Shaye J.D. Cohen, “Gentiles and Jewish Studies,” Jewish Studies Quarterly 3 (1996): 185-192 (original) (raw)

Eli Reich The Return of Liberal Rabbinic Education to Berlin20200527 75466 1fa1t13

In Berlin two rabbinical seminaries, a Reform and a Conservative, have recently been established. The historical and intellectual roots of these institutions in the nineteenth century is sketched, and then contrasted with the present curriculum and the religious profile of the students. Some theological questions for the future of these projects conclude the article.

Translator's Note, German Jews and the University

German Jews and the University, 1678–1848, 2022

My real university was Auschwitz.-Joseph Wulf M onika richarz requireS little introduction. She is one of the most important historiographers of German-Jewish history, and a recognized authority on Jewish social life in Germany before the Holocaust. Her three-volume work Jüdisches Leben in Deutschland: Selbstzeugnisse zur Sozialgeschichte, 1 based on materials collected from the archives of the Leo Baeck Institute New York, during her time as a researcher there, is a standard reference work familiar to all students of the field. But it is her pioneering role in advancing the debate on German anti-Semitism that will particularly stand out in memory. As Christhard Hoffmann notes in his review of German-Jewish historiography, following the revelations about the extent of German involvement in the Holocaust in the early years of the Federal Republic (the Ulm trial in 1958, the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial from 1963 to 1965), it was not the "historical establishment," but "individuals from the generation of assistants and students, such as Werner Jochmann, Reinhard Rürup, Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, Monika Richarz and Arno Herzig, who followed these impulses and addressed questions of Jewish history and especially antisemitism." 2 But despite Richarz's international prominence, a significant part of her work, her doctoral dissertation, has not received the attention it deserves outside of Germany. The dissertation was originally published in 1973 by the Leo Baeck Institute, London, with the title Der Eintritt der Juden in die akademischen Berufe: Jüdische Studenten und Akademiker

"The Impact of the Academic Context on the Teaching of Judaism at European Universities".

presented at the conference, "Children of Abraham: Jewish and Islamic Studies in an Academic Setting", University of Uppsala, Sweden, 23-24 April 2019.

Judaism in its wider meaning, encompassing the history, literature, religion, and culture of Jews from ancient to modern times, is taught in a variety of disciplinary contexts at European universities nowadays. While departments that are dedicated to Jewish Studies as a separate discipline are still rare and found in a few major cities only, particular aspects of Judaism are taught in courses offered by departments of Theology and Study of Religions. Although a more comprehensive study of the Jewish experience and cultural expression is possible in dedicated Jewish Studies programs only, courses on Judaism that are part of Theology and Study of Religions are beneficial for the students of those disciplines, who might otherwise not be able to acquire knowledge about Judaism at the origins of Christianity and as one of the so-called Abrahamic religions. The disciplinary context determines the subject matter taught and the subject matter corresponds to and supplements other subjects within that discipline. A conflict of interest may occur if the discipline's ideological basis conflicts with scientific approaches to Jews and Judaism. 1. Judaism in the Context of Christian Theology Until the 1960s, when separate Institutes for Jewish Studies (Institut für Judaistik) were established the Christian Bible was possible only on the basis of knowledge in ancient Judaism. Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890) had founded the first Institutum Judaicum in Leipzig in 1886. During the Nazi period the academic study of Judaism was prohibited. In 1948 a new institute was established in Münster. Nowadays the connection with Delitzsch is considered problematic, since Delitzsch was involved in missionary activity among Jews. His interest in the study of Judaism was therefore not purely academic but ideological, guided by the belief in Christianity's superiority over Judaism. 1 The embeddedness of the study of Judaism within Protestant Theology faculties has wideranging consequences as far as Germany is concerned. Like all professors at Theology faculties, a professor of Jewish Studies at an Institutum Judaicum must be a member of the Protestant Church and approved by the church on the basis of his or her affiliation with Christianity (the so-called

A Vision Come True - Abraham Geiger and the Training of Rabbis and Cantors for Europe

Being Jewish in 21st-Century Germany, 2015

More than twenty years ago, Louis Jacobs (1920–2006) stated in a landmark article entitled Jewish Theology Today that, regrettably, “ there is no department of Jewish theology, as there is of Christian, at any university.” The opening of the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam (Germany) on November 19, 2013, has rendered this statement invalid. Earlier that year, the Union of Pro-gressive Jews in Germany and Masorti Germany (associated with the Conservative stream of Judaism) signed a contract with the University of Potsdam to establish the school as a fully-fledged department of Jewish theology. Backed by the Federal State of Brandenburg, the University of Potsdam offers undergraduate programs as well as Master-level programs in Jewish theology which can lead to ordination by the liberal Abraham Geiger College or the conservative Zacharias Frankel College. What appears to be a mere bureaucratic act is, in fact, a historic milestone in the development of European rabbinical training. Similar to the theological options open to pastors, imams, and priests, Jewish theology will finally become a regular academic subject in Germany, thus eligible to receive financial support from the state.