Nationalism, War and Jewish Education From the Roman Empire to Modern Times

Nationalism, War and Jewish Education explores historical circumstances leading to the emergence of a Jewish religious school system lasting to modern times and the process by which this system was broken down and adapted in secular form as Jewish nationalism grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the Roman period, education became an essential part of rabbinic pacifist accommodation following Jewish defeats, while in the modern period, secular education was associated with nationalism and increasing militancy of emerging states. In both periods there was a revival of Hebrew and the creation of an educational system based on Hebrew texts. Both revivals were responses to anti-Semitism, which pushed large numbers of Jews away from assimilation into the dominant culture to a renewed Jewish national identity. The book highlights the centrifugal and centripetal shifts in Jewish identity, from messianic militarism to pacifism and back. It shows how changes in Jewish education accompanied these shifts. While drawing on historical scholarship for background, this book is essentially a literary study, showing how literary changes at different times and places reflect historical, socio-psychological, economic and political change.Nationalism, War and Jewish Education is original in showing how ancient Jewish education affected modern Jewish society, therefore it is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in Jewish history and literature, education, development studies and nationalism.

AcknowledgementsIntroductionPart 1: Nationalism and Jewish Education in the Roman Era1. The early Roman background: Jewish education and Jewish/Greek relations2. Roman government, Greek freedmen and Jewish education3. Josephus and the struggle for Jewish accommodation with Rome4. Defeat, nationalism and Jewish education after 70 CE5. Jewish education, Roman and Jewish law and Stoic philosophy6. The Mishna, Galilee, and Jewish education7. The rabbis and Jewish education as history8. How did Jewish education affect class differences? 9. Education in the love of Israel: the anti-prophetic streak in rabbinic literature10. The double standard of Jewish education11. To pay or not to pay? The problem of the schoolteacherPart 2: From Emancipation to Political Nationalism, 1789-1948 12. Jewish education and the rise of the secular state13. Emancipation and the Jewish return to war14. Heresy and continuity in post-1789 Jewish education15. Emancipation, the Hebrew revival and the retreat from Hebrew 16. Jewish education in Hebrew literature17. Pogroms and Jewish militarization 18. The revival of Hebrew 1917-1939BibliographyIndex

David Aberbach is Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Studies, McGill University, Montreal. He has held visiting positions at Oxford, the LSE, UCL, and Harvard. His work bridges the arts and social sciences; his books include, Surviving Trauma: loss, literature, and psychoanalysis; Charisma in Politics, Religion and the Media; and National Poetry, Empires and War.