Fantastic article

[F. Davis Woods-Morse]

The article is really excellent. Media is getting thrown at us from every possible direction and it is hard to read everything one ought to read but I hope others will like the article as much I am continuing to delight in it. How much do others find Germany in this period to be a mirror?

b'shalom,
davis

On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 8:00 AM, Joey <joey...@havurahshalom.org> wrote:

Hi Everybody,

There was a rather small turnout last evening, although I think it was
a quite interesting discussion.  Increasingly, (as we moved through
the medieval and Renaissance time frame), we began to ask questions
pertaining to "how Jews may have imagined who they were, in terms of a
larger world conceptualizing things around them".  This coming week,
we will be dealing with the Enlightenment's impact on Jews in central
Europe, and its delayed effects on eastern European Jews (in Poland
and the Pale of Settlement).  What did it mean for us to construct
Jewish identity, to come up with political, spiritual and even
pedagogical strategies - in light of assumptions that people should
assimilate?  Naturally, the possibilities for assimilation varied from
country to country.  All of these issues influence the ways that we
ourselves have come to imagine our own choices today.

Intellectual history (the history of ideas) has blossomed like never
before, within a Jewish academic context, over the past 30 years, and
our assignment is key for next week.  I handed out ONE (only!)
article.  It ends midstream, but it contains some interesting thinking
on the subject of German Jews during the second half of the 19th
century and into the early 20th century.  I think it's really
important that you make an effort to pick it up from the office.  I'll
give it to Mario, so that you can get it.  Although it focuses on
western European Jewish ideas, it's really about Jews in the world
ever since.  Please read it, if you get the chance.

It's around now, as we get together for one more class in the history
unit (next week), and anticipate a break until April - that I'd like
you to join me in coming up with the kinds of questions we might ask
in the April "Quandaries" unit.  I know for a fact that we'll spend
one session on contemporary aspects of Jewish faith.  Rabbi Tzvi
Fisher from the Portland Kollel will join me on April 21st, in order
to represent a traditional viewpoint.  Another piece will focus on
what Israel means to the Jews today.  But beyond that - I'd like this
last history article to stimulate other questions.  See if you can
post some questions that come to mind for you in the meantime.

Thanks,
Rabbi Joey