Jewish Studies 300.001
Modern Jewish Politics
Instructor: Joshua Shanes
Office Hours: M/W 11-12 and by appointment
Office: 216 Jewish Studies Building
Email: shanesj@cofc.edu
Office Phone: 953-3929
Course Description
In the late nineteenth century, East European Jews and East European Jewish immigrants in
the United States, Ottoman-ruled Palestine and other countries began to form various political
movements in response to a host of problems from poverty to anti-Semitism to cultural assimilation.
These movements – socialist, liberal and nationalist in character – differed greatly in how they
understood what was then called “the Jewish Question” and how to solve it. Above all, the question
of Jewish nationhood grew to dominate “post-emancipation” Jewish politics. Were the Jews a nation
or a religious community? What sort of politics should they pursue? Should Jews emigrate from
Eastern Europe or stay put and struggle for change there? If emigration, than to which country should
they go: Palestine, the United States, or someplace else? Should Jews form alliances with non-Jewish
political parties and movements or remain independent? Or should they eschew autonomous Jewish
movements altogether in favor of non-Jewish movements? Which goals should Jews seek to
achieve: civil and political equality in their countries of residence, communal self-governance (i.e.
national autonomy), or a Jewish homeland? Should they struggle for gradual change or social
revolution? Should Jews seek to assimilate into the dominant culture or develop their own, distinct
culture in Yiddish or Hebrew (and which one)? These and other, related questions provoked
enormous debates among Jews on both sides of the Atlantic, starting in the nineteenth century and
continuing for more than a century.
This course explores the rise and development of Jewish political movements on three
continents – Europe, Palestine/Israel, and the United States – from the late nineteenth century to the
late twentieth century. We will spend a disproportionate amount of time on the first unit, as Eastern
Europe was the source both of modern Jewish political ideologies as well as of the Jews themselves,
millions of whom emigrated to America and Palestine/Israel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Although these movements met with greater or lesser success (and we will examine the reasons for
this), they together transformed modern Jewish life and had a major impact on international relations.
Thus the history of modern Jewish politics had profound implications beyond the Jewish world from
which it arose.
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Course Requirements
This is an upper-level seminar. Most classes will be a combination of lecture and discussion;
some will consist purely of in-class analysis of primary texts. All students are required to read all
assigned texts in advance of each class and to participate in class discussion. Preparing a text
means being able to discuss it intelligently and critically, raising key issues that the text evokes and
suggesting possible answers.
The principal written assignment is an original research paper due on the last day of class.
The paper should be 2,500 words (about 8-9 pages) in length. Topics must be approved by this
instructor. Preliminary bibliographies with at least six outside sources must be submitted by October 2.
Problematic submissions will need to be updated before the fall break. Students will share the results of
their research in a 5-7 minute presentation after Thanksgiving, which should include a paper or
electronic (e.g. powerpoint) outline of their work. There will also be a take-home midterm and an in-
class final exam, and 8-10 random quizzes on the readings to ensure full participation.
Important note: Some weeks have heavier reading assignments than others. Specifically, the
first several weeks of the course lean towards the heavy side, where as the middle weeks (because of the
cancelled classes) are much lighter. There are no reading assignments after Thanksgiving, in order to
give you time to finish your papers and prepare for the final exam. Please plan accordingly.
Please note that there are four cancelled classes as a result of the Jewish holidays.
Grade Breakdown
Participation 20% (includes quizzes)
Term Paper 30% (includes presentation)
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 30%
Readings
The Berkowitz book will be available at the bookstore by September 3. The other books are
all available at the Jewish Studies office (at a significant discount from what the bookstore could
offer). You can also look on-line if you wish.
If you have any problems, all books are also on 2-hour reserve at the library.
• Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry before the First World War
• David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History (New York, 1986)
• Arthur Hertzberg, ed. The Zionist Idea (Philadelphia, 1997)
• Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics (New York, 1993)
• E-reserves (Note: These MUST be printed and brought to class on the assigned days.)
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Schedule (subject to change)
Unit 1: The Formative Era
Week 1
Tuesday, August 26: Introduction – The Collapse of Autonomy and the Emergence of the Jewish Question
Thursday, August 28: Jewish Politics before Jewish Politics: European Jewry on Cusp of Modernity
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 87-112
Note: Don’t worry about memorizing names; just focus on broad ideas.
Week 2
Tuesday, September 2: Defining the Parameters of Modern Jewish Politics
Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, vii-62
Thursday, September 4: 1881 Pogroms and the rise of “self-emancipation” as the solution to
the “Jewish Problem”
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 143-153, 159-165, 167-177, 179-198 (Smolenskin, Ben
Yehuda, Lilienblum and Pinsker)
Week 3
Tuesday, September 9: Theodor Herzl and Political Zionism
*Carl Schorske, “Politics in a New Key: An Austrian Trio” in Fin-de-Siecle Vienna, 146-175
Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry, 8-39
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 201-231
Thursday, September 11: Ahad Ha’am and Spiritual (“Cultural”) Zionism
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 247-277 (plus “Slavery in Freedom” handout)
Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry, 40-76
Week 4
Tuesday, September 16: Politics, Culture and the Creation of the New Jew
Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry, 99-118
*F. Guesnet, “Chanukah and its Function in the Invention of a Jewish-Heroic Tradition in
Early Zionism, 1880-1900” in Nationalism, Zionism and Ethnic Mobilization of the Jews in
1900 and Beyond, 227-245
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Thursday, September 18: Autonomism, Yiddishism and the quest for Jewish national rights in Diaspora
*Simon Dubnow, Nationalism and History, 100-115, 131-142, 155-191
Week 5
Tuesday, September 23: Socialist Jews and Jewish Socialists (I): The Jewish Labor Bund
Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 93-103
*Joshua Zimmerman, Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality, 106-125
*Henry Tobias, “The Reassessment of the National Question,” in Essential Papers on Jews
and the Left, 101-121
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The Golden Tradition, 426-441
Thursday, September 25: Socialist Jews and Jewish Socialists (II): Seeking a Socialist Zionism
Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 103-113
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 331-366 (Syrkin and Borochov)
Week 6
Tuesday, September 30: NO CLASS – ROSH HASHANA
Thursday, October 2: Organized Liberalism
*Paula Hyman, “Was there a “Jewish Politics” in Western and Central Europe?” in The Quest
for Utopia: Jewish Political Ideas and Institutions Through the Ages, 105-117
*I. Schorsch, Jewish Reactions to German Anti-Semitism 1870-1914,” 117-148
*Benjamin Nathans, “The Other Modern Jewish Politics: Integration and Modernity in Fin de
Siecle Russia,” in The Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics, 20-34
** Bibliographies due today **
Week 7
Tuesday, October 7: Orthodoxy I: Religious Zionists and their “Orthodox” opponents
*A. Ravitsky, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish religious radicalism, 10-39
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 102-114 (Alkalai and Kalischer), 397-431 (Mohilever, Pines, Kook)
*Robert Selzer, Zionism Reconsidered, 11-22 (Lubavitch/Gerer Rebbes)
Thursday, October 9: NO CLASS – YOM KIPPUR
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Week 8
Tuesday, October 14: FALL BREAK
Thursday, October 16: Orthodoxy II: Agudat Yisrael and the emergence of political Orthodoxy
*Alan Mittleman, The Politics of Torah, 1-23 (followed by founding program of Agudat Yisrael)
*G. Bacon, The Politics of Tradition: Agudat Yisrael in Poland 1916-1939, 22-69
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The Golden Tradition, 186-200 (Lipshitz, Margoshes, Ewen)
Unit 2: Jewish politics comes of age: 20th Century Europe, America and Palestine
Week 9
Tuesday, October 21: NO CLASS – SHMINI ATZERET
Thursday, October 23: World War I and post-war realities
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 118-144
Week 10
Tuesday, October 28: Interwar Poland
Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 63-78, 115-127
*G. Bacon, “Imitation, Rejection, Cooperation: Agudat Yisrael and the Zionist Movement in
Interwar Poland,” in The Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics, 85-94
*Michael Steinlauf, “Jewish Politics and Youth Culture in Interwar Poland,” in The
Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics, 95-104
Thursday, October 30: Immigrant and New Deal America
Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 78-91
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 503-23 (Schechter and Brandeis)
*Jonathan Frankel, “The Bundists in America and the “Zionist” Problem,” in The Emergence
of Jewish Politics, 181-96
Week 11
Tuesday, November 4: Mandatory Palestine
Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry, 144-64
Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, 369-86
Thursday, November 6: The Establishment of Israel
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 145-156
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Unit 3: The Wages of Power – Jewish Politics after the Six Day War
Week 12
Tuesday, November 11: The “Golden Age” of American Jewry
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 177-202
*Peter Medding, “The “New Jewish Politics” in the United States,” in The Quest for Utopia,
119-150
Week 13
Tuesday, November 18: The rise of the Israeli right
David Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 156-73
*Charles Liebman and Eliezer Don-yehiya, Civil Religion in Israel, 59-80
or S. Avineri, Making of Modern Zionism, 159-186 and Israel Eldad, “Jabotinsky
Distorted,” The Jerusalem Quarterly (16, Summer 1980)
Handouts: Vladimir Jabotinsky, “What the Zionist-Revisionists Want” (1926) and The
Likud Party Platform (1977)
Thursday, November 20: Religious Zionism in Israel since the Six Day War (1967)
* Aviezer Ravitzky, “’The Revealed End’: Messianic Religious Zionism,” in Messianism,
Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism (Chicago, 1996), 118-144
Week 14
Tuesday, November 25: Jewish politics at the end of the millennium
Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 141-145
*Peter Medding, “Towards a General Theory of Jewish Political Interests and Behavior” in
Kinship and Consent, 313-343
*Geoffrey Levy, “Toward a Theory of Disproportionate American Jewish Liberalism,” in
Studies in Contemporary Jewry IV, 64-80
Thursday, November 27: THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 15
Tuesday, December 2: Term paper presentations
Thursday, December 4: Term paper presentations and Review
Final Exam: December 11, 12:15pm.