The Life and Thought of Zeev Jawitz: To Cultivate a Hebrew Culture

(Hardback)

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Zeev Jawitz (1847-1924) was one of the foremost intellectuals of the First Aliyah and a leader of the religious faction within the Hibbat Zion movement. During his life he experienced the transition from living in the Diaspora to settling in the homeland, and he faced complex problems along with rare opportunities.

Jawitz sought to adapt Orthodox Judaism to the changing reality in the Land of Israel by blending it with the nascent Jewish nationalism. He engaged in most facets of the Hebrew culture of his time, including history, literature, philosophy, biblical exegesis, linguistics, opinion writing, and even politics. He did all this out of an understanding that a people returning to its land needs a broad culture and cannot remain confined to the limits of halakha (Jewish law).

This biography is based on rich archival material, most of which has never before been published. It moves along two axes: historically, it follows Jawitzs life through the places where he lived Warsaw, Yehud, Zikhron Yaakov, Jerusalem, Vilna, Berlin, Antwerp and London; and intellectually, it analyzes Jawitzs literary and philosophical work against the backdrop of his time.

Reviews

Zeev Jawitz belongs to the pantheon of Jewish historians of the last century and has deserved an academic biography worthy of his stature. But as his approach to the organic development of Hebrew culture was too Orthodox for the non-religious; and the Orthodox considered his educational positions too innovative, it had to wait for a scholar working at the interstices of modern Judaisms developments, who also had cosmopolitan interests. Asaf Yedidya, having established an international reputation in the fields of Orthodoxy and Wissenschaft and religious Zionism, is such a scholar. He has produced the long-awaited archive-based, comprehensive study, which follows Jawitzs ideology-centered life-serving as a crucible for Orthodox-Zionist intellectual currents of his day.

-- Gershon Greenberg, American University

A wonderful and timely tribute to one of the neglected and controversial historians who was popular and influential in early 20^th Century, especially among the Zionist Orthodox. Dr. Asaf Yedidya should be thanked for bringing Ze`ev Jawitz back into the complex and fascinating story of modern Jewish Historiography.

-- Shmuel Feiner, Bar Ilan University

The values of modernity challenged Jews across Europe. This deeply researched and deeply sympathetic biography of a singular Orthodox Eastern European intellectual and one of the founders of the Mizrachi Faction within the early Zionist movement is a fascinating contribution to understanding the multiple forms this wrenching transformation took.

-- Ismar Schorsch, Jewish Theological Seminary

Author Bio

Asaf Yedidya is senior lecturer in Jewish history at Ariel University and Efrata College.