Title: Jews and power /
Authors: Wisse, Ruth R.
Publisher: Nextbook : Schocken,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Jews Politics and government.; Judaism and politics.; Jews Identity.; Jews Civilization.; Zionism.
Abstract: Taking in everything from the Kingdom of David to the Oslo Accords, Ruth Wisse offers a radical new way to think about the Jewish relationship to power. Traditional Jews believed that upholding the covenant with God constituted a treaty with the most powerful force in the universe; this later transformed itself into a belief that, unburdened by a military, Jews could pursue their religious mission on a purely moral plain. Wisse, an eminent professor of comparative literature at Harvard, demonstrates how Jewish political weakness both increased Jewish vulnerability to scapegoating and violence, and unwittingly goaded power-seeking nations to cast Jews as perpetual targets.
Contents: pt. 1: The great experiment -- pt. 2: Unanticipated consequences of emancipation -- pt. 3: Return to Zion.