Elias Bickerman as a Historian of the Jews: A Twentieth Century Tale

Description

This biography of Elias Bickerman (1897-1981), one of the foremost historians of Graeco-Roman antiquity active in the twentieth century, focuses on his role as a historian of the Jews. Bickerman had an extraordinary life. He was born in Kishinev and grew up in St. Petersburg. He arrived in Berlin in 1922, where he pursued an academic career (Doctorate, 1926; Habilitation, 1930). With the rise of the Nazis, he moved to Paris in 1933, then to the USA in 1942. He died in Tel Aviv and was buried in Jerusalem.Albert Baumgarten explores the connections between Bickerman's life and his scholarly work on the Jews in its different cultural and academic contexts (Russian, German, French, and American). He argues that Bickerman intended to create a usable Jewish past. He further shows that Bickerman conceived the ancient Jewish encounter with Hellenism and the modern Jewish entry into European civilization in light of each other. He demonstrates that Bickerman argued that there were some ancient Jews who were wrong in the way they tried to bridge the gap between Judaism and Hellenism, while there were other ancient Jews who found the right solution. He illustrates the contemporary significance of these conclusions concerning the past for Bickerman himself and for other Jews of his time. Bickerman saw the circumstances of his life as a series of unfortunate dislocations. This book emphasizes the intellectual and academic benefit Bickerman derived from his life experience in the twentieth century. Cover Preface Contents Introduction Why Bickerman? A Russian Jew An Historian of the Jews Goals The Sources An Entire Life Part One The Life Chapter One: An Historian’s Past Basic Biography Bickerman’s Silence About Himself A Postivism at Odds with Memoir Skeletons in the Closet Joseph Bikerman’s Autobiography Bickerman’s Silence in Context Bickerman’s Oral Autobiography In Russia An Officer in the White Army Women Escape From France “T.B. Deported by the Germans, Ps. 35:17” Conclusion Chapter Two: Father and Son Joseph Bikerman, Russian Maskil Joseph Bikerman the Russian Jew Father and Sons on Zionism Joseph Bikerman the Russian Liberal Fighting The “Kommikike” Conspiracy A Minority View Joseph Bikerman and Simon Dubnow Joseph Bikerman and German Culture Joseph Bikerman: Conclusion Chapter Three: Becoming an Historian Rostovtzeff ’s Student Why History? Russia vs. Berlin Failure in Berlin No Halbgebackenes The German Academy Jews in the Academy in the Weimar Years A German Jew? A Second Chance Wider Implications Chapter Four: The Nazi Era: 1933–1942 Helping Hands From Berlin to Paris Flirting with the Hebrew University Staying on in Paris Fleeing France Conclusion Chapter Five: From Life to Work Professor Bickerman Leaning Right in a Left-Wing Academy Bickerman the Russian Bickerman the Jew Part Two The Work Chapter Six: The Chain of Scholarly Tradition: Scaliger, Bernays, and the Philosophes Jacob Bernays Joseph Scaliger Covering up for Scaliger – Following in the Footsteps of Bernays The Philosophes Conclusion Chapter Seven: The Jury of His Peers: Täubler, Tcherikover, Momigliano, and Smith Eugen Täubler (1879–1953) Victor Tcherikover (1894–1958) Arnaldo D. Momigliano (1908–1987) Morton Smith (1915–1991) Chapter Eight: A Classicist Having Fun A Surprising Lacuna Repercussions Classicism and Anti-Semitism The Pressures on a Jewish Classicist The Classicist in Context Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929) The God of History and the Faith of a Historian A Religious Response to the Holocaust Schmidt on Bickerman’s Faith Conclusion Part Three A Usable Past Chapter Nine: The Jews who got it Wrong: The Hellenizing Reformers Modern Ideological Commitments Ancient Hellenists and Reform Judaism Back to Russia The Example of M.O. Gershenzon (1869–1925) Jewish Communists Beards Past and Present in Die Makkabäer = The Maccabees Conclusion Chapter Ten: The Jews who got it Right: Maccabees, Pharisees, Rabbis, and Diaspora Jews Those Hellenistic Pharisees Jewish Law for the Gentiles: The Jewish Ius Gentium Diaspora Jews who Got it Right What Kind of Hybridity Was This? Where Does Bickerman Fit? The Blessings of Roman Rule Conclusion: The “Captive Child” Returns Home For Other Audiences Bickerman’s Life Experience: A Twentieth Century Tale The Absence of the Third Bickerman – One Last Time Final Arrangements Part Four Appendices, Bibliographies, Acknowledgements, and Indices Appendices Appendix I Archival Finds, Humboldt University Archive, Berlin Appendix II Bickerman’s Prepared Speech on Receiving the Lucas Prize, Tübingen, May 1977. Martin Hengel Files Appendix III Photographs Time Line Bibliography – Archives Bibliography – Publications of Joseph and Jacob Bi(c)kerman(n) Bibliography – Publications of E.J. Bickerman Bibliography – Works About Elias Bickerman Bibliography Conversations Acknowledgements Index of Sources Index of Ancient and Medieval Persons Index of Modern Persons Index of Places Index of Subjects