Session 1: MASTER NARRATIVES
(2) Personal application/philosophy
(3) Integration
(4)Community Building
Master narrative-Benay Lappe
Understand the crash and its three options
Understand personal and collective application. Are we in one?
Next--Session 2: Greenberg and Camus. (finish with Trusting and Contending.)
- Format for each session/unit.
(2) Personal application/philosophy
(3) Integration
(4)Community Building
Master narrative-Benay Lappe
Understand the crash and its three options
Understand personal and collective application. Are we in one?
Next--Session 2: Greenberg and Camus. (finish with Trusting and Contending.)
Gerson Cohen's "Blessings of Assimilation." (The Diaspora Option)
There are, of course, two ways of meeting the problem of [155] assimilation. The first is withdrawal and fossilization, on which we need not dwell here. There is, however-and, as we have seen, there has always been-an alternative approach, one that sought to transform the inevitable inroads of assimilation into new sources of vitality. In seeking to distinguish this type of assimilation and imitation from the kind that aims at obliterating Jewish identity, Ahad Ha'am characterized it as hikkuy shel hitharut ("competitive imitation") as opposed to hitbolelut ("assimilation"). In competitive imitation, Ahad Ha'am detected signs of health and vigor, rather than of attrition and decadence. There can be little doubt that Ahad Ha'am's reading of the past was highly perspicacious (discerning). Who will deny that much of Jewish philosophy and belles-lettres were virtually conscious efforts at imitation of and competition with the cultures among which Jewish writers and thinkers lived?
Assimilation properly channeled and exploited can become a blessing. The great ages of Jewish creativity were born out of a response to the challenge of assimilation, and there is no reason why our age should not respond to this challenge with equal vigor. Assimilation is not a one-way street: very much like the Torah itself, it is capable of paralyzing or of energizing, depending upon how we react to it… The Torah, Nachman Krochmal was fond of reminding us, is very much like a path that is beset on one side with freezing cold and on the other with consuming fire. We must all work our way to the middle so that we can derive the benefits of both the coldness and the warmth. Only in that way can we approach the great resources that the middle of the road holds for us.
What are the three options for Cohen?
What does competitive imitation look like in America? Your life?
What is the purpose or the task of Judaism in Diaspora?
DISCUSSION–Where are you on the continuum between isolation and assimilation?
There are, of course, two ways of meeting the problem of [155] assimilation. The first is withdrawal and fossilization, on which we need not dwell here. There is, however-and, as we have seen, there has always been-an alternative approach, one that sought to transform the inevitable inroads of assimilation into new sources of vitality. In seeking to distinguish this type of assimilation and imitation from the kind that aims at obliterating Jewish identity, Ahad Ha'am characterized it as hikkuy shel hitharut ("competitive imitation") as opposed to hitbolelut ("assimilation"). In competitive imitation, Ahad Ha'am detected signs of health and vigor, rather than of attrition and decadence. There can be little doubt that Ahad Ha'am's reading of the past was highly perspicacious (discerning). Who will deny that much of Jewish philosophy and belles-lettres were virtually conscious efforts at imitation of and competition with the cultures among which Jewish writers and thinkers lived?
Assimilation properly channeled and exploited can become a blessing. The great ages of Jewish creativity were born out of a response to the challenge of assimilation, and there is no reason why our age should not respond to this challenge with equal vigor. Assimilation is not a one-way street: very much like the Torah itself, it is capable of paralyzing or of energizing, depending upon how we react to it… The Torah, Nachman Krochmal was fond of reminding us, is very much like a path that is beset on one side with freezing cold and on the other with consuming fire. We must all work our way to the middle so that we can derive the benefits of both the coldness and the warmth. Only in that way can we approach the great resources that the middle of the road holds for us.
What are the three options for Cohen?
What does competitive imitation look like in America? Your life?
What is the purpose or the task of Judaism in Diaspora?
DISCUSSION–Where are you on the continuum between isolation and assimilation?
DAVID HARTMAN From Joy and Responsibility, “Israel and the Rebirth of Judaism.” (1978)
Israel provides Jews with the opportunity of expanding the range of mitzvoth (commandments) which define one’s identity as a halakhic (law observing) Jew. I cannot participate in the building of a Jewish community by only assuming responsibility for the private sector. If I do not feel responsible for the moral quality of the army or for the social and economic disparities in my society; if I do not agonize over how to exercise power while retaining moral sensitivity, or if I do not feel responsible for a political system which fosters widespread apathy and alienation, then I am still living spiritually in the Diaspora despite my residing in Israel.
Israel also encourages a renewal of Judaism by expanding the range of conduct of the Jew committed to Judaism. Because Jews govern an entire society, the responsibilities of each Jew extend beyond the circumscribed borders of the home and the synagogue. In the Diaspora, religious Jews devote much attention to such mitzvoth as kashrut (dietary laws). Sabbath observance, prayer and tefillin (phylacteries), i.e., to norms capable of being fulfilled in the home or synagogue. In the Diaspora, Jews often emphasize norms which enable them to have meaningful Jewish experiences in spite of their feeling alienated from the broader communities in which they live. But however vital these mitzvot may be, they do not exhaust the normative content of Judaism.
What is the unique opportunity of Israel?
What does Hartman assume about Israel? North America?
Israel provides Jews with the opportunity of expanding the range of mitzvoth (commandments) which define one’s identity as a halakhic (law observing) Jew. I cannot participate in the building of a Jewish community by only assuming responsibility for the private sector. If I do not feel responsible for the moral quality of the army or for the social and economic disparities in my society; if I do not agonize over how to exercise power while retaining moral sensitivity, or if I do not feel responsible for a political system which fosters widespread apathy and alienation, then I am still living spiritually in the Diaspora despite my residing in Israel.
Israel also encourages a renewal of Judaism by expanding the range of conduct of the Jew committed to Judaism. Because Jews govern an entire society, the responsibilities of each Jew extend beyond the circumscribed borders of the home and the synagogue. In the Diaspora, religious Jews devote much attention to such mitzvoth as kashrut (dietary laws). Sabbath observance, prayer and tefillin (phylacteries), i.e., to norms capable of being fulfilled in the home or synagogue. In the Diaspora, Jews often emphasize norms which enable them to have meaningful Jewish experiences in spite of their feeling alienated from the broader communities in which they live. But however vital these mitzvot may be, they do not exhaust the normative content of Judaism.
What is the unique opportunity of Israel?
What does Hartman assume about Israel? North America?
Donniel Hartman: Who are the Jews and what can we become?
Crash: Look at Hartman on Emancipation and Zionism.
“We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals.” (Count Clermont-Tonnerre, 1789)
“Zionism was accepted as a national movementof the Jewish people–first by the British Empire and then ultimately by the League of Nations–precisely because of Emancipation’s failure. Vis a vis Western civilization, the Jews were still “them.” (110)
Has Emancipation crashed due to antisemitism?
Has your understanding of what it means to be an American Jew changed since October 7?
Crash: Look at Hartman on Emancipation and Zionism.
“We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals.” (Count Clermont-Tonnerre, 1789)
“Zionism was accepted as a national movementof the Jewish people–first by the British Empire and then ultimately by the League of Nations–precisely because of Emancipation’s failure. Vis a vis Western civilization, the Jews were still “them.” (110)
Has Emancipation crashed due to antisemitism?
Has your understanding of what it means to be an American Jew changed since October 7?