On the second night of class, my journal entry is...

Gershom Scholem wrote that a “German-Jewish Dialogue” never existed because a dialogue requires two parties and Jews had only thought their counterparts were listening. Discuss the oppositional terms “Germans” and “Jews” used here by Scholem and by our other authors, and—employing your expertise on Jewish-German history—detail and analyze the repercussions of his argument. What are the merits of disassociating Jewish Germans from non-Jewish Germans? Do you agree with the assessment that there was no “dialogue” between the two groups, why or why not? Make sure to use the readings from the day to support your opinion and, in doing so, identify how the non/dialogue has or has not changed through the history of Jewish presence in Germany.