German-Philia

While I would agree that Deutsches Kultur ist über alles, and therefore have no problem with Jews championing it*, but not over everything to the extent that everything else is garbage. Or, for that matter (and to an extreme), that it results in internalized anti-Semitism. Gilad Atzmon and his novel are merely a contemporary example of this pattern which was set by Moses Mendelssohn, whose antagonism towards Yiddish was mimed by none other than Richard Wagner. Not everyone can be as level-headed as Heine or Lewisohn?

I have not considered an equivalency in Jewish English-language literature. Mark Twain, the Judeo-phile, criticized Bret Harte for it, I guess. Englander, among others, claims to not be a Jewish writer, lulz.


*There was that weird moment in German class where my professor said I had a "great German name." Like, yeah, I know. Too bad bitches had to escape, right? Some other kid's last name was "Jaeger." No joke.

History in my Literature?

On page 229 of the NYRB edition of Der Nister's Di Misphoke Mashber, history intercedes, and readers are introduced to concrete, historic signifiers. We are left wondering: did history invade a magical world, or was the magical inserting itself into history? That is what literature is.

Oh, David Malouf! I would your parenthesis were wholly, incontrovertibly Truth!

So is "N" actually Berdichev, as your punctuation emphatically suggests? Is it? Really? We don't know. And that is what literature is.

Pilsudski

90 years ago today, Jewish fighters assisted the Polish army in defending Warsaw against the invading Reds. Jozef Pilsudski was instrumental in granting Jews more rights, and they joined the army as a sign of Polish allegiance, but also as Jews who wanted vengeance on Cossacks.

Wiki's page on the battle in 1920.

Zionism as Secular Messianism

Is sort of how the ultra-frummies see it, and I sort of agree.

"Yet Heilman and Friedman also argue that Lubavitch was in competition with Zionism, which it saw as a "false Messiah [that] was going to steal the faith of the Jews that Lubavitchers had been worrking so hard to arouse.'"

In America, there is such a big fucking deal (is this an acronym yet?) made by the Orthodox (and even the Conservatives) about what their "less religious" kin do with their lives. But do they care what Israelis do? I appreciate the fluidity of Jewish religiousness in America, yet Israel in contrast seems to possess a strongly demarcated binary.

Why is Reform more odious than atheism/secularism? And why is Judaism the only religion that missionizes or proselytizes to its own people?

Rosenzweig Rules

And is now the major influence behind how I read fiction and my potential master's thesis.

Straight Edge

One of my friends once told me how he had never taken a sip of alcohol, coffee (!) or puffed a cigarette or taken any other drug. While I respect his resolve and will, I don't think this is a form of moderation as much as it's just hardcore asceticism.

Some people are surprised to learn that ultra-ortho Jews can do almost all of these things, are even commanded to do so, because one's body should not be ignored. Is Straight Edge, or possibly other ascetic doctrines like Jainism, just an immoderate level of moderation? They are the opposite of too much: they are not enough.

Malamud's The Fixer

Just started it (it rules) and am already noticing ties to Aleichem's Tevye; namely, how is one a Jew when his or her profession is not ''Jewish"? Tevye is a farmer, and Yakov a repairman--they aren't Talmudists!

We shall default to Mordecai Kaplan's inclusive and proto-postmodern rubric: all Jews service Jewish civilization just by being and doing. Yakov and Tevye are notably aware of their vocations and roles in life, and, more simply, their identities as Jews. Sounds good enough to me!