LEOPOLD ZUNZ AND ENLIGHTENMENT, EDUCATION AND REFORM.

According to common opinion, nineteenth-century Dutch Jewry never developed a followup to the german Wissenschaft des Judentums. this paper makes a case for the opposite: Dutch Jewish intellectuals not only were avid readers of Wissenschaft publications, they also used them extensively as sources of inspiration and information. the result, however, lacked the academic dimension of the german tradition. Instead, Dutch Jewish scholars consistently merged the results of critical scholarship with the edifying content of the traditional treatises they were translating and annotating. time-bound historical truth thus served to affirm the timeless truth of Jewish ethics. It is further argued that this indeed somewhat derivative strategy was more than a mere sign of conservatism or scholarly mediocrity. the Dutch Wissenschaft soon became one of the key instruments in formulating a new Jewish civic identity in the decades following the Emancipation Decree of 1796. Working from rather than towards political equality, the Dutch Jewish scholars could afford to ignore the radical content of Jewish national philology as developed by Leopold Zunz and his german colleagues.

European Journal of Jewish Studies, 2013

Although Leopold Zunz has spent most of his years in Berlin, he had led an active life. german-Jewish history rightly remembers him first and foremost as the iconic figure of the Wissenschaft des Judentums (the Science of Judaism) whose inspiring charisma has lasted to this day. however, Zunz has also left influential traces in the german and german-Jewish history as a preacher, pedagogue, and political contemporary. this essay ponders a facet of his biography which thus far has rather eluded further attention. when the entire educational system of german Jewry underwent a modernization process of transformation , Zunz had not only given fresh impetus for the momentary education at his Gemeinde-Knabenschule (Berlin's former Jewish Freischule where Zunz served as principal). In addition, Zunz was among the most significant advocates of a Jewish faculty at schools. he sought their professionalization through raising the general level of qualification. Zunz's efforts in this are the subject of the following discussion. the focal point will be set on Zunz's years as principal of the Jewish Lehrerseminarium (teachers' Seminary) in Berlin which offered training to young prospective Jewish teachers between 1840 and 1850.

2018

In 2018, we celebrate the bicentennial of Wissenschaft des Judentums, the early Jewish Studies that began in the nineteenth century and introduced critical historical research into Jewish sources, using all academic methods available, including non-Jewish sources or the comparison with them. Today, the academic study of Judaism exists in various national and cultural contexts. Its three centers -Israel, the United States, and Germany -have different labels and forms for it such as "Jewish Studies," "Jewish Science" (Madat ha-Yahadut), " Judaic Studies," or "Jewish Theology." 1 Their differences notwithstanding, they all refer to the year 1818 as the founding date of their disciplines. In that year, Leopold Zunz (1794-1886) published his essay Etwas über die rabbinische Literatur ("Something on Rabbinic Literature"), which unfolded the thematic field of modern Jewish Studies for the first time. 2 As Michael A. Meyer and Ismar Schorsch emphasize in the double interview opening this issue, Zunz's essay initiated a "Copernican revolution" by marking the turn to history in Jewish scholarship. The new historical consciousness among the Jews dethroned divine revelation as the source of authoritative and meaning-making knowledge, as it gave preference to 1 The most recent accounts on the contents and theories of Jewish Studies are: Andrew Bush:

EJJS, 2013

Modern studies of Jewish hymnology are greatly indebted to the works of Leopold Zunz. This article deals with a number of questions with regard to Zunz's oeuvre. how can we evaluate Zunz's contribution to this particular research field after almost two centuries?