Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Jewish life in Poland was marked by a high degree of religious intensity. The core of essays in this volume addresses some aspects of that religious and spiritual life, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Within the sphere of normative Jewish belief and practice, two rival traditions emerged in Poland: that of hasidism, which focused on prayer as a means of direct communication with God and that of its mitnagdic opponents, who placed greater emphasis on learning and the interpretation of canonical texts. Different aspects of the hasidic tradition are here examined by Louis Jacobs, Shaul Magid, Harry Rabinowicz, Ira Robinson, and Shaul Stampfer. Adam Bartosz describes present-day contacts between Bobower hasidism in New York and Bobowa in Poland, while Kimmy Caplan investigates how a rabbi trained in the mitnagdic tradition in Lithuania adapted to the very different conditions of the United States. Alongside the normative traditions, the nineteenth century saw attempts to modify Jewish religious practice on the lines advocated by the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) in Germany and to adapt it to the spirit of the age.
Characteristics of the more modern synagogues in Warsaw, Lodz, and Lwow are investigated by Alexander Guterman, Krzysztof Stefanski, and Julian Bussgang; the attempt by Hillel Zeitlin to reinterpret those traditions in the inter-war years, taking into account the emergence of the Jewish national movement and modern philosophical developments, is described by Shraga Bar Sella. In the New Views section, Bernard Wasserstein investigates Polish influences on British policy towards Jewish rescue efforts in Poland during the Second World War; Janusz Tazbir examines the reception of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Poland; and Anna Clarke describes the life and work of Jehiel Isaiah Trunk. Other topics in this section include Jewish-Ukrainian relations in interwar Poland as reflected in the Ukrainian press; the work of the Jewish writer Adolf Rudnicki; and views expressed on the Jewish question in the Catholic press in Poland between the two world wars. The volume also contains an extensive Book Review section.
Synopsis
In Broadening Jewish History Todd Endelman seeks to expand the horizons of modern Jewish historiography by focusing on 'ordinary' rather than exceptional Jews, arguing that what ordinary people did or felt can do more to deepen our understanding of Jewish history than what a few exceptional
individuals thought and wrote. He also makes a strong case for comparative history, showing convincingly that only a comparison across national borders can identify the Germanness of German Jewish history or the Englishness of English Jewish history, and thereby reveal what is unique about each.
This innovative collection of historiographical essays and case studies redefines the area under consideration and deftly restates the need for Jewish social history to counterbalance the current focus on cultural studies. The essays offer an important examination of the major trends in the writing
of modern Jewish history and the assumptions that have guided historians in their narration of the Jewish past.
Professor Endelman shows in particular how the two watershed events of twentieth-century Jewish history-the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel-influenced Jewish historiography for decades thereafter. He also demonstrates how progressive integration into the scholarly framework of
American academia has shaped both the form and the content of Jewish historical research. Each of the case studies focuses on a largely unknown figure whose career illustrates the often tortuous paths of integration and acceptance that Jews faced. Some achieved fleeting fame but many of the people
who populate the volume remain altogether unknown, their histories recoverable only as statistics. In its wide-ranging analysis of trends in recent historical writing and its treatment of key themes and issues, this book is essential reading for professional historians, students, and indeed all
those with an interest in Jewish history.