Arendt and Deutscher on heresy and identity
This article addresses the constitutive role of heresy in Jewish modernity. Heresy - defined here in terms of assimilation - is commonly considered destructive to Jewish tradition. I, however, examine Hannah Arendt’s works on the model of the Jewish pariah and Isaac Deutscher’s notion of the non-Jew...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
Journal of Jewish studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 73, Issue: 2, Pages: 403-426 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article addresses the constitutive role of heresy in Jewish modernity. Heresy - defined here in terms of assimilation - is commonly considered destructive to Jewish tradition. I, however, examine Hannah Arendt’s works on the model of the Jewish pariah and Isaac Deutscher’s notion of the non-Jewish Jew to identify a model in which heresy gives structure to a new, modern Jewish tradition. In Deutscher, the analysis shows, this tradition of heresy suggests a universal world-view that eventually empties Judaism of any particular content. Arendt, on the other hand, connects the possibility of Jewish particularity in the present with her ideal of the pariah-as-heretic. Heresy reflects neither assimilation nor rejection of Judaism but rather offers a new foundation for Jewish particularity. The argument shows how the heresy of the pariah is also foundational to early formulations of Arendt’s politics of plurality. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-6689 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Jewish studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18647/3548/jjs-2022 |