Suchergebnisse

The stories of Gershom Scholem -- Writing the myth of exile: in search of political rejuvenation, 1913-1918 -- Messianism as symbol: the Lurianic school and the emergence of a mystical-political society -- When a dream comes true: Zionist politics in Palestine, 1923-1931 -- Against all odds: Sabbatean belief and the Sabbatean movement -- For the love of Israel: the turn from the fringe to the mainstream of Zionist thinking -- The man and the image

The article explores the interaction of the German, Jewish, and Christian traditions in the first part of the twentieth century in Central Europe to show three cases, in which these traditions merge into one. I name the result of this interaction "Jewish–Christian religiosity." The name conveys a desire, common to the cases discussed, to overcome the traditional distinctions between Jews and Germans and Jews and Christians. It also conveys the belief that spirituality could bridge the gap between people and promote a more open society for all. All three cases expand notions first conceived by Romantic and idealist thinkers in order to facilitate interest in arcane Jewish sources like the Kabbalah and Hasidism. As the article suggests, eclectic worldviews like those discussed here may appear unfamiliar, but they continue intellectual and cultural trends that were discussed in the literature before.

Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to examine one of Gershom Scholem's most obscure undertakings, a proto-Dadaist and antiwar text that he published, together with a few friends, during the first year of World War One. As is shown, this project has drawn heavily from the work of one of the leading avant-garde poets, later among the founding members of the Dada movement in Zurich, Hugo Ball. Discussed side by side, the works of Gershom Scholem and Hugo Ball offer a unique view onto the anti-war sentiment and the need for experimental language in an attempt to express a disdain so profound and fundamental that words and sentences seem unable to capture.