes. En el capítulo final se intenta reflexionar sobre las razones de su singular postura asimilándola a una especie de religión laica judeo comunista tan especial que habían desarrollado, y se fundamenta nuestra opinión sobre las probables razones por las que la misma estaba condenada a un inevitable fracaso. 3 THESIS ABSTRACT: “The history of a failure: Judeo Communist Religion in Soviet Times; The ICUF Press in Argentina, 1946-1955” As World War II drew to a close, an organization known as the ICUF (the acronym of Idisher Cultur Farband, Yiddish for “Confederation of Jewish Culture) began a very intense and successful phase of development within the Jewish community of Argentina, where it played a major and highly influential role until the end of the 1950s. The ICUF was characterized simultaneously by ironclad ideological adherence to the Argentinean Communist Party towing the strict Soviet line, and by an overwhelming passion for Jewish secular and markedly progressive culture in the Yiddish language. The ICUF functioned primarily in Buenos Aires but also throghout all the country. It sponsored a configuration of an unique socio-cultural space, taking most notably the form of a network of Jewish schools but featuring as well numerous geographically dispersed cultural-social halls, extensive and multifaceted publishing of newspapers, magazines and books, theatrical and musical productions, sports and social activities. All such endeavors took place primaraly in Yiddish at first and then also increasingly in Spanish. A wide network of small finantial institutions generated resourses not only to sponsor these activities but also to contribuite funds to the Argentinean Communist Party. The ICUF, at the height of his glory in 1953, managed to garner nearly 40% of the votes in the elections held by the AMIA, the Jewish Federation of Buenos Aires, whose large membership made a faithful reflection of Argentinean Jewry at the time. The research here studies the ICUF press in an attemp to analyze construction of their identity and the official political line of the organization between 1946 and 1957. We follow four axes at once highly specific but throughly exemplary. The first concerns the then occuring creation of the State of Israel, wich the ICUF began by supporting almost inconditionally but after made into a target of throughgoing hostility. The second and most important axis is constituited by the continuous, systematic denial of the obvious suppression of the Jewish culture in the Soviet Union and the distinct events there of clearly antisemitic nature. The 4 constant denial, coupled with the attacks by the ICUF press on whoever dared to suggest that such things cuold happen in the Soviet Union leads us to the third axis: the ICUF`s tempestuous relationship with the other parts of the Jewish community, culminating in the organizations official expulsion toward the begining of 1953, till now the most important political crisis in the whole history of the Argentine Jewry. The fourth axis concerns the relations of the ICUF with Peron`s government during the first period of his rule (1946-1955); these relations for several reasons varied in nature but ended with a violent and little studied political persecution of the organization between 1953 and 1955. The primary sources employed in this research are the press that performed as official mouthpiece of the ICUF: the dailies Der Veg and Haint between 1946 and 1951, and thereafter the weekly Tribune. These organs appered at first almost entirely in Yiddish. However, towards the end of the period under review Spanish became also the other preminent language in Tribune. The timeframe here, studied in greath depht, was chosen as a function of the availability of the sources, but also coincides with the begining, then the height of the ICUF`s importance in Argentina and finally with the nearly fatal crisis and subsequent decline it underwent in 1956. The deterioration in their status was brought about by several factors, in the first place the revelation, which for so long they denied, of the violent suppression of the Jewish culture in the Soviet Union. Second, the quandary in which the Sinai war in 1956 was placed by reckindling fears regarding the survival of the Jewish state, which contradicted the Soviet position they felt obliged to follow. Finally the unexpected decision to abandon the Yiddish language-culture that was a basic part and reason of the organization`s identity, a decision that resulted in a massive exodus of activists and alienation of sympathizers. The final chapter examines the reasons behind the ICUF`s quite unique posture that made for a kind of religion, a most interesting and singular Judeo- Communnist religion, and expounds our view on why it was condemned to an almost innevitable failure. 5 INDICE Capitulo I Introducción El objeto de este estudio……………………………………………... 11 Las razones para la elección de esta temática……………………… 15 Metodología y descripción de la investigación……………………... 18 Estado de la cuestión………………………………………………… 22 Bibliografía utilizada en esta tesis…………………………………... 24 Dedicatoria y agradecimientos……………………………………… 27 Capítulo II 1795-1917: Transitando por la encrucijada de la Historia De las Cruzadas y la Peste a la desaparición de Polonia………….. 30 La opresión zarista…………………………………………………... 37 Los judíos frente a la represión zarista…………………………….. 42 La alternativa marxista……………………………………………..
Recommended publications
  • Mimesis Journal. Scritture Della Performance
    Mimesis Journal Books collana di «Mimesis Journal. Scritture della performance» ISSN 2283-8783 comitato scientifico Antonio Attisani Università degli Studi di Torino Florinda Cambria Università degli Studi di Milano Lorenzo Mango Università degli Studi L’Orientale di Napoli Tatiana Motta Lima Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Franco Perrelli Università degli Studi di Torino Antonio Pizzo Università degli Studi di Torino Kris Salata Florida State University Carlo Sini Università degli Studi di Milano Éric Vautrin Université de Caën Mimesis Journal Books ISSN 2283-8783 1. Jerzy Grotowski. L’eredità vivente isbn 978-88-97523-29-1 a cura di Antonio Attisani ebook www.aAccademia.it/grotowski 2. Logiche della performance. isbn 978-88-97523-27-7 Dalla singolarità francescana alla nuova mimesi di Antonio Attisani ebook www.aAccademia.it/performance 3. Neodrammatico digitale. isbn 978-88-97523-37-6 Scena multimediale e racconto interattivo di Antonio Pizzo ebook www.aAccademia.it/neodrammatico 4. Lugné-Poe e l’Œuvre simbolista. isbn 978-88-97523-64-2 Una biografia tea trale (1869-1899) di Giuliana Altamura ebook www.aAccademia.it/lugnepoe 5. Teorie e visioni dell’esperienza “teatrale”. isbn 978-88-97523-87-1 L’arte performativa tra natura e culture di Edoar do Giovanni Carlotti ebook www.aAccademia.it/carlotti 6. Carmelo Bene fra tea tro e spettacolo isbn 978-88-97523-89-5 di Salvatore Vendittelli a cura di Armando Petrini ebook www.aAccademia.it/vendittelli 7. L’attore di fuoco. Martin Buber e il teatro isbn 978-88-99200-39-8 di Marcella Scopelliti ebook www.aAccademia.it/scopelliti 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Advancedaudioblogs1#1 Top10israelitouristdestinations
    LESSON NOTES Advanced Audio Blog S1 #1 Top 10 Israeli Tourist Destinations: The Dead Sea CONTENTS 2 Hebrew 2 English 3 Vocabulary 4 Sample Sentences 4 Cultural Insight # 1 COPYRIGHT © 2013 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HEBREW .1 . .2 4 0 0 - , . , . . . , .3 . . , 21 . . , . , , .4 . ; . 32-39 . . 20-32 , . ," .5 . , ENGLISH 1. The Dead Sea CONT'D OVER HEBR EW POD1 0 1 . C OM ADVANCED AUDIO BLOG S 1 #1 - TOP 10 IS RAELI TOURIS T DESTINATIONS: THE DEAD S EA 2 2. The miracle known as the Dead Sea has attracted thousands of people over the years. It is located near the southern area of the Jordan valley. The salt-rich Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth's surface, being 400 meters below sea level. The air around the Dead Sea is unpolluted, dry, and pollen-free with low humidity, providing a naturally relaxing environment. The air in the region has a high mineral content due to the constant evaporation of the mineral rich water. 3. The Dead Sea comes in the list of the world's greatest landmarks, and is sometimes considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. People usually miss out on this as they do not realize the importance of its unique contents. The Dead Sea has twenty-one minerals which have been found to give nourishment to the skin, stimulate the circulatory system, give a relaxed feeling, and treat disorders of the metabolism and rheumatism and associate pains. The Dead Sea mud has been used by people all over the world for beauty purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • Trauma and the Making of Israel's Security
    University of Wales Aberystwyth Department of International Politics TRAUMA AND THE MAKING OF ISRAEL'S SECURITY This thesis is being submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in International Politics By Hannah Starman Sepee'Wf 200 To Andreja with all my love. Acknowledgements I would like to thank first and foremost, my thesis supervisors, Dr. Tim Dunne and Prof. Ken Booth. Tim Dunne has been a constant source of inspiration and support. His thoughtful and competent criticism at various stages of the thesis has been crucial for both the progress and the quality of my research. Tim also read the entire manuscript and made valuable editorial suggestions on several occasions. Despite his numerous other responsibilities that demanded his attention, Prof. Ken Booth has always afforded me his time and advice whenever I needed it, and I thank him for that. The Department of International Politics has granted me the E.H. Carr Award without which I could not have pursued the work on this thesis. The Department has also provided me with an intellectual environment and expertise that welcomed creativity and fostered critical spirit. Numerous discussions with members of the faculty, especially with Dr. Jenny Edkins, Prof. Steve Smith, and Prof. Mike Foley, have helped me refine and focus my ideas. I also wish to thank Prof. William D. Rubinstein from the Department of History for supplying me with articles and references relevant to my research and for spending his lunch hours to enlighten me on various other issues in modern history. My special gratitude and appreciation go to Yael and Rabbi Hillel Simon who never missed an occasion to further my Jewish knowledge and patiently answered my endless questions about Chassidism and Jewish mystical traditions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pennsylvania State University
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Comparative Literature ARCHETYPES AND AVATARS: A CASE STUDY OF THE CULTURAL VARIABLES OF MODERN JUDAIC DISCOURSE THROUGH THE SELECTED LITERARY WORKS OF A. B. YEHOSHUA, CHAIM POTOK, AND CHOCHANA BOUKHOBZA A Dissertation in Comparative Literature by Nathan P. Devir © 2010 Nathan P. Devir Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 The dissertation of Nathan P. Devir was reviewed and approved* by the following: Thomas O. Beebee Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and German Dissertation Advisor Co-Chair of Committee Daniel Walden Professor Emeritus of American Studies, English, and Comparative Literature Co-Chair of Committee Baruch Halpern Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies; Professor of Ancient History, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and Religious Studies Kathryn Hume Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English Gila Safran Naveh Professor of Judaic Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Cincinnati Special Member Caroline D. Eckhardt Head, Department of Comparative Literature; Director, School of Languages and Literatures *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT A defining characteristic of secular Jewish literatures since the Haskalah, or the movement toward “Jewish Enlightenment” that began around the end of the eighteenth century, is the reliance upon the archetypal aspects of the Judaic tradition, together with a propensity for intertextual pastiche and dialogue with the sacred texts. Indeed, from the revival of the Hebrew language at the end of the nineteenth century and all throughout the defining events of the last one hundred years, the trend of the textually sacrosanct appearing as a persistent motif in Judaic cultural production has only increased.
    [Show full text]
  • OF BERGEN COUNTY Light Candles: 4:10 - Shabbat Ends: 5:14 CANDLE Dec
    201-816-4000 Dr. Jeremy Peyser Dr. Nicolas Elian Dr. Martha Miqueo Vizstara Dental 300 Sylvan Ave. Floor 3 Englewood Cliffs NJ, 07632 www.vizstaradental.com Dec. 13 | 10 Tevet - Parshat Vayechi OF BERGEN COUNTY Light Candles: 4:10 - Shabbat Ends: 5:14 CANDLE Dec. 20 | 17 Tevet - Parshat Shmot December 12, 2013 • 9 Tevet 5774 Vol. 1 No. 20 www.jewishlinkbc.com Distributed every other week LIGHTING Light Candles: 4:12 - Shabbat Ends: 5:17 Liberman: We Welcomed Lev Tahor. Pure of the Agreement with Syria Heart. Does the Name By Ben Caspit Translator: Simon Pompan Helbrans Ring a Bell? (with permission from Al-Monitor) By Jeanette Friedman to have soft-pedaled. It also in- or more than a year, Israel’s (with combined services) spired a book published in 2001 FMinistry of Foreign Affairs called THE ZADDIK: The Battle waited for the return of Avigdor ew Milford, NJ—If the name for a Boy’s Soul by Elaine Grudin SEE BACK COVER Liberman. Both sides—the min- NShlomo Helbrans rings a Denholtz. ister who suspended himself af- bell with some JLBC readers, it In 1992, Hana Reuven Fhima j ter being pressed with criminal should. He has lately been in the and her second husband, Jacky charges and the ministry run by news because of his Lev Tahor Fhima, secular Israelis, were liv- Prime Minister Benjamin Netan- cult—with its burqa-clad wom- ing in New Milford. They had yahu and later by Deputy Foreign en and accusations of child four children, including Shai, a Minister Zeev Elkin during Liber- abuse by the Canadian author- son by Hana’s previous marriage Minister of Foreign Aff airs - Avigdor ities in Quebec.
    [Show full text]
  • Yehoyada Amir
    THE TIKVAH CENTER FOR LAW & JEWISH CIVILIZATION Professor Moshe Halbertal Professor J.H.H. Weiler Directors of The Tikvah Center Tikvah Working Paper 06/12 Yehoyada Amir Prophecy and Halakhah Towards Non-Orthodox Religious Praxis in (Eretz) Israel NYU School of Law New York, NY 10011 The Tikvah Center Working Paper Series can be found at http://www.nyutikvah.org/publications.html All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission of the author. ISSN 2160‐8229 (print) ISSN 2160‐8253 (online) Copy Editor: Danielle Leeds Kim © Yehoyada Amir 2012 New York University School of Law New York, NY 10011 USA Publications in the Series should be cited as: AUTHOR, TITLE, TIKVAH CENTER WORKING PAPER NO./YEAR [URL] Prophecy and Halakhah PROPHECY AND HALAKHAH TOWARDS NON-ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS PRAXIS IN (ERETZ) ISRAEL By Yehoyada Amir Abstract Non-Orthodox Jewish thinkers and writers confront two different layers of classic Jewish culture: the emphasis on deed and the legalistic manner in which rabbinical Judaism forms its deed as Halakhah. While commonly rejecting the latter, the earlier is celebrated. The paper deals with the attempts of several (Eretz) Israeli thinkers and writes to constitute a non-Orthodox, non-legalistic sense of Halakhah that would shape Jewish Zionist life. Chayyim Nachman Bialik's call to form new Halakhah, alongside with the prevailing Agaddah; Aharon David Gordon notion of "Life of Expansion", based on wo\man's "life perception" (chavayya); Lea Goldberg's praying poetry; Eliezer Schweid prophetic-Halahhic cry. It confronts the question whether such a Halakhah can be valid and sustainable, and to which extent it could determine individual and communal life? Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, [email protected] 1 Contents I.
    [Show full text]
  • Divergent Jewish Cultures Israel and America
    E D I T E D BY D E B O R A H D A S H M O O R E A N D S . IL A N T R O E N Divergent Jewish Cultures Israel and America Yale University Press/New Haven & London For Ione Strauss Copyright © 2001 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Galliard type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Divergent Jewish cultures : Israel and America / edited by Deborah Dash Moore and S. Ilan Troen. p. cm. — (Studies in Jewish culture and society) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-300-08426-9 1. Jews — United States — Identity. 2. Jews — United States — Attitudes toward Israel. 3. Jews—United States — Social life and customs. 4. Jews — Israel — Identity. 5. Israel and the diaspora. 6. Israel — Civilization. I. Moore, Deborah Dash, 1946­ II. Troen, S. Ilan (Selwyn Ilan), 1940- III. Title. IV Series. E184.J5 D55 2001 956.9405 —dc21 2001002536 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 987654321 ELEVEN Impact of Statehood on the Hebrew Literary Imagination: Haim Hazaz and the Zionist Narrative ARNOLD J.
    [Show full text]
  • Minorities in Modern Hebrew Literature: a Survey1
    Minorities in Modern Hebrew Literature: A Survey Minorities in Modern Hebrew Literature: A Survey1 近現代ヘブライ文学におけるマイノリティ:概観 Doron B. Cohen, Ph.D. ドロン・B・コヘン,Ph.D. Summary:1 Along their history, Jews often found themselves in a minority situation, and their awareness of this fact was expressed in their writings, but in modern times Jews also experienced being a majority. However, even while being an ethnic minority, they had various groups of social minorities in their midst. The present article offers a survey of the attitude towards various kinds of minorities as expressed in Modern Hebrew literature, along a division to three periods: (1) in Eastern Europe, from mid-19th to early 20th century (minorities such as orphans, the handicapped, and women as marginal- ized in society); (2) in Central Europe and Palestine, during the first half of the 20th century (similar minorities); (3) in the State of Israel (similar minorities, as well as Arabs, Jews of Asian and African origin and migrant workers). Our survey shows that authors of Modern Hebrew literature displayed an acute awareness of the plight of different minorities. Key words: Hebrew Literature, Minorities, Jews & Arabs, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim 要旨: 歴史を通じて、ユダヤ人はしばしばマイノリティの状況にあり、その意識は彼らの書くもの に表現されてきた。しかし、近現代においては、ユダヤ人はマジョリティとしての立場も体 験することになった。民族としてはマイノリティであっても、彼らの内部には様々な社会的 マイノリティ集団を抱えていた。本稿は、近現代ヘブライ文学に表れた様々なマイノリティ への態度を概観するものである。近現代を以下の三つの時期に区分する:(1)19 世紀半ば −20 世紀初頭の東欧(社会の周縁にあるマイノリティとしては、孤児、障がい者、女性な ど )、( 2)20 世紀前半の中央ヨーロッパとパレスティナ地域(同上のマイノリティ)、(3) イスラエル国家において(同上のマイノリティに加えて、アラブ人、アジア系及びアフリカ 系ユダヤ人、移民労働者)。本稿の概観を通して、近現代ヘブライ文学の著者は、様々なマ イノリティの窮状を鋭く認識し、それを表現していたことが窺える。 キーワード: ヘブライ文学、マイノリティ、ユダヤ人とアラブ人、アシュケナジーム、ミズラヒーム 1 I am grateful to Prof. Nitza Ben-Dov of Haifa University for her generous assistance in the writing of this article, but I must obviously assume sole responsibility for any error or misjudgment in it.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Works in Hebrew/Israeli Literature Compiled by the Center for Israel Education
    Selected Works in Hebrew/Israeli Literature Compiled by the Center for Israel Education Tens of thousands of Hebrew literary works were published since the late 18th century. This list of Hebrew literature works that have appeared in English are suggestive and highly limited. For example poetry is virtually absent from this compilation. Great Hebrew writers such as Asher Barash, Yosef Haim Brenner, M.Z. Feierberg, Yitzhak Leib Peretz, Saul Tchnerichovsky, and many many others, and every major and minor wrter who focused exclusively on Zionism is not in this list below. The best basic introductory anthology of Hebrew Literature is is Robert Alter’s Modern Hebrew Literature, Behrman House, 1972. He includes writing examples of the authors not found in our list. Alter’s introduction to his book is as good as one can find on the topic. Ken Stein, December 2014 (Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970): S.Y. Agnon, or Shai, immigrated to Israel in 1907. A prolific Hebrew writer whose works depict the decline of Galician Jewry and the pioneers of Israel, Agnon received the 1966 Noble Prize in Literature, becoming Israel’s first Nobel laureate. Suggested works: A Book that Was Lost and Other Stories A Guest for the Night Nathan Alterman (1910-1970): Alterman was a playwright, poet, and journalist whose influence on Labor Zionism and socialist Jewish policies left him remembered for contributions to politics, despite never holding office. After the Six Day War, he was one of the founders of the Movement for Greater Israel which advocated keeping the newly conquered territories and settling them with Jewish population.
    [Show full text]
  • Holiness, Heresy and the Ironies of Zionism
    Redemptive Fictions Holiness, Heresy and the Ironies of Zionism n the late 13th century, after fleeing from Spain to Palestine at age 73, the Igreat kabbalist and biblical commentator Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (known as Ramban) concluded a lengthy Rosh Hashanah sermon in the Crusader city of Acre by quoting the Sifre, an ancient halachic text: “Dwelling in the Land of Israel is equal in importance to all the commandments of the Torah.” According to Nahmanides, religious observance in exile is a dress rehearsal; only in the Holy Land does Jewish ritual achieve mystical power and cosmic significance. { By STUART SCHOFFMAN 68 | Fall 2008 Redemptive Fictions /// Stuart Schoffman Holiness, Heresy and the Ironies of Zionism HAVRUTA | 69 In the 21st century, secular Israeli cos- The intimidating image of a king’s palace mopolites who never heard of Ramban or the helps us fathom why ultra-Orthodox Jews Sifre take the idea of sacred geography as a throw rocks at cars on Shabbat and have zero free pass, utterly confident that living a He- tolerance for gay parades in Jerusalem. Its brew life in Tel Aviv while willfully oblivious broader implications may also be the reason Theodore Herzl to Jewish tradition makes them more fully – as such disparate Israeli intellectuals as A. /// Illustration by Jewish than overseas Jews, the denizens B. Yehoshua and Aviezer Ravitzky have sug- Moran Barak of galut (exile). Meanwhile, in Jerusalem or gested – why Diaspora Jews, for many cen- Bnei Brak, legions of ultra-Orthodox Jews turies, were afraid to make aliyah. All that continue to live in imaginary galut, denying holiness was way too dangerous.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Expressions of Jewish Identity in the Modern Era in the Diaspora and in Israel
    Introduction Expressions of Jewish Identity in the Modern Era in the Diaspora and in Israel ਗਗਗ “To the Jews as a nation, nothing; to the Jews as individuals, everything.” —Antoine Clermont-Tonnere “To the Jews as a nation, nothing; to the Jews as individuals, everything … [T]hey must be citizens individually.” Th ese words have been quoted many times since they were fi rst articulated in December 1789 by Antoine Clermont-Tonnere, in an eff ort to convince his colleagues in the French National Assembly to support the provision of equal rights to Jews. Th is short, concise sentence illustrates the complex and problematic situation in which Jews found themselves during the modern era as well. It contains three fundamental concepts that are extremely rel- evant to the topic at hand: nation, individual, and citizen. Th e condition which Clermont-Tonnere proposed for providing Jews with equal rights—negation of their existence as a nation—was never clearly defi ned. In practice, it could never have been formulated in a precise manner in any event. For example, when a Jewish person attending synagogue in Paris (the mod- ern French state had already guaranteed the right to freedom of religion to all citizens, including Jews) faces east and prays for “next year in Jerusalem,” is this merely a religious act or is it also a refl ection of a national inclination? Th e immanent lack of clarity in this defi nition has cast a shadow upon Jewish existence for more than two centuries and continues to do so. Th e new constitu- tional status enjoyed by the Jews after becoming equal citizens, and the resulting diff erences and similarities between them and other citizens of the state, was one factor in the emergence of modern anti-Semitism.
    [Show full text]
  • Levine; [email protected] Draft: Cite Only with Permission
    Levine; [email protected] draft: cite only with permission “Yes, but how should we feel about this?” Diasporic Love, Political Radicalism and the Sustainably Critical Study of the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Daniel J. Levine The University of Alabama Abstract: This paper explores Gershom Scholem’s notion of the ‘apocalyptic sting’ – a messianic political theology which, he feared, haunted Jewish and Israeli politics through the Hebrew language. The paper makes three key moves: first, I connect this notion to contemporary political radicalism in Israel. Second, I suggest how that ‘sting’ might be chastened and contained, even as the belief structures to which it gives rise are not fundamentally repudiated. Third, I suggest ways in which the social-scientific study of world politics – International Relations, broadly conceived – might contribute to that chastening and containment. To that end, I develop the notion of diasporic love, connecting the writings of novelists Ghassan Kanafani and Sami Michael to the work of Jonathan and Daniel Boyarin. I argue that while the social-scientific study of world politics cannot define or rationalize that love, it can work to support it: by thinking through its conditions of possibility, and by helping to translate it into practical programs of political action and affiliation. Keywords: Emotions; International Relations theory; Israel-Palestine conflict; diasporic love; apocalyptic sting; sustainable critique; Scholem, Gershom; Michael, Sami; Kanafani, Ghassan; Ravitzky, Aviezer; Boyarin, Jonathan; Boyarin, Daniel 1 Levine; [email protected] draft: cite only with permission I. Introduction Can Jewish religious thought now acknowledge an intermediate or hybrid model that is neither exile nor redemption? Can it make room for a notion of Jewish historical existence that hovers somewhere between these two poles, without clearly belonging to either? - Ravitzky (1996)1 How could one not seethe and bubble? How could one in silence toil? Peace drives the mind unto delusion, Peace sets the blood to boil.
    [Show full text]