Between Haskalah and Orthodoxy: The Writings of R. Jacob Zvi Meklenburg
The relationship between the eighteenth-century German Haskalah and the rise of German Orthodoxy in the nineteenth century has been little appreciated. This study examines the writings of R.Jacob Zvi Meklenburg (1785—1865), the chief rabbi of Königsberg, in order to shed some light on this historica...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1996
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1995, Volume: 66, Pages: 259-287 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The relationship between the eighteenth-century German Haskalah and the rise of German Orthodoxy in the nineteenth century has been little appreciated. This study examines the writings of R.Jacob Zvi Meklenburg (1785—1865), the chief rabbi of Königsberg, in order to shed some light on this historical connection. R. Meklenburg's primary scholarly work was a Bible commentary titled Ha-Ketav ve-ha-Kabbalah, first published in 1839 but then revised and expanded in 1852. A careful consideration of this commentary and its introductions underscores the degree to which R. Meklenburg's interest in the study of Scripture drew substantially upon Maskilic writings and, to a lesser degree, the scholarship of R. Elijah b. Solomon, the Gaon of Vilna. The Maskilic sources were utilized in R. Meklenburg's defense of rabbinic Judaism, especially in his attempt to articulate the relationship between the biblical text and its rabbinic interpretations. As such, it becomes necessary to consider the impact of Maskilic exegetical sensibilities on the historical shift from pre-modern traditionalism to the advent of nineteenth-century German Jewish Orthodoxy. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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