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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 6, 2020 at 3:52:53 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Judaic]: Gurevich on Inbari, 'The Making of Modern > Jewish Identity: Ideological Change and Religious Conversion' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Motti Inbari. The Making of Modern Jewish Identity: Ideological > Change and Religious Conversion. London Routledge, 2019. 182 pp. > $140.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-367-13595-9. > > Reviewed by Eva Gurevich (Brandeis University) > Published on H-Judaic (January, 2020) > Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz > > Motti Inbari's new book examines the process of conversion, both > religious and political, as a central defining theme in the making of > the Jewish identity. _The Making of Modern Jewish Identity: > Ideological Change and Religious Conversion _builds on Inbari's > expertise in religious studies and political history. Inbari is a > leading scholar in the field of Jewish fundamentalism and serves as > the associate professor of religion at the University of North > Carolina at Pembroke. He has written on a wide range of modern Jewish > experiences, spanning from ultra-Orthodox to Jewish messianic > movements. > > Inbari presents six case studies of individuals who underwent drastic > ideological change or religious conversions. His subjects are > fascinating mavericks in thought and character, who have been largely > overlooked in Jewish historical scholarship: novelist Arthur > Koestler, editor and columnist Norman Podhoretz, Rabbi Yissachar > Shlomo Teichtel, businesswoman Ruth Ben-David, jurist Haim Herman > Cohn, and politician Avraham Burg. Despite their vast differences, > these historical actors all went through a process of radical > transformation, shifting between Zionism and anti-Zionism, or between > Orthodoxy and secularism. According to Inbari, these two types of > conversion are confluent: "I realized that political change and > religious transformations as in the process of conversion are > actually very similar" (p. 9). All six were chosen as people who held > leadership positions and were influential in shaping the political, > theological, or judicial conceptions of the Jewish identity, albeit > within Inbari's parameters that measure Jewishness in its > relationship to nationalism or religion. > > The first two chapters tell the stories of secular men who radically > changed their political beliefs over the course of their life: the > novelist Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) and Norman Podhoretz (b. 1930), > the longtime editor-in-chief of _Commentary _magazine. Although for > Koestler communism had been akin to a religious faith in his early > years, Inbari notes that "Koestler was a 'serial converter,' and > communism was only one of his conversions" (p. 39). In fact, Koestler > went on to embrace and then reject Zionism, and in his later years, > he was a devoted believer in parapsychology. Norman Podhoretz's > ideological conversion was more permanent than that of Koestler. > Initially a member of the New York intellectuals, a group of > Trotskyist thinkers, Podhoretz opposed the rise of the New Left in > the 1960s because he felt it was turning against Jewish interests, as > he defined them. Podhoretz completely severed his ties to the Left in > 1970 and was one of the founding members of neoconservatism. Inbari > describes the circumstances that led both men to shift their > political allegiances: for Koestler, a disillusionment with Stalinism > led to a cognitive dissonance, followed by his "deconversion" from > communism; for Podhoretz, a reconsideration of the position of Jews > in America led him on the path of neoconservatism. In Inbari's words, > "Since Koestler abandoned all the anchors of his identity, he might > be viewed as a 'sick soul'; Podhoretz was able to find meaning and > thus became a 'twice born'" (p. 64). While Podhoretz's conversion was > deemed meaningful because he was invested in his Jewish identity, > Koestler's conversion does not lead him to embrace his Jewishness, > and thus he stays unhealed in Inbari's analysis. > > The book's third chapter focuses on Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtel > (1885-1945), an anti-Zionist rabbi who came to embrace Zionism in the > 1940s after the trauma of the Holocaust. Originally a follower of > Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira of Munkácz and a member of the virulently > anti-Zionist Hungarian Orthodoxy, Rabbi Teichtel came to reexamine > his position. He blamed the Hungarian leadership of forsaking the > Jewish people by discouraging emigration to Palestine. His book _Em > habanim semekhah_, published in 1943, justified Zionism from a > theological perspective. As Inbari points out, "since the 1980s, the > book has been a central feature of the Religious Zionist curriculum > in Israel" (p. 67). As a result of the suffering he experienced > during the Holocaust, Rabbi Teichtel no longer viewed Zionism as a > false redemption, but a salvation out of the miseries of exile. > > The most intriguing figure--and the only woman in the book--appears > in the fourth chapter. Ruth Ben-David (1920-2000) became famous for > her role as the child-kidnapper in the Yossele Schumacher affair in > the 1960s. Born in 1920 as Madeleine Lucette Ferraille, she fought > for the French Resistance during the Second World War and converted > to ultra-Orthodox Judaism in 1952. In order to gain full acceptance > into Neturei Karta--an insular, ultra-Orthodox, and anti-Zionist > community--she helped kidnap the little Yossele Schumacher from his > Zionist parents living in Israel, hiding the boy in ultra-Orthodox > communities around the world away from the hands of the secular > Jewish state. Inbari argues that Ben-David's conversion to > ultra-Orthodoxy was driven by her traumatic childhood with a violent > father. > > Finally, the last two chapters analyze the religious defection of two > men who were brought up Orthodox but left the religious fold and yet > continued to explore the possible connections between religion and > the state of Israel: the jurist Haim Herman Cohn (1911-2002) and > politician Avraham (Avrum) Burg (b. 1955). The former grew up in a > German Orthodox family but underwent a "deconversion," which led him > to define himself as agnostic and to reject a Halakhic (legal) or > racial definition of Jewish identity. For Inbari, Cohn serves as a > model of secular religion, as a person who was secular and yet worked > to bolster the Jewish identity of the state, including advocating for > drawing on Halakhic principles in Israeli jurisprudence: "The paradox > epitomizes a figure who remained loyal to Jewish identity while > undergoing radical changes" (p. 132). For Inbari, Cohn is celebrated > as the figure who could synthesize Jewish identity and modernity. > Similarly to Cohn, Avraham Burg grew up in an Orthodox home, defected > to agnosticism, and embraced the idea of religious pluralism. Burg's > father was the founder of the National Religious Party that worked to > implement selected Jewish religious practices in the Israeli public > sphere, such as a rabbinical regulation over personal status. Burg > came to reexamine the ideas of his upbringing and advocated for a > separation of religion and state. Nonetheless, Burg was committed to > an alternative model of Jewish identity for Israel. Inbari writes, > "[Burg] sees in American Judaism the right model for Israel" (p. > 150). Inbari reports that Burg's shifts in religious and political > worldviews were shaped by his traumatic experience in the yeshivah > (religious high school) and by professional disappointments in the > political arena. > > Throughout the book, Inbari applies several theories borrowed from > religious studies and psychology to explain the religious and > political transformations that these six figures underwent. Inbari > tries to explain what motivates conversion using three theories: > William James's concept of the "sick soul" that needs to transform > his or her identity in order to heal and reach happiness; Chana > Ullman's _The Transformed Self: The Psychology of Religious > Conversion_ (1989) to explain how a religious quest can be sparked by > emotional distress; and the social psychology theory of "failed > prophecy" as a form of cognitive dissonance, which Inbari interprets > as a form of intellectual distress that motives a person's > ideological or religious change. Inbari also uses Armand Mauss's > theory of "religious defection" and a recent concept of > "deconversion" to explain the overall process of leaving a particular > ideology or religious affiliation. Although Inbari does not > synthesize these theories or offer a new perspective on conversion, > he does ascertain that religious and political changes are highly > individual and are rooted in a person's character and personal > experiences. Inbari insightfully notes that once these figures > converted, they "saw themselves as leaders who paved ways for others > to follow" (p. 155). Inbari is suggesting that conversions are an > important element in the making of the modern Jewish identity: > modernity has allowed individuals the very freedom to navigate their > political and religious affiliations and to reimagine the various > possibilities of Jewish identity. > > Inbari analyzes these six conversions with varying success. The > description of Rabbi Teichtel's ideological development is Inbari's > most compelling of his case studies: the rabbi held a foundational > set of beliefs in the immanent redemption of the Jews, and his change > was manifested in the redefinition of Zionism as a possible agent of > redemption. By contrast, his explanation of Koestler's and Cohn's > ideological and religious journeys is less convincing. Inbari relies > on the theory of "deconversion," drawn from the field of religious > studies, to describe the novelist's shift from communism, and Cohn's > distancing from Orthodox Judaism. The concept of "deconversion" is > particularly problematic because it obscures the nature of > secularism: as several scholars have suggested in recent decades, the > secular is not a "neutral" position but rather an all-encompassing > worldview with its own ontology and epistemology.[1] > > Finally, _The Making of Modern Jewish Identity: Ideological Change > and Religious Conversion _would have benefited from incorporating a > greater range of Jewish experiences, such as non-Ashkenazi, queer, or > women's narratives. Unfortunately, not only is Ben-David the book's > only female protagonist, but Inbari analyzes her motivations in > relationship to the desires of the men around her instead of taking > her own account seriously. Despites these critiques, the book offers > interesting glimpses into the relationship between the psychological, > religious, and political biographies of noteworthy Jewish figures. > Inbari's invitation to consider the experience of conversion, be it > political or theological, as an important themewithin the modern > Jewish experience is a welcome one, and one can only hope that > scholars will further pursue this line of inquiry that promises to > challenge common assumptions. > > Note > > [1]. Talal Asad, _Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, > Modernity_ (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003), 21, 191. > > _Eva Gurevich is a doctoral candidate at the Near Eastern and Judaic > Studies Department at Brandeis University _ > > Citation: Eva Gurevich. Review of Inbari, Motti, _The Making of > Modern Jewish Identity: Ideological Change and Religious Conversion_. > H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. January, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54269 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
