Between Zionism And Judaism: The Radical Circle In Brith Shalom 1925-1933

Description

This work provides a vivid picture of the dichotomy between the ideology preached by the radical circle of the Brith Shalom Society and the nationalism of early twentieth-century Palestine. Many considered the Brith Shalom Society representative of the spiritual trend of Zionism. This important book examines the aspirations and cultural sources of these men from Central Europe who met in Palestine as members of the Brith Shalom Society during the first half of the twentieth century, in the context of the political reality of a pre-independent Palestine and the new state of Israel. The fact that this circle included well-known personalities, such as Samuel Hugu Bergmann, Gershom Scholem, Erenst Simon, Hans Kohn and ecumenists, such as Martin Buber and Judah L. Magnes, none of whom was a politician in the ordinary sense, makes this study all the more fascinating and compelling. Contents Foreword Part One: Cultural and Political Background 1. “Idea”, “Ideal”, and “Ideology” as Understood by the Central European Emigrants in Brith Shalom 2. Formative Years: Fin-de-siècle, Neo-Romanticism and Neo-Mysticism 3. Between the Organic-Developmental Concept and the Rejection of the Present; the Idolization of Values and “the Spirit of the People” Part Two: Zionism, Judaism, and Morality in the Polemics of Brith Shalom 4. The Incidents at the Western Wall and the 17th Zionist Congress as the Background to the Demand for “a new Zionist ideology” 5. The Men from Central Europe in Brith Shalom and Their Link to Ahad Ha-am and Buber 6. “Majority” Zionism and the Rejection of the Nation-State 7. The Polemic about the Rejection of the Exile Part Three: Roots in the Past: Nationalism, Universalism, and Religious Socialism 8. From Cultural Zionism to Religious Zionism 9. Between Zionism and Religious Socialism Conclusion Bibliography Index