Insiders and outsiders : dilemmas of East European Jewry

Bibliographic Information

Insiders and outsiders : dilemmas of East European Jewry

edited by Richard I. Cohen, Jonathan Frankel and Stefani Hoffman

(The Littman library of Jewish civilization)

The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010

  • : [pbk]

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents of Works

  • pt. 1. Insider/outsider: the cultural conundrum
  • pt. 2. Acculturation, assimilation, and identity
  • pt. 3. Inclusion/exclusion: society and politics
  • pt. 4. Two cities and tales of belonging

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Insiders and Outsiders: Dilemmas of East European Jewry examines problems of Jewish cultural and political orientations, associations, and self-identification within a broad framework. The contributors approach the predicament of east European Jews in various settings: some focus primarily on the Jews' inner development and outlook, while others discuss how elements of the majority society viewed their presence. Scholars of history, art history, and literature display originality and insight in illuminating the nuances and intricacies of the Jewish 'outsider'. Following an overview by the distinguished intellectual historian of German Jewry Steven Aschheim, who offers some comprehensive thoughts on the insider/outsider dilemma in modern times and its relevance to eastern Europe, the discussion evolves around three major themes: the cultural conundrum; modes of acculturation, assimilation, and identity; and the minority's inclusion in or exclusion from the political agendas of certain east European societies. It concludes with a focus on two remarkable cities Czernowitz and Vilnius where the Jewish minority has often been conceived as being no less 'inside' than other groups. Contributors to the 'cultural conundrum' section deal with artists and writers from Romania and Poland who have gained wide public and critical attention over the years, including Reuven Rubin, Itzik Manger, Avot Yeshurun, and Mihail Sebastian. Other essays discuss the work of a group of writers from Poland, including Henryk Grynberg, Wilhelm Dichter, Joanna Olczak-Ronikier, Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz, and Michal Glowinski, who reflected intensively on their experiences as Jews in the Second World War and tried to integrate these experiences into their often fractured identities. The complex personal evolution of these figures shows the multi-layered influences on their creativity and imagination, while underscoring the dilemmas they faced to find points of meeting between their Jewish background and their national identity. The section on modes of acculturation, assimilation, and identity offers detailed analyses of the ways in which multi-ethnic and multi-national situations demand that the 'outsider', consciously or unconsciously, develop inner strategies to fashion a specific identity. Surveying such vibrant areas as Czechoslovakia and Poland between the two world wars and the city of Lwow in the late nineteenth century, three essays present some of the choices Jews made in order to deal with the changing political and cultural context. Their meditations on belonging and not-belonging on the constitution of identity and its fluidity, and on the formation, breakdown, and reconfiguration of physical, mental, social, and geographical borders acquire a special relevance and urgency in these settings. How did Jews as 'outsiders' configure their political allegiance in eastern Europe? How prominent were they in the radical elements of the communist movement in Russia? What tactics did they employ to safeguard their future in such societies and what means did they employ to galvanize the 'Jewish street'? These are some of the questions raised in the section on society and politics, which delves into such problematic terrain as 'Jewish informers', the 'non-Jewish Jew', and 'Jewish politics'. The concluding essays examine the tensions, paradoxes, and ironies of the phenomenon of the Jewish outsider in Czernowitz and Vilnius, two cities where, indeed, Jews were often construed to be the true 'insiders'. CONTRIBUTORS: Steven E. Aschheim, Karen Auerbach, Richard I. Cohen, Jonathan Frankel, Stefani Hoffman, Zvi Jagendorf, Hillel J. Kieval, Rachel Manekin, Amitai Mendelsohn, Joanna B. Michlic, Antony Polonsky, David Rechter, Scott Ury, Leon Volovici, Ruth R. Wisse, Mordechai Zalkin

Table of Contents

Note on Transliteration Reflections on Insiders and Outsiders: A General Introduction - Steven E. Aschheim PART I: INSIDER/OUTSIDER: THE CULTURAL CONUNDRUM 1 The Project of Jewish Culture and its Boundaries---Insiders and Outsiders - Richard I. Cohen 2 Gott fun Avrohom: Itzik Manger and Avot Yeshurun Look Homewards - Zvi Jagendorf 3 Agony and Resurrection: The Figure of Jesus in the Work of Reuven Rubin - Amitai Mendelsohn 4 Mihail Sebastian: A Jewish Writer and his (Antisemitic) Master - Leon Volovici 5 Insiders/Outsiders: Poles and Jews in Recent Polish Jewish Fiction and Autobiography - Karen Auerbach and Antony Polonsky PART II: ACCULTURATION, ASSIMILATION, AND IDENTITY 6 Negotiating Czechoslovakia: The Challenges of Jewish Citizenship in a Multiethnic Nation-State - Hillel J. Kieval 7 The Debate over Assimilation in Late Nineteenth-Century - Lwow Rachel Manekin 8 The Culture of Ethno-Nationalism and the Identity of Jews in Inter-War Poland: Some Responses to 'the Aces of Purebred Race' - Joanna B. Michlic PART III: INCLUSION/EXCLUSION: SOCIETY AND POLITICS 9 Urban Society, Popular Culture, Participatory Politics: On the Culture of Modern Jewish Politics in Congress Poland - Scott Ury 10 The 'Non-Jewish Jews' Revisited: Solzhenitsyn and the Issue of National Guilt - Jonathan Frankel 11 The Jewish Informer as Extortionist and Idealist - Ruth R. Wisse PART IV. TWO CITIES AND TALES OF BELONGING 12 A Jewish El Dorado? Myth and Politics in Habsburg Czernowitz - David Rechter 13 Wilno/Vilnius/Vilne: Whose City Is It Anyway? - Mordechai Zalkin Notes on Contributors Index

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