The Jewish Reformation: Bible Translation and Middle-Class German Judaism as Spiritual Enterprise

by Michah Gottlieb

Overview

In the late eighteenth century, German Jews began entering the middle class with remarkable speed. That upward mobility, it has often been said, coincided with Jews' increasing alienation from religion and Jewish nationhood. In fact, Michah Gottlieb argues, this period was one of intense engagement with Jewish texts and traditions. One expression of this was the remarkable turn to Bible translation. In the century and a half beginning with Moses Mendelssohn's pioneering translation and the final one by Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, German Jews produced sixteen different translations of at least the Pentateuch.

Exploring Bible translations by Mendelssohn, Leopold Zunz, and Samson Raphael Hirsch, Michah Gottlieb argues that each translator sought a "reformation" of Judaism along bourgeois lines, which involved aligning Judaism with a Protestant concept of religion. Buber and Rosenzweig famously critiqued bourgeois German Judaism as a craven attempt to establish social respectability to facilitate Jews' entry into the middle class through a vapid, domesticated Judaism. But Mendelssohn, Zunz, and Hirsch saw in bourgeois values the best means to serve God and the authentic actualization of Jewish tradition. Through their learned, creative Bible translations, these scholars presented competing visions of middle-class Judaism that affirmed Jewish nationhood while lighting the path to a purposeful, emotionally-rich spiritual life grounded in ethical responsibility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197697665
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/04/2023
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	9.27(w) x 6.13(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

Michah Gottlieb is Associate Professor in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU. An expert on modern Jewish thought and culture with a focus on ethics and Jewish-Christian relations, he has written or edited several books and articles, including Faith and Freedom: Moses Mendelssohn's Theological-Political Thought.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: The Jewish Reformation

Part I: Haskalah: Moses Mendelssohn's Conservative Reformation

Chapter One: The Bible as Cultural Translation

Chapter Two: Biblical Education and the Power of Conversation

Part II: Wissenschaft and Reform: Leopold Zunz between Scholarship and Synagogue

Chapter Three: Translation vs. Midrash

Chapter Four: Bible Translation and the Centrality of the Synagogue

Part III: Neo-Orthodoxy: The Samson Raphael Hirsch Enigma

Chapter Five: A Man of No Party: The Neunzehn Briefe as Bible Translation

Chapter Six: The Road to Orthodoxy: Hirsch in Battle

Chapter Seven: The Innovative Orthodoxy of Hirsch's Der Pentateuch

Chapter Eight: The Fracturing of German Judaism: Ludwig Philippson's Israelitische Bibel and Hirsch's Sectarian Orthodoxy

Conclusion: The Jewish Counter Reformation

Appendix: Mendelssohn on the Decalogue

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"In a riveting work, Michah Gottlieb tells the story of the Jewish Reformation-namely, the endeavor to reconstruct a new form of Judaism grounded in German middle-class modernity. Gottlieb both unsettles and reconstitutes the boundaries between Protestantism and Judaism, and redefines, in original ways, such terms as Orthodoxy and Reform. This excellent work raises fascinating questions about how we read religious texts; what is specific about such readings and what is universal about them; and how translation, education, and novel understandings of culture and cultural production generate new exegetical practices." — Perspectives in History

"In The Jewish Reformation, Michah Gottlieb skillfully restores the Bible to center stage in the process of German Jewry's emancipation, its endeavor to gain equal rights and acceptance in German society and culture. He significantly highlights the role of Bible translation in the ambitious effort to identify with the surrounding culture and fashion an appropriate version of 'bourgeois' piety while concomitantly maintaining Judaism's foundational distinctiveness." — David Sorkin, author of Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries

"Why were German Jews so preoccupied with Bible translation? From 1783 to 1961 there were fifteen Jewish translations of the Pentateuch into German. Among the translators were Moses Mendelssohn, Leopold Zunz, Samson Raphael Hirsch, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig. Michah Gottlieb, a leading interpreter of German-Jewish thought, explores this question and gives surprising answers. His important book tells the heroic story of German-Jewish piety, erudition, controversy, and bourgeois integrity." — Warren Zev Harvey, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"In The Jewish Reformation: Bible Translation and Middle-Class German Judaism as Spiritual Enterprise, Michah Gottlieb has brilliantly employed the biblical translations of Mendelssohn, Zunz, and S.R. Hirsch as gauges to measure the cultural transition of German Judaism and German Jews to the bourgeois world of modern Germany. Gottlieb provides a remarkably detailed and insightful exposition of these works and provides a delightfully rich historical and intellectual contextualization of his subjects. The Jewish Reformation constitutes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of modern Judaism!" — David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University

"The volume is an intellectual tour de force spanning over four hundred pages. Gottlieb commands a broad variety of sources and lays down firm ground to establish his argument...This is a book I will be returning to often in the future." — Colby Townsend, Reading Religion

"Scholars of Jewish history will benefit from The Jewish Reformation's impressive contribution to the field. Gottlieb gets deep into the weeds while exploring the literary, religious, and historical contexts of each of the translators' works—both the translations themselves, as well as their other writings and publications - revealing surprising finds from his archival work and close reading of the sources. There were numerous places in the book where I paused, took notes, and was surprised by how clearly Gottlieb's assertion in a given passage was supported by the materials he brought into the conversation. It made going into the weeds a pleasure...This is a book I will be returning to often in the future." — Colby Townsend, Reading Religion

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