Jews: The Essence and Character of a People - Hardcover

Hertzberg, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060638346 ISBN 13: 9780060638344

Publisher: HarperOne, 1998

Synopsis

What makes a Jew a Jew? In the most controversial book on Jewish identity to come along in decades, two influential Jewish leaders dare to answer that provocative question. There is an essential Jewish identity, shaped by the legacy of history and faith, which bridges divergent cultures, politics, and even beliefs. So argues author Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, the outspoken and influential leader at the forefront of the world Jewish community, who together with Aron Hirt-Manheimer, the distinguished editor of Reform Judaism magazine, presents a myth-shattering view of Jewish character.

Jews is a landmark work that provocatively explores the meaning of Jewish identity through the ages. Hertzberg and Hirt-Manheimer present an original and insightful look at the entire Jewish experience and what it means for Jews and non-Jews alike. The authors boldly advance a series of radical arguments:

• They dare to define the "essential" Jew.

• They dare to say that the Jewish character has remained the same since the time of Abraham and Sarah.

• They dare to propose that anti-Semitism is not a Christian invention-it is a reaction to Jews as persistent dissenters in every society.

• They dare to suggest that the Holocaust was a reenactment of the Crucifixion in which the traditional roles were reversed.

• They dare to examine the illness of self-hatred that has afflicted Jews from Karl Marx to Woody Allen.

This book offers a new and startling perspective on how Jews relate to people of other traditions while also defining the challenge, responsibility, and essence of being a Jew in our time. Jews: The Essence and Character of a People defies the conventional view of Jews that has prevailed for centuries and presents a compelling and realistic portrait of contemporary Jews. This important book is sure to stimulate passionate debate among both Jews and non-Jews.

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, author of The Zionist Idea, Jewish Polemics, The Jews in America, Jews, and A Jew in America, is the Bronfman Visiting Professor of Humanities at New York University and Professor Emeritus of Religion at Dartmouth. A world-renowned Jewish scholar, he has served as president of the American Jewish Policy Foundation and the American Jewish Congress and as vice-president of the World Jewish Congress.

From the Back Cover

What makes a Jew a Jew? In the most controversial book on Jewish identity to come along in decades, two influential Jewish leaders dare to answer that provocative question. There is an essential Jewish identity, shaped by the legacy of history and faith, which bridges divergent cultures, politics, and even beliefs. So argues author Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, the outspoken and influential leader at the forefront of the world Jewish community, who together with Aron Hirt-Manheimer, the distinguished editor of Reform Judaism magazine, presents a myth-shattering view of Jewish character.

Jews is a landmark work that provocatively explores the meaning of Jewish identity through the ages. Hertzberg and Hirt-Manheimer present an original and insightful look at the entire Jewish experience and what it means for Jews and non-Jews alike. The authors boldly advance a series of radical arguments:

• They dare to define the "essential" Jew.

• They dare to say that the Jewish character has remained the same since the time of Abraham and Sarah.

• They dare to propose that anti-Semitism is not a Christian invention-it is a reaction to Jews as persistent dissenters in every society.

• They dare to suggest that the Holocaust was a reenactment of the Crucifixion in which the traditional roles were reversed.

• They dare to examine the illness of self-hatred that has afflicted Jews from Karl Marx to Woody Allen.

This book offers a new and startling perspective on how Jews relate to people of other traditions while also defining the challenge, responsibility, and essence of being a Jew in our time. Jews: The Essence and Character of a People defies the conventional view of Jews that has prevailed for centuries and presents a compelling and realistic portrait of contemporary Jews. This important book is sure to stimulate passionate debate among both Jews and non-Jews.

Reviews

"An excellent book . . . incisive, inclusive, and ultimately optimistic . . . a summing up by a contemporary Jewish statesman."

In a deeply felt, controversial study, the authors (Hertzberg teaches humanities at New York University, and Hirt-Manheimer is editor of Reform Judaism magazine) contend that there is a definable Jewish character that has been manifested in Jews over the centuries. They identify three core components of this reputed personality profile: the self-image of affirming Jews as a chosen people; Jews as a house divided, a fractious group with a history of internal strife; and Jews as the quintessential outsiders in Western civilization. The third characteristic, they argue, is at the root of anti-Semitism: the Jewish people, who, as persistent dissenters in the societies in which they have lived, challenge the majority's beliefs, behavior and prejudices. Hertzberg and Hirt-Manheimer defend their thesis with an unconventional, selective history of Judaism. Their portrait gallery of modern JewsAMoses Mendelssohn, Martin Buber, Freud, Marx, Trotsky, Heine, Herzl, KafkaAserves as a prism for their exploration of Jews' ambivalence over what it means to be Jewish. In one interesting passage, the authors question whether "the Orthodox establishment [can] really claim that its version of Judaism is the only effective antidote to assimilation." Their provocative approach to understanding Jewish identity is certain to stir debate. $40,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A bit of a hodgepodge: part an anthropological attempt to distill the Jews' essential characteristics, part history lite, and part mini-profiles of premodern and modern Jews, as well as Hertzberg's autobiographical anecdotes. Hertzberg (Humanities/New York Univ.), a rabbi and very gifted, prolific scholar and essayist (The Zionist Idea, not reviewed; The Jews in America, 1989; etc.) and Hirt-Manheimer, editor of the journal Reform Judaism, state at the outset, ``This is . . . a scandalous book. It runs counter to polite and politically correct portraits of the Jews. It dares to define the lasting Jewish character. Unfortunately, despite its focus on Jews belief in their chosenness and other debatable traits, this work is too unfocused to scandalize; rather, the authors flit from topic to topic, rarely exploring any one in depth. Thus, a chapter on the Holocaust discusses the fate of such assimilated and converted Jews as the historian Marc Bloch and Sister Edith Stein, Christian reactions to the genocide, and post-Holocaust theologyall in fewer than ten pages. The authors also engage in some untenable generalizations, such as their claim that in the medieval world, in every Jewish community throughout the world, people met their peers daily to study together.'' This was not true by any mans for Jewish men, and it ignores entirely Jewish women, whom this book radically scants throughout (a section on ``The Ascendancy of Women'' in the post-Holocaust period, perhaps the most important trend in Jewish life of the past quarter-century, comprises only three pages). Hertzberg makes his most substantive contribution in the mini-profiles of premodern Jewish religious, intellectual and political leaders, and particularly of ambivalent Jewish modernists (e.g., the central European quartet of Heine, Marx, Freud, and Kafka). But for a first-rate thinker and writer like Hertzberg, this book has a disappointingly diffuse, sometimes even slapdash quality to it. ($40,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060638346
• ISBN 13: 9780060638344
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304