Arendt and Deutscher on heresy and identity

This article addresses the constitutive role of heresy in Jewish modernity. Heresy - defined here in terms of assimilation - is commonly considered destructive to Jewish tradition. I, however, examine Hannah Arendt’s works on the model of the Jewish pariah and Isaac Deutscher’s notion of the non-Jew...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sharviṭ, Gilʿad 1975- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Liverpool University Press 2022
In: Journal of Jewish studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 73, Issue: 2, Pages: 403-426
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Summary:This article addresses the constitutive role of heresy in Jewish modernity. Heresy - defined here in terms of assimilation - is commonly considered destructive to Jewish tradition. I, however, examine Hannah Arendt’s works on the model of the Jewish pariah and Isaac Deutscher’s notion of the non-Jewish Jew to identify a model in which heresy gives structure to a new, modern Jewish tradition. In Deutscher, the analysis shows, this tradition of heresy suggests a universal world-view that eventually empties Judaism of any particular content. Arendt, on the other hand, connects the possibility of Jewish particularity in the present with her ideal of the pariah-as-heretic. Heresy reflects neither assimilation nor rejection of Judaism but rather offers a new foundation for Jewish particularity. The argument shows how the heresy of the pariah is also foundational to early formulations of Arendt’s politics of plurality.
ISSN:2056-6689
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Jewish studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.18647/3548/jjs-2022