SYLLABUS – FALL 2015
JEWISH POLITICAL THOUGHT – NEJS 192B
PROFESSOR: YEHUDAH MIRSKY
Office Hours: Wednesday 11:00-12:00 or by appointment
Note: the syllabus may well undergo modification, both before the semester, and once we have met and gotten a good sense of each other’s interests. This document should give you a sense of the basic outline of the course and the kinds of questions we will be looking at.
INTRODUCTION TO JEWISH POLITICAL THOUGHT – THE DIALOGUE OF THEORY AND PRACTICE
Theeducationalpoint of the curriculum is understanding,understanding the relations among academic knowledge, the state of society, the processes of self-formation, and the character of the historical moment in which we live, in which others have lived, and in which our descendants will someday live. It is understanding that informs the ethical obligation to care for ourselves and our fellow human beings, that enables us to think and act with intelligence, sensitivity, and courage in both the public sphere as citizens aspiring to establish a democratic society - and in the private sphere, as individuals committed to other individuals.
William F. Pinar, “'Possibly Being So': Curriculum as Complicated Conversation,” in Idem, What is Curriculum Theory? (Mahwah/London: Erlbaum, 2004), pp. 185-21, 187
“Political thought” is sustained reflection on the ways in which people organize and live their lives in common, and as a commons, a shared public space. It involves thinking about authority, power, belonging, force, as well as about common goals and aspirations, and even ideals. Like all philosophizing, all real reflection, it is at bottom an attempt to wrestle with basic questions of how we can and ought to live.
Political thought takes many forms, from abstract philosophizing and the study of classic texts, to legal interpretation, policy analysis, sustained reflection by political actors on their own lives, and scholarly analysis of all the above. While formal Jewish political sovereignty was a scarce commodity for most of Jewish history, over the centuries Jewish thinkers, jurists and communal leaders were engaged in many and varied forms of political activity and reflection, which the radical newness of modernity confronted and complicated in fascinating ways, which continue to shape our lives.
Because the Jewish people did not, as a group, exercise familiar forms of sovereignty for many centuries, it is assumed that they did not create political thought as such. But on closer inspection, we see that questions of power, authority, belonging, and similar issues, not to mention more obviously political topics like relations between rulers and ruled, figure prominently in Jewish history and literature. The Jewish acquisition of power in modern times, above all in democratic countries and the State of Israel, has brought those other texts and traditions to the fore, while generating new questions, and new ideas.
Jewish political thought is in many ways a new and rapidly evolving field. Here as elsewhere in Jewish studies, the rich library of Jewish texts is essential. This course will survey classic Jewish texts of political thought, beginning with the Biblical and Talmudic texts which set the terms for all subsequent discussions; we will then explore the medieval philosophical tradition and we will explore the concrete legal and political practices of Jewish communities through the medieval and early modern periods and those practices’ underlying political ideas. We will then explore the extraordinary explosion and range of Jewish political theory and practice in modernity, both in reaction to the earlier tradition and arising from dramatically new and unforeseen developments. The leading developments we will survey are Jewish liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, Orthodoxy, Zionism and anti-Zionism in their respective permutations; we will also look at the surprising role played by the mystical tradition in modern Jewish political thinking. We will then look at the impacts of the Holocaust, Cold War and creation of Israel on these various trends, to the present.
The course will involve much close reading and discussion of texts as well as lecture and discussion of historical events and trends.[1] Your grade will be based on:
Class participation and discussion: 35%
Reflection Essay, in mid-semester: 25%
Brief class presentation of one of the readings: 10%
Final Essay or Research Paper: 30%
Books: A volume we will be using a great deal is The Jewish Political Tradition, volume 1, co-edited my Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam Zohar and others. [In this syllabus the work is referred to as JPT.] This volumeis part of a series which avowedly tries to affirm, and in a sense, create a Jewish political tradition by gathering translations of numerous texts, while offering explanation and commentary that seeks to bring them into dialogue with contemporary Western political thought, liberalism in particular. We will use these very helpful volumes a great deal, while asking whether the project works, and how much historical context helps or hinders that effort.
Michael Walzer, In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible. Walzer’s volume is valuable not only for its insights, but as an example of engaging classical texts from contemporary viewpoints, while trying to honor the distance between the two; and as an example of graceful philosophical writing.
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea. Some fifty years after its publication, this volume still stands as the best introduction to Zionism. It consists of extremely well-chosen and beautifully translated selections from a wide range of figures, with elegant commentary and a masterful introductory by a scholar was both a gifted historian and engaged public intellectual.
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, a well-written survey of Jewish political history up from antiquity to the mid-1980s, arguing that Jews did indeed have much experience of collective political life over time.
Ehud Luz, Wrestling with an Angel: Power, Morality and Jewish Identity, is a series of well-researched and powerfully written studies about the moral quandaries involved in the Jewish assumption of sovereignty in modern times. Luz’ volume is available as an e-book in the Brandeis Library system and you need not purchase it.
Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People – this is a terrific, concise, easy to read and very solid history of the Jewish people. Historical background is essential to everything we will be doing in this course.
Norman Solomon, A Very Short Introduction to Judaism – a brief, elegant introduction to Jewish religion, past and present. (Recommended)
The readings other than the books will be available on Latte.
The syllabus may undergo change and modification in response to the tenor and pace of our learning and discussion.
UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTION
In this unit we will try to get a basic handle on what we mean by political thought in general and Jewish political thought in particular. The questions and perspectives we develop here will accompany us throughout.
August 31 – Introduction: What do we mean by political theory? What are we talking about? What is the relationship between political and religious language?
Readings: Max Weber on the forms of authority.
Gershom Scholem, “On Language: A Confession”
September 2
In this meeting we will read and discuss essays which lay the questions squarely on the table. Leo Strauss argues that all political philosophy is rooted in substantive views of good and evil and cannot be studied in the historical abstract. Quentin Skinner argues
Leo Strauss, “What is Political Philosophy?”
Quentin Skinner, “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas.” (Chapter 4 of his Visions of Politics, vol. 1)
September 9
Following on the Strauss-Skinner debate, we will discuss the more specific question of what, or how. Jewish political thought might be, and be studied.
Abraham Melamed, “Is There a Jewish Political Thought: The Medieval Case Reconsidered”
Melamed’s article has 7 sections, you need to read only sections 1-4 for our discussion in class
Walzer, Intro to JPT
UNIT TWO: BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS
In this unit we will read fundamental Biblical texts which set the terms for all that follows, both in terms of basic ideas, such as God, Israel and the covenant between them, as well as in terms of basic political roles and their related ideas – kings, prophets, sages
September 10 (Brandeis Monday)
Scheindlin, chapter 1
Moshe Greenberg, “Some Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law”
JPT, “Covenant: God’s Law and the People’s Consent,” pp. 5-33
Walzer, In God’s Shadow, preface & chapter 1
September 16
Biale, Introduction
JPT chapter 3, Kings, pp. 108-136, Prophets, JPT, chapter 5, pp. 199-216
Walzer, In God’s Shadow,chapters 4, 5, 9
Scheindlin, chapter 2
UNIT THREE: THE RABBIS: THE REVELATION OF PRACTICAL REASON
In the centuries after the destruction of the Temple, the Rabbis emerged as the chief and authoritative interpreters of the Biblical tradition. Living in the absence of both prophecy and sovereignty, they created a rich interpretive framework for taking and transforming the Biblical legacy into dramatically different circumstances.
September 21
The Rabbis of the Talmud
JPT, Fishbane, “Law, Story and Interpretation: Reading Rabbinic Texts”; Chapter 6, pp. 244-269, Chapter 3, 136-154
Biale, Chapter 1
Scheindlin, chapter 3
September 29 – No class – to be rescheduled
September 30
JPT, Chapter 7, Controversy and Dissent, pp. 307-344
Biale, Chapter 2, “The Political Theory of the Diaspora,”
October 7
The Geonic Period – Rabbis, Princes and Jewish Self-Government in the early Islamic centuries
JPT, pp. 344-357
Scheindlin, chapter 4
Robert Brody, “The Geonic Period and the Background of Sa’adyah’s Activities”
Alexanfer Altmann, “Saaday’s Conception of the Law”
UNIT FOUR: THE MIDDLE AGES: THE JEWISH POLIS WITHIN THE POLIS
During the Middle Ages, Jews enjoyed large degrees of communal self-government while living as dependent minorities in the empires of Christianity and Islam. They also created a rich philosophical dialogue with Western philosophy, political philosophy included.
October 12
Middle Ages I – Maimonides
Selections, Book of the Commandments, Guide for the Perplexed, Mishneh Torah (Legal Code)
Ravitzky, “Maimonides – Unity or Mutual Completion?”
October 14
Middle Ages II – Maimonides and Nissim Gerondi
JPT, pp. 156-165
Blidstein, “Ideal and Real in Classical Jewish Political Theory”
Scheindlin, chapter 5
Biale, Chapter 3, “Corporate Power in the Middle Ages”
October 19
Middle Ages III
JPT, Chapter 8 on “The Good Men of the Town”
Josef Isaac Lifshitz, “The Political Theology of Maharam of Rothenburg”
October 21
Middle Ages IV – Dina de-Malkhuta Dina – The Law of the Kingdom is the Law
JPT chapter 9, pp. 430-450
Stone, “Religion and State: Models of Separation from Within Jewish Law”
UNIT FIVE: MODERNITY: LIBERATION OR COLLAPSE?
Modernity brought profound changes to Jews as to others: The structures of Jewish communities were undone, from without and within, by major political, social and intellectual shifts. Jews found new opportunities, new dangers, and their identities entered a period of extraordinary flux and redefinition.
October 26
Towards Modernity
Scheindlin, chapters 6-7
Biale, Chapter 4, “Absolutism and Enlightenment”
Jacob Katz, Tradition and Crisis (Conclusion)
Isaac Abravanel, selections
October 28
Theorizing Modernity – Mendelssohn, Jerusalem (selections)
JPT, pp. 78-89
Rosenthal, “Baruch Spinoza”
Micah Gottlieb, “Moses Mendelssohn and the Project of Modern Jewish Philosophy”
Samuel Noah Eisenstadt, ‘Multiple Modernities”
Charles Taylor, “Rethinking Secularism”
November 2
19th Century Politics I
Biale, Chapter 5, “Between Haskalah and Holocaust”
Scheindlin, Chapter 8
Norman Stillman in Harvey Goldberg, Ed., Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries
November 4
19th Century Politics II
Moses Hess, Lilienblum and Pinsker selections, in Hertzberg
Eli Lederhendler, chapter 5, “Toward Political Reconstruction: Russian Maskilim and the Modernization of Jewish Politics,” in The Road to Modern Jewish Politics,
Abigail Green, “Rethinking Sir Moses Montefiore: Religion, Nationhood and Philanthropy in the Nineteenth Century”
November 9 – No Class – to be rescheduled
UNIT FIVE: TWENTIETH CENTURY: CRISIS AND RESPONSBILITY
The 20th century further radicalized the changes wrought by the 19th century, and brought them to a fever pitch. Zionism emerged as a new politics, and a new form of identity, fraught with conflicts within and without. The Holocaust shattered all that came before and in its wake the State of Israel made Jews grapple with sovereignty on terms far removed from the tradition, as they took public responsibility for the exercise of power as never before. Israel also forces to the surface a central question of interest to political thinkers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike: Is modern politics a secularized version of religious authority and messianic longings?
November 11
Zionism I
Political vs. Cultural Zionism: Herzl and Ahad Ha-Am, in Hertzberg
Luz, Intro and Chapter 1
November 16
Zionism II
Zionism as Rebellion, Revolution, Redemption: Berdichevski, Borochov, Gordon, Kook, in Hertzberg
Luz, Chapters 2 & 3
Mirsky, “The New will be Old and the Old Will be New”
November 18
Zionism III
Zionism, American Judaism and 20th century ideologies: Brandeis, Kaplan, Klatzkin, Jabotinsky, Buber, in Hertzberg
November 23
Interwar Period: Anti-Zionism and Diaspora Nationalism
Selections from Aviezer Ravitzky, Zionism, Messianism and Jewish Religious Radicalism and from Simon Rabinovitch, ed. Jews and Diaspora Nationalism
November 30
The Holocaust and the Crisis of Liberalism
Scheindlin, chapter 9
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (selections)
Irving Greenberg, “The Dialectics of Power”
December 2
The State of Israel I –
Biale, Chapter 6, “Israel and the Meaning of Jewish Sovereignty”
Characterizations of the State JPT, Chapter 10
Scheindlin, chapter 10
December 7
The State of Israel II – Luz, Chapters 4, 6, 7
Scheindlin, chapter 10
December 9
The State of Israel III – Luz, Part Two, The Moral Price of Sovereignty
December 5
The State of Israel IV – Luz, Part Three, Power and Jewish Identity in Israeli Public Discourse
[1]This is a 4 credit hour course, and it’s expected you will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class -knowing this should help you budget your time.