Sunday, April 4, 2010
On the power of telling a story in a particular way...
One more thought on this beginning: why the hard sell on the rough conditions of German Judaism and Jews before Mendelssohn's arrival in Berlin? Think about the dichotomies Elon sets up pre- and post-Mendelssohn: intolerance vs. tolerance, introverted Judaism vs. extroverted Jews, poor & spiritually malnourishment vs. secularity, Prussian barbarism vs. German universalism, court Jews vs. free market democratic capitalists, halakhic insularity vs. Deistic cosmopolitanism. What kind/s of Jews does Elon seem to most value in such binaries? (One can decipher an answer by way of the traits and characteristics he praises or demeans.) In other words, what's up with the spin? (And, here's the kicker--how much does his content play into your own assumptions about German Jewish history?)
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ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that Elon makes a common assumption in Western texts: European history prior to the Enlightenment is boring and unimportant. Such an idea is behind the characterization of the medieval period as the Dark Ages. However, the mere act of creating a 'medieval period' reflects certain prejudices. There are few historical "periods' that comprise more than a millennium, but historians, at times, appear determined to skip over the medieval era as a blemish upon the historical record. Such a characterization inevitably colors the behaviors contained within it, including religious, political, and social practices.
ReplyDeleteAs a modern Western thinker, devoted to the freedom promised by rationality, I am not immune to such characterizations.