Russian Ideational Roots of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature

This book demonstrates how the Russian thought and literature of the 18th – 19th centuries influenced Jewish thought and Hebrew literature. Absorption of ideological influences is a universal phenomenon that is instrumental to progress and cultural development, and it is accepted in Jewish culture as well.

This book demonstrates how the Russian thought and literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries influenced Jewish thought and Hebrew literature. Through a comparative analysis of an extensive corpus of writings by renowned Russian and Jewish thinkers, the book reveals how ideas regarding the need for a national awakening penetrated from Russian to Jewish thought. The Jewish thinkers who embraced these notions adapted them to the reality and experience of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe. Likewise, portrayals of an individual’s quest for the authentic and just God in Russian literary works gained purchase in ideological Hebrew literature, where the hero searches for a true path to achieve spiritual, social, and national well-being for the Jewish people. Absorption of ideological influences is a universal phenomenon that is instrumental to progress and cultural development, and it is accepted in Jewish culture as well.

Introduction: Russian Ideational Roots of the Jewish Enlightenment and Hebrew Literature

Part One: Russian Roots of the National Ideas of the Jewish Enlightenment and Zionist Movements in the Russian Empire: Y. L. Gordon, Peretz Smolenskin, Y. L. Pinsker, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

Chapter 1: Roots of the National Ideas of the Haskalah in the Russian Empire

1.1. Introduction

1.2. Awakening of National Movements in Eastern Europe and in the Russian Empire

1.3. National Ideas in the Wake of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and in Russia

1.4. “Lovers of Wisdom” (Lyubomudry) Movement in Russia

1.5. The Slavophile Movement, the Russian “Soul,” and A. A. Khomiakov

1.6. The Slavophiles, Peter the Great, and the Russian Orthodox Church

1.7. The Intellectual Circles of A. N. Ostrovsky and A. A. Grigoryev

1.8. The Russian “Soil” Movement

1.9. The Nationalistic Movements of Poles and Other Ethnic Minorities

1.10. Summary

Chapter 2: The Development of Jewish Nationalist Consciousness as Reflected in Scholarly Literature 

2.1. European Nationalist Tendencies as the Background of Jewish National Awakening: Peretz Smolenskin, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Y. L. Pinsker

2.2. Jews as Seen by the Slavophiles 

2.3. Alienation between the Russians and the Jews after the Pogroms of the 1880s

Chapter 3: A Comparison of the Views of Y. L. Gordon and Russian Thinkers 

3.1. Y. L. Gordon as a Leading Figure of the Haskalah and His National Views 

3.2. “A Flask of Feuilletons,” by Y. L. Gordon

3.3. The Jewish National Question in Y. L. Gordon’s View

3.4. Parallels between the National Ideas of the Haskalah and Those of the Nationalist Movements in Russia

3.5. The Uniqueness of the Russian People and of the Jewish People: Parallel Concepts

3.6. The Soul of the Nation Is Concealed and Unknowable to Foreigners

3.7. National Pride that Our People Feel due to Their Spiritual Power and Moral Strength

3.8. Foreigners—a Factor Causing Lack of Understanding between Peoples

3.9. Other Nations’ Lack of Understanding towards Us Leads, in the Final Analysis, to Animosity

3.10. The Role of the Russians and of the Jews in Creating Negative Images in the Eyes of Foreign Nations

3.11. The Blind Wish to Imitate Everything Foreign, Both in Russian Society and among the Jewish Public 

3.12. The Need to Preserve the Authentic National Language and to Develop It as a Basic Component of Nationalism 

3.13. The Disaster of the Tower of Babel Confronts Every Nation that Foregoes the Preserving of Its Original National Language

3.14. The Need to Adopt the Accomplishments and Wisdom of Other Nations for the Benefit of Our People and to Advance Our National Goals

3.15. “Our People Is Unable to Close the Gaps as Quickly as We Hoped” 

3.16. Seeking the Proper Balance between the National and the Universal Dimension

3.17. Criticism of the Conservative Elements within Our People Who Are Not Prepared to Progress Towards the Enlightened Europe 

3.18. Summary

Chapter 4: A Comparison between the National Views of Y. L. Pinsker and Those of Petr Chaadayev, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Vyacheslav Ivanov 

4.1. L. S. Pinsker and His National Aspirations

4.2. The Geographical Factor as the Most Important Factor in the Development of Every Nation

4.3. The Degradation of Every People without a Clear National Agenda in the Eyes of Other Peoples 

4.4. Lack of Solid Cultural Basis Related to the Lack of a National Agenda 

4.5. Place of a Nation among Other Nations

4.6. The Recognition of a Nation among Other Nations

4.7. The Weakness of National Consciousness in Different Peoples

4.8. A Nation’s Lack of Self-Respect 

4.9. False Expectations of a Miracle: Passivity, Nonintervention in Politics, and Subjection to the Influence of Others 

4.10. Nikolai Berdyaev about the National Rights of the Russians and the Jews 

4.11. Ways of National Revival 

4.12. Conclusion: the Worldview of Chaadayev, Khomiakov, and the Slavophiles versus That of Pinsker

Part Two: Russian Ideational Influences as Expressed in Hebrew Literary Works

Chapter 5: The Russian Theological Novel and Its Ideological Incarnation in Hebrew Literature

5.1. The Primary Genres of the Novel in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Russian Literature

5.2. The Theological Novel in Russian Literature of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 

5.3. The Theological Novel in Comparison to the Ideological Novel in Hebrew Literature

5.4. The Theological Novella in Hebrew Literature: Chayyim Hazaz’s Shemuel Frankfurter

5.5. The Ideological Elements in Hebrew Prose of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 

5.6. The Tendency to Replace Theological Motifs with Ideological Motifs in Hebrew Poetry 

5.7. The Ideological Novel in Russian and Hebrew Literatures during the First Half of the Twentieth Century

5.7. Summary

Chapter 6: The Epic Poem Songs of Glory, by Naphtali Herz Wessely

Introduction: Unintended Parody Effect Produced by Mixture of Literary Depictions Combined with Religious Pathos

6.1. Generic Aspects of Songs of Glory 

6.2. Violation of the Generic Rules in Songs of Glory

6.3. The Plot in Epic and in Songs of Glory 

6.4. Depiction of the Protagonist in the Epic and in Songs of Glory 

6.5. The Figure of the Author and the Presentation of Chronological Order in the Epic and in Songs of Glory 

6.6. Epic and Dramatization 

6.7. The Representation of Time in Epic 

6.8. Epic and Songs of Glory: Between Pathos and Parody

6.9. Summary

Bibliography

Index