The Jews Among the NationsThis is an augmented edition of a superb volume by one of the foremost analysts of European institutions and ideas. Here the late Erich Kahler turns his attention to the special character of the Jewish people, formed uniquely through the interaction of internal and external circumstances in which past and present merge. The chapters in this book deal with persistent problems of Jewish identity. Kahler claims these can be fully understood only by awareness of the close interconnection between the singular ethnic nature and the unique social structure of the Jewish people. He discusses the Jews in Europe, specifically the historical implications of a strict tribal ritual that yet permitted the widest spiritual scope. The second half of the book concerns anti-Semitism, in relation to Jews and Germans. How did the German people, seemingly so congenial to the Jews, develop a murderous revulsion against them, ending a long and fruitful symbiosis? Kahler sees this as a parallel to the parricidal rejection of the Jews by the Christian church. His argument is deepened in an added chapter, new to this volume, on the major forms and features of anti-Judaism, 'in which the earlier theme of the universal and the specific are seen as central not only to the inner history of Judaism but also to the specific interaction of Jews and Gentiles throughout social history. |
From inside the book
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... European institutions and ideas . Here the late Erich Kahler turns his at- tention to the special character of the ... Europe , specifically the historical implications of a strict tribal ritual that yet permitted the widest spiritual ...
... EUROPE 31 THE JEWS AND THE GERMANS 95 Appendix THE JEWS AND THE ARABS IN PALESTINE 123 A Disputation with Philip K. Hitti ALBERT EINSTEIN and ERICH KAHLER Introduction to the Transaction Edition The German word Universalgelehrter comes.
... European thinkers who came to and enriched the intellectual life of this country at the time of the Second World War . The devotion he inspires springs from a compassion as profound as the learning that has made One Evelyn Place ...
... not make the State of Israel an end in itself , and , above all , nationalistic fervor must never stifle the Jews ' glorious tradition and their universally human mission . In his essays " The Jews in Europe , " Transaction Introduction ix.
Erich Kahler. In his essays " The Jews in Europe , " written in 1945 , and " What Are the Jews ? .... " , based on a lecture delivered in 1950 , Kahler gives us a magisterial capsule history of the Jewish people . He regards the Jews as ...
Contents
WHAT ARE THE JEWS? | 1 |
THE JEWS IN EUROPE | 31 |
THE JEWS AND THE GERMANS | 95 |
THE JEWS AND THE ARABS ON PALESTINE | 121 |