metatronics | spirit

metatronics | teaching | prozdor curricula |

alternative judaisms of the 20th century

Teacher's note: This semester-long class was quite successful for students in 10th-12th grade.
While some of the alternative Judaisms of the last century were familiar, many others were not, and even the
familiar ones had rarely been seen by the students as new iterations
of what it meant to be Jewish. Most importantly, by looking at how very different groups saw the meaning and content
of Jewish identity, students were invited to (a) see how that content can differ so widely and there is no one single
authoritative 'Judaism,' despite the claims some may wish to make, and (b) ask themselves what being Jewish means
to them, not in the simplistic context of vague feelings but in a sophisticated way, in light of the articulate and divergent
texts studied during the semester. The course thus served to radically expand students' horizons -- they had no idea that
being "Jewish" could mean some of what these texts showed it to mean -- and showed them that Jewish identity is not a given
but can be constructed from a wide range of options.

Bibliographical notes: "Mendes-Flohr" refers to Paul Mendes-Flohr's anthology, The Jew in the Modern World.
"Kafka" refers to The Basic Kafka (1979 ed.)
"Ackerman" refers to Walter Ackerman, Out of our People's Past: Sources for the Study of Jewish History
Many of these sources were difficult to locate; copies of the written texts are available upon request.
See the main curriculum page for more information.

1.   Introduction
       Deutscher, The Non-Jewish Jew (Mendes-Flohr 230-31)
       What is "Jewishness"? How can Jewish identity be constructed traditionally, non-traditionally, religiously, ethnically,
       culturally, politically? What is a 'Jew' in this context?

Part One : Politics

In the first decades of the twentieth centuries, Jews found themselves in
oppressive labor conditions in America, Europe, and what was to become
the Soviet Union. They organized distinctly Jewish unions and socialist
organizations, and fomented social change in larger society.

In the postwar period, a small group of New York Jews created much of what
became known as the American Left and the 20th Century neoconservative
Right. And later, another small group of Jews dominated the 60s
radical/hippie/yippie movements which forever changed American culture.
Some of these Jews saw their activism as new forms of Judaism itself;
others drew on their Jewish experience as a source of alienation from ‘the
System.’

In Israel, meanwhile, new definitions of Judaism appeared in the wake of
Zionism: revisionist Zionism, with its antagonism to the weak diaspora Jew;
and Canaanism, which emphasized the nativist connection of the
Jewish/Canaanite peoples to their land.

2.     Jewish Socialism and Labor Unions
        Edelstadt, To the Defenders of Obscurantism
        Statistics and quotes from the Bund
       Accounts of Jewish Labor Strikes in Russia (Ackerman 605-06)
       United Hebrew Trades memoir (Ackerman 652-55)
       “The Enthusiasm of Youth” (Ackerman 671-675)

3. The American Left & the American Right
Arguing the World (video)

4.   Radical Zionism & Canaanism
      Max Nordau, Zionism (Ackerman 530-533)
      Klatzkin, The Galut is Unworthy of Survival (Ackerman 535-37)
      Homeland or Holy Land (excerpts)
      Canaanite Historiography

5.   Radical Jewish Nationalism
      Betar manifesto
      The Five Principles of the Jewish Defense League & FAQ
      Stew Albert, Review of Yossi Klein Halevi Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist

6.   60s Radicals: Hoffman, Rubin, the Hippies -- and today
       excerpts from:
       Larry Sloman, Steal this Dream: A Biography of Abbie Hoffman
       Jerry Rubin, Do It! Scenarios of the Revolution
       Arthur Waskow, The Bush is Burning!
       The Utopian Dilemma
       Tikkun 1982 Founding Editorial Statement

Part two : Religion

New forms of Jewish religious expression flowered in the 20th Century. Spurred on by
encounters with Eastern culture, Jewish Renewal and Jewish Buddhism
infused new kinds of god-talk into Jewish life; the chavurah movement drew
on 60s-influenced disenchantment with conventional religious/social settings
to create new forms of Jewish community and practice; and Jewish feminism
applied the lessons of American equal-rights philosophies to Jewish tradition
and ritual.

Kabbalah and mysticism also exploded in popularity in the 20th Century. The
Chabad/Lubavitch movement, heavily influenced by mysticism and
messianism, spread previously secret doctrines to the masses and initiated
huge outreach programs. Kabbalah itself was changed by encounters with
New Age sources, quasi-scientific ideas, other mystical traditions, and the
academy.

Finally, reconstructionist Judaism subtly changed the way many Jews think
about God and nationhood, while also forming a movement of its own.

7.   The Chavurah Movement
      Strassfeld, The Jewish Catalog (excerpts)
      The Fabrengen: A Report by Robert Agus (in Waskow, Bush is Burning)

8.   Jewish Renewal/ New Age and 20th Century Kabbalah
      Jewish Renewal: A Definition in Process
      Jewish Renewal texts on Meditation and New Ritual
      Azamra text on Laban and Jacob
      Moshe Schatz, Sparks of the hidden light (p. 33-34, 41-49)

9.   Chabad (and 20th Century Kabbalah continued)
       1975 Account of Chabad in Los Angeles
       Chabad.org text, All about Moshiach

10. Reconstructionism
Mordechai Kaplan, Questions Jews Ask/Reconstructionist Answers (pp. xi-xiii, 12-17,19, 90, 99-105,456-58)
Reconstructionist liturgy

11. “BuJus”: ‘Jewish’ Buddhism
Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew and the Lotus (chapter 12)
Judith Linzer, Torah and Dharma (pp. xvi, 193-97, 72-75, 86-87)

12. Jewish Feminism
       Tikkun Roundtable on Feminist Spirituality
       Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai (excerpts)
       Feminist liturgy

Part Three : Culture

For many 20th Century Jews, Jewishness was primarily about culture. Even
if religion and Jewish political engagement mattered little, “cultural Judaism”
meant quite a bit, with diverse results. Jewish themes animated mainstream
and marginal cultural production, and led to entirely new definitions of what
it means to ‘be a Jew’ in the 20th, and now 21st, century.

13. How the Jews invented Hollywood
Hollywoodism (video)

14. Cultural Judaism I: Music and Art
       Allen Ginsberg, Kaddish (excerpt and sound recording)
       Franz Kafka, Paradise; Tower of Babel; Coming of Messiah (Kafka 168-71, 182)
       Yaacov Gabriel, Sounds of Renewal
       John Zorn and Masada, Bar Kochba (audio)

15. Cultural Judaism II: Identity
       Lisa Schiffman, Generation J, p. 1-3, 11-13
       Franz Kafka, Letter to my Father (excerpt) (Kafka 215-19)
       Monthly Program Schedule from Makor