Paul R. Mendes-Flohr

"When the German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig entitled his 1926 collection of essays on Jewish and universal cultural topics Zweistromland, "a land of two rivers," he meant to underscore, indeed celebrate, the fact that German-Jewish culture is nurtured by both German culture and the Jewish religious and cultural heritage. In this thought-provoking book, Paul Mendes-Flohr explores through the prism of Rosenzweig's image how German Jews have understood and contended with their twofold spiritual patrimony. He deepens the discussion to consider also how the German-Jewish experience bears upon the general modern experience of living with multiple cultural identities."--BOOK JACKET. "German Jews assimilated the cultural values of Germany but were not themselves assimilated into German society, Mendes-Flohr contends. Yet, by virtue of their adoption of values sponsored by enlightened German discourse, they were no longer unambiguously Jewish. The author discusses how their identity and cultural loyalty became fractured and how German Jews - like other Jews and indeed like all denizens of the modern world - were obliged to confront the challenges of living with plural identities and cultural affiliations."--BOOK JACKET.

Divided passions is a collection of essays in which Paul Mendes-Flohr writes about the problems that Buber, Rosenzweig, Bloch, Simon, Scholem, and others Jewish intellectuals tried to Crystallize and resolve.

Paul Mendes-Flohr illuminates Martin Buber’s central themes in a wholly different light from that of the predominant line of interpretation. Consequently, Buber’s work assumes even greater importance than previous analyses have assigned. Emerging from the narrowly conceptualized existentialist interpretations, he becomes an intellectually powerful figure, occupying a formidable position within the contemporary setting of German social theory. A publication in the Culture of Jewish Modernity series.

"Since the Enlightenment period, German-Jewish intellectuals have been prominent voices in the multi-facetted discourse on the reinterpretation of Jewish tradition in light of modern thinking. Paul Mendes-Flohr, one of the towering figures of current scholarship on German-Jewish intellectual history, has made invaluable contributions to a better understanding of the religious, cultural and political dimensions of these thinkers' encounter with German and European culture, including the tension between their loyalty to Judaism and the often competing claims of non-Jewish society and culture. This volume assembles essays by internationally acknowledged scholars in the field who intend to honor Mendes-Flohr's work by portraying the abundance of religious, philosophical, aesthetical and political aspects dominating the thinking of those famous thinkers populating German Jewry's rich and complex intellectual world in the modern period. It also provides a fresh theoretical outlook on trends in Jewish intellectual history, raising new questions concerning the dialectics of assimilation. In addition to that, the volume sheds light on thinkers and debates that hitherto have not been accorded full scholarly attention."--Publisher's website.

Synopsis: The last two centuries have witnessed a radical transformation of Jewish life. Marked by such profound events as the emancipation from the ghettoes of Europe, the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, Judaism's long journey through the modern age has been a complex and tumultuous one, leading many Jews to ask themselves not only where they have been and where they are going, but what it means to be a Jew in today's world. Tracing the dramatic changes in Jewish religion, culture, and identity from the seventeenth century to the present, The Jew in the Modern World, Third Edition, remains the most complete sourcebook on modern Jewish history available. Now thoroughly expanded and updated, this critically acclaimed volume of primary materials features previously unpublished and inaccessible sources concerning the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; women in Jewish history; American Jewish life; the Holocaust; and Zionism and the nascent Jewish community in Palestine on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel. The documents are arranged chronologically in each chapter and are meticulously and extensively annotated and cross-referenced. Providing useful tables detailing Jewish demographic trends, this unique text is ideal for courses in modern Jewish history, Zionism and Israel, the Holocaust, or modern European history. New to this Edition: Over 100 new documents address important issues to understanding modern Jewish history, including the status of women, and debates between traditional and secular Jews and the role of Zionism in modern Jewish life; Two entirely new chapters-Chapter 8, "Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewry," and Chapter 12, "Jewish Identity Challenged and Redefined"--Enhance the book's scope and chronology; Four new maps show the concentration of Jews throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. The Appendix has been completely updated with the latest population figures.

Gustav Landauer, intellettuale ebreo-tedesco attivo nel movimento socialista e anarchico tra Ottocento e Novecento, quindi Ministro della cultura durante la Repubblica dei consigli di Baviera (1919), è oggi al centro di un rinnovato interesse. In Germania sono in corso di pubblicazione alcuni volumi di Scritti scelti, mentre in Francia, negli Stati Uniti e in Gran Bretagna vengono tradotte o riproposte non solo le opere principali (La rivoluzione, 1907, e Appello al socialismo, 1911), ma molti altri saggi e articoli giornalistici sugli aspetti più significativi della cultura letteraria, filosofica, religiosa, e ancora sull'arte e la musica. Una produzione vastissima, di cui mancava una Bibliografia definitiva. Il presente volume punta a colmare questa lacuna. Ne deriva un lavoro del tutto nuovo, con una rigorosa impostazione sistematica, e fruibile grazie ai diversi indici a disposizione e alle migliaia di riferimenti incrociati, che consentono di individuare le diverse opere nella versione originale, nelle raccolte, nelle ristampe o nelle traduzioni in altre lingue. ([Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura](

This volume of essays takes as its point of departure Martin Buber`s principle of dialogue, which he applied as a comprehensive hermeneutic method for the study of various cultural phenomena. The volume critically evaluates the methodological purchase to be gained by the introduction of Buber`s conception of dialogue in political theory, psychology and psychiatry, and religious studies.

Available for the first time in paperback, Ecstatic Confessions is Martin Buber's unique, personal gathering of the testimonies of mystics throughout the centuries expressing their encounters with the divine. It features the author's seminal introduction to mysticism, "Ecstasy and Confession," which probes the nature of what Buber terms the "most inward of all experiences.... God's highest gift.". Buber sifted through texts from oriental, pagan, Gnostic, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim sources down the centuries to cull those moving records that manage to convey some quality of an experience that is essentially beyond the power of words to capture. Ecstatic Confessions orchestrates these reports from the edge of human experience into a revealing look at the nature of the ecstatic experience itself and the tension arising from the mystic's compelling need to give witness to an event that can never truly be verbalized.