eiews

Zionism’s Neglected Existentialist

Avi Sagi meet educated and intelligent people To Be a Jew: Brenner as who have not read a single line of his an Existential Jew writings. In fact, most Israelis barely Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 2007, know anything about him at all. Among those who do, many believe 286 pages, Hebrew. that Brenner is a relic of early Zion- Reviewed by Arik Glasner ist literature and that his works are of limited relevance to life in modern hat makes a literary work Israel. e austere-looking blue cover W “classic?” e answer to this of the last edition of Brenner’s com- question lies in the possibility of plete works, published in 1985, only perennially returning to a book or reinforces this impression. poem—or for that matter, any work Indeed, Brenner’s works are not of art—in order to derive pleasure, Israeli classics in the sense that the aesthetic exhilaration, psychological works of Dickens are British classics, insight, and moral inspiration. e Flaubert’s writings are French classics, qualities contained within classic and Hemingway’s novels are American works are revealed to be timeless by classics. Brenner’s status in the eyes of the very process of time. eir merit Israeli readers does not even begin to is rediscovered in each successive age. compare to that of other writers of e works of Yosef Haim Brenner his generation, such as Haim Nah- are classics of a singular kind. It can- man Bialik or Shmuel Yosef Agnon. not be denied that they are not espe- e minor role Brenner plays in the cially well known to the current gen- cultural life of our generation is con- eration of Israeli readers, let alone to nected to the general phenomenon of non-Israelis. It is not uncommon to cultural discontinuity characteristic

  /  •  of post-modern reality: is rupture, both more passionate and more in- while hardly confined to Israel, is ex- tense than the typical controversies emplified by the contemporary Israeli characteristic of literary scholarship. reader’s loss of connection to a variety While most literary works that attract of “classic” works: Texts that were once the attention of academics are also of integral parts of the Hebrew canon some enduring or at least persistent have lost prominence. is disconti- popularity, the study of Brenner is nuity, which merits its own discussion, not contingent upon or a response stems from (among other things) the to widespread interest in his writings. development of the is speaks to the passionate reactions and the often frantic changes it has Brenner elicits in debating scholars, undergone. evoking emotions that force them e case of Brenner, however, constantly to return to his works, is unusual in at least one respect: though they are not widely read by It departs from the general rule of others. cultural amnesia—and this partly ex- is fascination with Brenner— plains the interest it excites. Despite bordering on obsession—is not en- being mostly ignored by the general tirely limited to academia. Some of Israeli readership, Brenner is one of Brenner’s works, such as Out of Dis- the most studied and appreciated au- tress (Min Hametzar), Breakdown and thors among academic researchers of Bereavement (Shechol Vekishalon), and Hebrew literature. Eighty-seven years Around the Point (Misaviv Lanekuda), after Brenner’s murder during the have been re-published in recent Arab riots of 1921, he and his works years. Young authors such as Amir continue to fascinate the Israeli intel- Gutfreund and Maya Arad have pref- ligentsia. Professor Avner Holtzman, aced their own books with epigraphs who has charted the extensive literary taken from Brenner’s writings, and research dealing with Brenner (fol- the writer Dror Burstein intentionally lowing a previous study conducted gave one of his literary characters the in the early seventies by Professor family name “Brenner.” Other writ- Itzhak Bacon), has estimated that “in ers, of which Gabriela Avigur-Rotem the field of monographic research of is the most noteworthy, have made individual authors, only the study of him a supporting character in their Bialik and Agnon has surpassed in novels. e Israeli band “Habiluim” scope the research done on Brenner.” named its last album Breakdown e extensive academic study of and Bereavement. And the historian Brenner is noteworthy because it is is planning to publish a

 • A   /  •  comprehensive biography of the au- as relevant today as it was when Bren- thor. It is clear that for a small but ner introduced it in his writings. culturally dominant group of artists and intellectuals, Brenner continues vi Sagi weaves Brenner’s work to be an inexhaustible source of inter- A into the philosophical tradition est and inspiration. While few people of Western existentialism, and this is know his novels and short stories, his main contribution to the study of they form a committed core of read- the author’s corpus. e existentialist ers, and the discussion of his works tradition did not place reason, histo- continues to be characterized by ry, nation, class, or God at the center a passion and interpretive creativity of its analysis; instead it emphasized which attest to his relevance—both the private and concrete individual. intellectually and emotionally. e hero of existential philosophy e new book To Be a Jew: Brenner asks himself about the meaning of the as an Existential Jew by the philoso- world into which he was involuntar- pher Avi Sagi, head of the department ily born and which he must inevitably of hermeneutics at Bar-Ilan Univer- leave. As Sagi says: sity and the author of many works on My interpretive perspective on Bren- general and , dem- ner’s literary-philosophical work will onstrates well the singularity of the be the following: I seek to identify in Brenner phenomenon. Sagi explains Brenner’s extensive work—literature, that he chose his subject because literary reviews, and journalism—the “Brenner’s rousing and challenging existential characteristics of human existence, and to examine their com- work has generated a surge in writing, patibility with the characteristics pre- which is tempestuous but not always sented in the existentialist tradition. critical.” e result is that “one of the most essential and relevant options As Sagi himself notes, his book for a meaningful Jewish existence on Brenner follows on his studies in modern times has gradually dis- of other existentialist philosophers, sipated.” Sagi, it seems, attempts to including Sören Kierkegaard and accomplish two aims with his book: Albert Camus. In his introduction, e first and more “academic” aim is as well as intermittently throughout to elucidate Brenner’s works and to the book, Sagi labors over a brief, uncover their riches. e second aim, necessary, and for the most part which is in my opinion more impor- convincing theoretical exposition in- tant, is to re-introduce a forgotten tended to defend his decision to read type of Jewish existence, one which is Brenner through a philosophical lens.

 • A   /  •  Students of Brenner have already Sagi’s Brenner is what Isaiah Berlin pointed out the existential elements called a “hedgehog,” meaning that it in his work, but Sagi does a more is possible to identify a single element exhaustive job: He collates various at the core of his entire literary, philo- intuitions, isolated remarks, decisive sophical, and critical project. Sagi re- yet unsupported assertions, philo- futes previous attempts to explain the sophical insights of quintessential essence of Brenner’s thought as the literary scholars, as well as partial and individual’s experience of social al- schematic studies, melding them into ienation (Gershon Shaked), religious a detailed, systematic, and convincing detachment (Baruch Kurzweil), and philosophical presentation of Bren- nihilistic aestheticism (S.Y. Pnueli). ner’s existentialism. Instead, Sagi argues that the crux of In order to show that Brenner’s Brenner’s work is the metaphysical views unquestionably belong to the ex- experience of the absurd, of the loss istentialist tradition, Sagi begins with of meaning, which touches a deeper a comparison of Brenner’s thought to level of existence than the feeling existentialist philosophy. Sagi’s Bren- of socio-cultural detachment. e ner is an existentialist by virtue of his experience of the absurd combines being a philosopher whose thinking the desire to resolve the riddle of life revolves around his own individual with the sober recognition of the im- and concrete existence. According possibility of doing so. It crystallizes to Sagi, Brenner’s existentialism is out of the consciousness of death, expressed through his view that man which dissolves the possibility of a is “thrown” into the world. In this re- rational or metaphysical response to gard, he anticipates a concept later for- the questions of existence. Accord- mulated by the German philosopher ing to existentialists (such as Kierke- Martin Heidegger. e subjective self- gaard, Heidegger, Rosenzweig, Sartre, reflection of the individual, according Camus, and Brenner himself), the to Brenner—as well as other thinkers problem of death belongs not to the in the existentialist tradition—is com- future but to the present—the inevi- mitted to a daring and merciless rec- tability and absolute finality of death ognition of the givens of reality. At the threatens to deny human existence same time, it grants man the freedom any meaning. to shape the meaning of the existence e Brennerian experience of which has been forced upon him. the absurd has two aspects: negative

 • A   /  •  and positive. e negative aspect erefore Brenner does not contrast is the recognition that existence is religiosity with the absurd and does irrational. e positive aspect is a not dismiss religious feeling. As Sagi yearning for clarity and meaning. In explains: Brenner’s words, this is a longing for In Brenner’s eyes, the experience of “the enigma” and “the secret.” is wonder and amazement leads to mys- longing feeds on the dissatisfaction ticism and genuine religiosity which we feel following the immanence of does not transcend this world and our lives in a world that is revealed to seek transcendental being yet also avoids becoming caught up in the the senses. In his conception of the web of immanence. In the midst of dual nature of the absurd, Brenner is immanence, man experiences his in- more akin to Camus than to Sartre, completeness, and this is the essence who emphasized only the negative as- of the Brennerian experience of won- pect of experience—the meaningless- der. It does not strive to realize itself ness of existence. Like Camus, whom through a metaphysical answer or by rejecting the longing for it. he preceded by a generation, Brenner also denies the possibility of break- Brenner knows that the absurd, the ing through to “the other side,” i.e., loss of the meaning of existence, may to man’s longed-for transcendence. push men toward despair or even sui- Brenner’s rejection of mysticism is cide. Nonetheless, he does not claim not simply theological or epistemo- that one can escape the burden of logical. He does not claim that God angst and the dread of death. ese is dead or that otherworldly reality is experiences cannot be forgone, but inaccessible to human understand- they can be reconciled. Brenner, like ing. His refutation is principled and Kierkegaard, recognized that despair existentialist: According to Brenner, can have a positive role in man’s life, mysticism, which aims to transcend that it can serve as a liberating and the human condition, alienates purifying force, diverting the con- man from himself and from his ac- ciousness away from its anticipation tual bodily life. Yet, unlike Nietzsche, of metaphysical insight and toward Brenner does not celebrate imma- the alteration of reality itself. nence and the death of gods. Man, in his view, is sentenced to live in his analysis of Brenner’s phi- the space between the reality of this T losophy and its place within world and that which lies beyond it. existentialism leads to the second part

 • A   /  •  of Sagi’s project, which deals with the upon us is what makes a Jewish exist- possibilities of Jewish existence. In ence authentic. In Brenner’s words: this section Sagi explains Brenner’s position on the issue of Jewish If we are to be Jewish, it is not identity, but also shows its signifi- because there exists some Judaism which beseeches specific question- cance in light of the difficulties we ers to seek its existence, but rather face today. because we and our children are Clearly, both parts of the discussion necessarily placed in thousands of are intertwined: “e requirement of a situations which are unique, special, Jewish existence, in Brenner’s account, physical and spiritual, economic and is a conclusion stemming from his gen- cultural, and which form a unique imprint upon us. eral existentialist outlook,” says Sagi. is connection is necessitated by the Here, Jewish identity is not defined fact that the existentialist individual is by organized Judaism. From an exis- not an abstract character: He lives in tentialist standpoint, religion is con- specific circumstances and conditions. tingent, not necessary. It is not part In Brenner’s case, he is a Jew. Jewish of “thrownness,” nor is it among the identity is part of the “thrownness” undeniable circumstances into which and the “givenness” acknowledged man is born. erefore, renouncing it by existentialist philosophy; it is part does not involve alienation and in- of the concrete reality of the private authenticity. What establishes Jewish man. e denial of Jewishness leads to identity is something else, something self-alienation: A person is a Jew not more profound and prior, which because his Jewishness is an abstract Brenner terms “forms of life:” idea, metaphysics, or theology which can be either chosen or rejected, but e primary forms of life of the rather because it constitutes “a basic individual and the nation are not given of his factual existence.” nourished and kept alive by reli- In Brenner’s view, the affirmation gion. Religion itself, with all its of Jewish existence is accomplished rituals and vanities, is only part of in two stages: a courageous recogni- the forms of life that people have tion of what man is born or “thrown” created voluntarily/involuntarily in the circumstances of their economic- into—i.e., his Jewishness—and a psychological and human-national “reflexive” choice to accept this fact. reality. Religion dons a form, sheds According to Sagi, the free decision a form, is born, approaches death. to choose what was given (or forced) (Emphasis mine.)

 • A   /  •  Brenner continues from this view- fact of givenness… to be a Jew means point and rejects the pretentiousness to carry out the fact of givenness and of the “culture” embodied in Jewish to re-affirm it practically. texts written throughout the genera- But Sagi is not content with apply- tions to define national affiliation. Even ing Brenner’s existentialist outlook culture, he holds, is not necessary to the question of Jewish iden- for a person to be Jewish. By way tity: He also convincingly refutes the of existentialist self-reflection—an various criticisms of Brenner’s stances outlook which has fallen victim to on Judaism. Brenner’s critics have misunderstanding due to the blunt maintained that he denied the exist- way it was phrased—Brenner points ence of a Jewish people and held that to himself as someone who has been only Jewish individuals exist (Yehezkel freed from the “hypnosis” of the Kaufman); that he was motivated by Bible and its influence. He initiates an “ocean of self-hatred and a hatred self-examination precisely because he of Judaism” (Baruch Kurzweil); that wishes to show how the Jewishness he thought that Jewish identity was a of a person is not contingent upon a fluid and non-rigid matter and thata unique relationship to the founding Jew is anyone who chooses to be Jew- texts of Jewish “culture.” Rather, it ish (Nurit Govrin); it was even argued is anchored in more primary causes that Brenner suggests a reductive Jew- which precede culture and religion: ish identity based on the familial- necessity and will. Necessity is part of ethnic model (Menahem Brinker). Jewishness because of man’s “throw- Contrary to these positions, Sagi’s ness” into the world, while will is view is that Brenner’s outlook is not manifested in the free choice of Jew- only consistent and systematic but ish identity. is point, Sagi asserts, also positivist. It does not grasp Jew- is the most significant contribution of ish identity as a dismal consequence Brenner’s thought: of necessity or as the product of a In my estimation, this is the essence whim, but at the same time, it does of Brenner’s contribution to the dis- not reject the nation only for the sake course on Jewish existence: a rejection of distinct individuals. Brenner’s out- of the theological or ideal options for look does not bind the individual to understanding Jewish existence, and a forced ethnic affiliation. According examining it from a new perspective; a concrete-realistic-existentialist per- to Sagi, Brenner’s approach offers spective. e tormented acceptance firm grounds for Jewish iden- of the Jewish given as a fundamental tity and anchors it in a justified

 • A   /  •  existentialist position, one which After all, according to Brenner, an consists not of “solely negation but individual’s choice to exist as a Jew also, perhaps primarily, of much does not take place in a vacuum. Jew- affirmation.” ishness is something one is “thrown” into: As Sagi emphasizes, it is a given y placing Brenner within the ex- fact. It follows that the discussion of B istentialist tradition as well Brenner’s nationalism can not avoid a as by presenting his conception of definition based on family, commu- Jewish identity based on this tradi- nity, and ethnicity. is definition, tion, Sagi’s book undoubtedly offers which has unmistakable historical a noteworthy contribution to the and sociological aspects, broadens study of this author. However, Sagi the spectrum of Brenner’s worldview does not offer a satisfactory response beyond the narrow boundaries of to the question of what brings an individualism that are the substance unequivocal existentialist to deal with of Sagi’s study. the problem of national identity in Needless to say, any exhaustive, the first place. Why didn’t this issue theoretical analysis of Brenner’s equally trouble other existentialist thought cannot overlook the influ- thinkers, such as Camus and Sartre? ence of other philosophical schools To answer this question, one must set of thought on his work—such as aside the general human existentialist Marxism. Brenner’s stance that “cul- problem and turn to the local histori- ture” and “religion” are secondary and cal circumstances of Jewish existence, contingent outcomes of fundamental in which Brenner’s thought is rooted. conditions of society may stem from Perhaps it is appropriate here to con- his existentialist worldview—but it sider the insights of the critic Baruch contains Marxist undertones as well. Kurzweil, one of the objects of Sagi’s Of course, Sagi is aware of the risk criticisms, who well understood the involved in analyzing Brenner’s liter- unique historical and theological ary work with philosophical tools. conditions which caused the reviving He understands all too well just how Jewish and Hebrew literature to pre- problematic it is to transform a body cede European existentialist literature of work which is intricate, dialectical, by a generation. and full of internal contradictions into Although Sagi’s description of one that is well-arranged, cohesive, Brenner’s national outlook as individ- and monolithic. He seems, however, ualist-existentialist is comprehensive to be more aware of the disadvantages and thorough, it seems to be lacking. of a systematic and coherent reading

 • A   /  •  of Brenner’s writings than of the dis- e placement of Brenner within advantages of an ahistorical reading, a specific historical context inad- on which he largely relies. Overlook- vertently leads us to examine the ing the historical aspect causes Sagi to relevance of his teaching in our day. attach great significance to the -Bren He is indeed “relevant” in many ways, nerian texts which express sympathy as great artists always are. ere is, for for the cultural Jewish tradition, espe- instance, his unique struggle against cially those written during the years nihilism: He demonstrated in both his Brenner spent in London editing the life and his work that ethical and hu- periodical Hame’orer (1906-1907). manist conduct is possible—even as he e weight given to the Hame’orer pe- experienced and expressed the depths riod leads Sagi to read the entirety of of his era’s extreme moral crisis. the author’s thought through a frac- More surprising is the relevance of tion of his work. ere is certainly Brenner’s thoughts on literature, to good reason to think, along with the which Sagi dedicates an entire chap- author and publicist Hillel Zeitlin, ter. Brenner’s writings on this topic, that Brenner’s thought regarding the which are anchored in his existential- Jewish tradition radicalized after his ist outlook, may contribute signifi- immigration to Israel. An equally cantly to the current discussion of lit- important factor, in Zeitlin’s opinion, erature and its role. His assertion that was Brenner’s attachment to socialist “writing is an existential necessity” . A historical interpretation because it “emerges from the depths of Brenner’s work might hold that of the individual’s being, which cross- the texts from the Hame’orer pe- es into the world,” emphasizes the riod—which relate to Judaism more crucial role of the self in the creative positively—are not of a piece with the process and stands in stark contrast to critical texts written in Palestine, such the theoretical approach, so popular as the article “Al Hizayon ‘Hashmad’” today, which denies the import of (“On the Aspect of Conversion”). the subject as an autonomous crea- A historical approach to Brenner’s tive force and expounds, following work certainly does not agree with Roland Barthes, “the death of the au- the ambitious synthesis which Sagi thor.” Needless to say, Brenner’s claim suggests, and though it cannot single- entirely contradicts the conception of handedly undermine the impressive literature as a “commodity” meant for philosophical structure proposed by the widest possible audience. the book, it certainly presents a seri- Sagi’s main objective, however, is ous challenge to it. to establish Brenner’s relevance as a

 • A   /  •  thinker who offers a viable option for understand it in the context of Jewish existence. In my opinion, this the developing research on Bren- option is just as valid today as it was ner’s work. is can be divided in Brenner’s time. e experience of into roughly three periods. From “thrownness” characterizes the world Brenner’s murder in 1921 until of many today; they constantly the 1950s, the bulk of writing on ponder the meaning of the identity Brenner portrayed him as an exem- they were born into and what they plary socialist-Zionist role model. should derive from it. ese people He “became the martyr of the Land feel Jewish existence has been forced of Israel which was then being estab- on them, yet they feel that “deliver- lished,” according to Itzhak Bacon. As ance” from it may result in their self- well, it can be said that later studies alienation. e circumstances of their by Kurzweil belong to this stage due birth and upbringing have bound to their historical-national perspec- them to Jewish national culture. It tive, although they diverge from is no coincidence that the fascination socialist-Zionist hagiography. with Brenner occupies very distinct e 1950s marked the beginning segments of the Israeli intelligentsia, of the “Brennerian renaissance,” to especially those which are interested use a term coined by Bacon, as ex- in the continuation of national cat- emplified in the important studies of egories and even of distinct academic Dan Miron and Gershon Shaked as disciplines such as “Hebrew litera- well as those of Menahem Brinker ture” or “Jewish history.” ey may and Boaz Arpaly. eir studies por- feel that Brenner’s thought confirms tray Brenner as a modernist and a the importance and value of these ground-breaking author—no longer particular categories and disciplines. an ideologue but rather a tormented e fact that this position pertains to artist. is discussion was motivated a relatively limited number of people largely by these scholars’ cultural does not diminish the importance of agenda. e discourse on Brenner Brenner, who repeatedly emphasized as an aesthetic master and great that his writing was meant for a select author, one of the celebrated artists few, for those caught in between, for who embellish the culture of the those who feel they do not entirely finest nations, served the desire to belong yet cannot disengage. find a blessed normalcy in Israeli life. To comprehend the full signifi- is is why some of the scholars who cance of Sagi’s book, one needs to studied Brenner’s thought tended to

 • A   /  •  emphasize its negating aspect (anti- testifies to the changes taking place ideology and even anti-Jewish) out in the field of literary criticism. of the that “normal” Israeli “New Criticism” and the structuralist existence would render or should paradigm—which relate to texts as render the obsession with Jewish autonomous phenomena—have lost identity unnecessary. is is how currency, and scholars are returning Brenner became the icon of secular to the interpretive approach, which modernist culture in Israel. emphasizes a profound link between Sagi’s book, in my opinion, literature and the outside world. marks the beginning of a new era From this turbulent scene Sagi’s Bren- in the study of Brenner. Looming ner emerges: an independent thinker in the background of To Be a Jew who rejected the authority of ide- are the post-ideological and post- ologies yet affirmed—from his- spe nationalist trends that define today’s cifically individualist stance—both culture: the dominance of an indi- nationality and the responsibility of vidualist ethos in private and public the individual Jew for the collective life; the shattering of the dream of existence of his nation. “normalcy” following the second Intifada; the increased feeling of existential uncertainty in an Israeli society confronted by the Iranian nu- Arik Glasner is an author and literary clear threat. In addition, Sagi’s study critic.

 • A   /  • 