Association for Culture and Science of the Jews
The Association for Culture and Science of the Jews was an association for the scientific-historical research of Judaism with emancipatory concerns.
history
The association was founded on November 7, 1819 in the wake of the Hep-Hep riots, initially under the name “Association for the Improvement of the Condition of Jews in the German Federal State” and brought together young, acculturated Jews who were all looking for a Jewish identity were worth defending outwardly. The founding members were Joseph Hilmar, Joel Abraham List, Isaac Levin Auerbach, Isaac Marcus Jost , Leopold Zunz , the Hegel student Eduard Gans and Moses Moser , who was elected chairman . The influence of anti-Semitism on identity formation became particularly visible during this time. The desire for complete emancipation aroused hostility, which was incited by harsh anti-Semitic polemics from intellectuals and academics. But the members of the "Association for Culture and Science of the Jews" were also academically educated and looked in historical studies for the quintessence of Judaism with which they could identify.
task
Their stated aim was the critical scientific research into Judaism. So its first manifestation was the science of Judaism . It postulated the Jews as a national identity with a secularized culture that only referred to religion as an outdated tradition. Studying at German universities brought them into contact with historical criticism, romanticism and philosophical idealism. Quite a few of their Jewish contemporaries considered these new ideals to be incompatible with Judaism, converted to Christianity or neglected their religion. The Berlin cultural association, on the other hand, tried to connect it with Judaism and thus initiate a reflection on the essence of Judaism and its place in the intellectual context of Europe. Judaism should be saved from further erosion by proving that it was also a historical phenomenon and part of general culture.
Other members of the association, which dissolved again in 1824, included Michael Beer , David Julius Heilbronn , Lazarus Bendavid , Joseph Johlson , Isaak Mannheimer , Jakob Pinhas , Israel Jacobson , Gotthold Salomon and Heinrich Heine . The association had a great influence on German Jews and their identification with German culture.
literature
- Kerstin von der Krone: Association for Culture and Science of the Jews. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 6: Ta-Z. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02506-7 , pp. 256-259.
- Norbert Waszek: «Hegel, Mendelssohn, Spinoza - Contributions of Philosophy to the Science of Judaism. Eduard Gans and the philosophical options of the 'Association for Culture and Science of the Jews' », in: Menora. Yearbook for German-Jewish History . 10 (1999), pp. 187-215
Web links
- The association's archive, which is part of the Leopold Zunz archive of the National and University Library Jerusalem, has been completely digitized and cataloged: www.jewish-archives.org
- The journal for the science of Judaism published by the association is completely available at www.compactmemory.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 828.
- ^ Certificate of incorporation at www.jewish-archives.org .