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Winter 2008 Advance Course Information This information effective for winter 2008. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes. [HIS-41] [ HIS-61 ] [HIS-108] [HIS-155] 41. The Making of the Modern Middle East Instructor: Edmund "Terry" Burke III Course Description I have been teaching modern Middle Eastern history and World History at UCSC since 1968. My research specialty is the colonial and post-colonial history of the Arab world, especially Arab North Africa. I have written on social movements (urban protests, peasant movements, anti-colonial movements) in the modern Middle East, ordinary people's lives, and questions of representation of Middle Easterners in Western discourse. I have traveled extensively in North Africa, and visited Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Israel and Palestine. I have taught at the American University of Beirut, UC Berkeley, Oxford, Paris, and Sydney University. I speak Arabic and French. I enjoy teaching this course. Course Aims and Objectives: The "Making of the Modern Middle East" is an introduction to the history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to 1980. It provides a basic overview of the development of Islamic civilization and origins of modern Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries--including Ottoman self-strengthening, nationalism, imperialism and modern politics. Approximately seven weeks are devoted to the post-1800 Middle East. This is a basic political history aimed at beginners and those who wish to consolidate their knowledge before moving on to upper division. Required Written Work: Three short papers on topics to be assigned, plus a final exam (in class). Students also must pass weekly quizzes on the readings, and two map quizzes. Required Reading: The following required books have been ordered by the Bay Tree Bookstore. All are in paperback. There will also be a required course reader. William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East (Westview)3rd edition ISBN: 0-8133-0563-2. Edmund Burke, III, Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East (University of California Press) 2nd edition ISBN: 0-520-07988-4. I’ll be ordering a variety of supplementary (non-required works) as well. Instructor: Professor Karen Bassi Class meetings: MWF 2:00-3:10, Baskin 101 Note: this course is also taught as Literature 61M. Course Description This course is designed as an introduction to the study of Classical Greek myth, focused on distinctions between mythological and historical ways of thinking about and describing the world. Beginning with questions of definition (What is myth? What is history?), the course will consist of readings and lectures on a variety of literary forms (epic, didactic, historiographic, dramatic, philosophical) in which mythological figures and events are narrated and/or staged. We will also survey and test the viability of contemporary "approaches" to the study of myth (psychoanalytic, structuralist, anthropological, feminist, queer, etc.). Topics will include the relationship of myth to war, to religion and ritual, and to scientific discourse. A recurring thematic will be the temporal dimension of myth: can myth be a modern (or post-modern) form? Assignments
The short (3-5 pp.) papers will be based on a choice of topics; students may propose their own topics but these must be approved in advance by their section leaders. These papers will demonstrate your ability to discuss course concepts and to synthesize material from the readings. They will be judged on the basis of form (grammar, syntax, diction, etc.) and content. Writing competency will be taken very seriously; students are expected to proofread their papers carefully and to make sure they are free of grammatical, syntactical, and spelling errors. If you think your writing skills need attention, please inform your section leader or Professor Bassi early in the quarter. We will help you to find additional resources (college writing tutor, etc.). N.B. Plagiarism, which includes paraphrasing from undocumented sources, will result in a failing grade for the paper or – in severe cases – a failing grade in the course and disciplinary action. No exceptions. If you are unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, or about how to cite sources in footnotes or parentheses, refer to the guidelines at http://nettrail.ucsc.edu/ethics/index.html. You are also invited to discuss this matter with your section leader or the instructor. Remember that you will receive credit for demonstrating that you have consulted scholarly material in formulating your arguments. Trying to hide the fact by failing to properly acknowledge your sources makes no sense, is against the University's Rules of Conduct, and is dishonest. ALL PAPERS ARE DUE VIA WEBCT ON THE DATE STIPULATED; NO LATE PAPERS CAN BE ACCEPTED. All examinations are intended to test your mastery of concepts and terms introduced in the course. They will require knowledge of "factual" information provided in readings and lectures (including names, titles, dates), and ask for responses to a choice of essay questions. Discussion Sections Discussion sections will meet weekly. Attendance at all sections is mandatory. Section leaders may make additional assignments during the quarter. The section leaders for this course are: 1 Cora Gorman Sections: Requirements and Grading Policy
N.B. There will be no make up exams. THERE WILL BE NO INCOMPLETES. Class protocols: Please turn off your cell phones and leave your computers at home, unless you require a computer for taking notes and have a note to that effect from Student Services. E-mail protocols: Please make sure that all e-mail correspondence addressed to the professor and teaching staff conforms to standard English usage. Required Texts The following books are available at the Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust in downtown Santa Cruz. They are also available on reserve in McHenry Library:
WebCT Additional readings are on the course WebCT site or online as indicated in the Weekly Schedule. You will find the syllabus, the ERes readings, and your grades on this site. You will also turn in your papers on this site. Instructions for using WebCT are on the last page of the syllabus. The ERes password is muthos. Using WebCT To use WebCT, your web browser must be compatible. The first thing you should do is click on "Check Browser" at the top of the WebCT screen and follow the instructions to make sure your browser is supported for all the functions of WebCT. Next, make sure you visit our page about preparing your computer settings for WebCT: http://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/browser.php WEEKLY SCHEDULE WEEK I Topics: What is myth? What is it good for? Myth, history, literature, truth, ideology. Herodotus and the case of Thermopylae. Thucydides and King Minos of Crete. Pindar's Victory Odes and the mythological exemplum . Viewing of the trailer for the film "300:" Available online at : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-183229945539387798 Assigned reading: January 11: Topics: Myth and history II. Language, literature, and myth. Myth and belief. Mythos and logos . Orality, literacy and the question of authority. Assigned reading: Pindar, Tenth Pythian Ode , available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0101%3Aid%3Di2s1 Recommended, Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 1: "Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology" WEEK II January 14: Topics: Origins, creations, aetiologies. Myth and religion. Introduction to the Gilgamesh epic. Assigned reading: January 16 and 18: Topics: Gods and heroes I; the mythic quest for immortality. Myth, meaning and the transmission of the text. Mythological time and historical time in ancient Mesopotamia. Assigned reading: Stefan Maul, "The Ancient Middle Eastern Capital City--Reflection and Navel of the World." This essay is available online at: http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/maul/ancientcapitals.html TRIAL WebCT ASSIGNMENT: Each student is required to submit a trial document on WebCT by Friday, January 18 at 5 PM. This is only a test… WEEK III January 21 and 23: Topics: Theogonies and genealogies; from chaos to cosmos; the Muses and the Olympians. Truth ( alêtheia ) and lies. Assigned Reading: On ERes: January 25: Topics : Aphrodite. Love and war. Versions and revisions of myth. Assigned reading: WEEK IV JANUARY 28: FIRST ONE-HOUR EXAM. January 30 and February 1 : Topics: Epic , myth and war I. Orality, literacy, and historical thinking. Heinrich Schliemann, the power of myth, and the origins of Bronze Age archaeology. Assigned Reading: On ERes: WEEK V February 4 and 6: Topics: Epic, myth and war II. February 8: Topics: Sappho's revisionist mythology. Love and war. Assigned reading: WEEK VI FEBRUARY 11: FIRST PAPER DUE. Assigned Reading: February 13 and 15: Prometheus and Io. Divine and mortal suffering. Assigned reading: Seymour Hersh, "Torture at Abu Graib, The New Yorker , May 10, 2004. Available at http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact Review Hesiod, Theogony 490 - 616 on the Prometheus myth.
WEEK VII February 18: Topics: Myth and Tragedy II: Mystery religions; Dionysiac ecstasy; myth and/as gender. Assigned Reading: Viewing of Hermann Nitsch, The Day of Dionysus (available on UbuWeb) On ERes: February 20 and 22: Topics : Myth as a cultural and visual construct; the appropriation of images; shifts in the meanings of signs. Guest lectures by Dr. Janina Darling: Myth and Visual Culture. WEEK VIII FEBRUARY 25: SECOND ONE-HOUR EXAM February 27 : Topics: Myth and Tragedy III; Oedipus and Freud's dreams. Assigned reading: Sophocles, Oedipus the King On ERes: February 29 : Structuralism: a mythographic science? On ERes: WEEK IX March 3: Topics: Myth and meaning in philosophical discourse I; the aitiology of desire. Assigned reading: On ERes: March 5 and 7 : Topics: Myth and meaning in philosophical discourse II: myth and the state. Eschatology and immortality: myth and death. Philosophy and the making of "new" myths. Speech and dialogue. On ERes: Plato, Republic : The Myth of Er, in Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 15: " Views of the Afterlife." WEEK X MARCH 10: SECOND PAPER DUE. March 10 and 12: The ends/aims of myth. Assigned reading: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus. March 14: Concluding remarks. Viewing of clips from Gospel at Colonus. On ERes: MARCH 17: Final Exam Review FINAL EXAMINATION: Tuesday, March 18, 8:00–11:00 a.m.108. History and Social Movements For information and a tentative syllabus on this winter-quarter course, please go to this address: 155. A History of Modern Israel
Instructor:
Bruce Thompson
Please note: the syllabus below is from Spring 2006. The Winter 2008 booklist will be somewhat different, and the syllabus will change accordingly Course Description The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is one of the most intractable disputes in our troubled world. What are the historical and cultural roots of the conflict? What are the conflicting "narratives" of the two sides? What particular failures of leadership and ideology have contributed to the current impasse? Our course begins with a glimpse of Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, surveys the rise and fall of utopian Zionism, and explores the major political realignments that have occurred since the founding of the state in 1948. The course also examines issues of war and peace, occupation and revolt, and identity and conscience. A brief course on this extraordinarily complex history cannot pretend to exhaust the subject, but it can deepen our sense of the difficulties standing in the way of a political solution to one of the most dangerous and long-running conflicts in the world. Requirements A midterm examination (Friday, May 5), a final examination (Monday, June 12, 4:00-7:00), a paper (at least 6 pages) based on the readings (due Wednesday, May 31) and participation in discussion sections. Required Texts
Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz (eds.),
Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics,
and Foreign Relations
(2nd edition)
Schedule and Readings
1. April 5 INTRODUCTION
2. April 10-14 ZIONISM
3. April 17-21 THE MANDATE
4. April 24-28 The REVOLT
5. May 1-5 1948
6. May 8-12 THE NEW STATE
7. May 15-19 THE SIX-DAY WAR
8. May 22-26 WAR AND OCCUPATION
9. May 31-June 2 INTIFADA
10. June 5-9 OSLO: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
Addendum: News SourcesIsrael is about the size of New Jersey, but as we know very well it receives more media attention than New Jersey does. The best way to get news on a particular event is to sample several sources. The following list of sources is anything but comprehensive: New York Times: Subscription required to read full articles online. Shortened version available at http://www.nytimes.com/ Haaretz: Israel’s newspaper of record. Has a left-of-center orientation. Worth reading the op-ed articles. English version can be read online: www.haaretzdaily.com/ The Forward: descended from the great Yiddish newspaper, the weekly English edition has first-rate news and excellent cultural coverage. Tikkun: edited by Rabbi Michael Lerner, who leans to the left, this lively magazine has become increasingly critical of Israeli policies in recent years. Compare with Commentary, the distinguished American monthly that has been leaning to the right for several decades now. Debka: a “behind-the-scenes” web site written by former Israeli security officials. Analysis tends to be “hawkish.” http://debka.com Jerusalem Post: English-language Israeli newspaper, formerly right-of-center, edited now by a liberal, David Horovitz (the author of Still Life with Bombers ). http://www.jpost.com Israel National News (Arutz 7): the voice of the religious settler movement. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ Palestine News Agency: news and analysis from the Palestinian perspective. www.wafa.pna.net LECTURE NOTES (SAMPLE)VARIETIES OF ZIONISM
"Vain to seek obscurity. They say: the coward, he is creeping
into hiding, driven by his evil conscience. Vain to go among them
and offer them one's hand. They say: why does he take such liberties
with his Jewish pushfulness? Vain to keep faith with them as a
comrade-in-arms or a fellow citizen. They say: he is a Proteus,
he can assume any shape or form. Vain to help them strip off the
chains of slavery. They say: no doubt he found it profitable. Vain
to counteract the poison."
We are a people—
one
people. We have sincerely tried everywhere to merge with the national
communities in which we live, seeking only to preserve the faith of our
fathers. It is not permitted us. In vain we are loyal patriots,
sometimes superloyal; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life
and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to enhance
the glory of our native lands by achievements in art and in science and
their wealth by our contributions to commerce. In our native lands
where we have lived for centuries we are still decried as aliens, often
by men whose ancestors had not yet come at a time when Jewish sighs had
long been heard in the country…. If only they would leave us in
peace…. But I do not think they will.
1. THEODOR HERZL: THE IMPRESARIO
We begin with Herzl (1860-1904) not because he was the first "Zionist"—he had several important predecessors—but because he put Zionism on the agenda of international politics. As we have seen, Herzl had a ringside seat for the Dreyfus Affair in Paris, and he was intimately acquainted with the anti-Semitic trends that had infected the nationalist movements in his own Austria-Hungary. In Austria "liberal emancipation was corroded by nationalist incitement, accompanied by aggressive social demagogy, according to which the Jews were both exploiters and a foreign body in the fabric of the nation. And if this could happen in Austria-Hungary—whose tolerance and liberalism were much envied by many Russian Jews—there remained little chance of positive development in Russia, peopled by millions of Jews" (Shlomo Avineri). Yet his metamorphosis from Viennese dandy and journalist into the hero of the Zionist movement was one of the more improbable events in modern Jewish history. Born in Budapest into an upper middle class family—his father was a near-millionaire banker who had lost most of his fortune in the crash of 1873—he was a perfect example of the totally assimilated Jewish parvenu, a young man whose Jewish identity was vestigial, even something of an embarrassment. He married the daughter of another millionaire who set him up as a man of leisure and letters. His ambition was to succeed as a writer, but unlike his friend Arthur Schnitzler, he failed as a playwright. He found success, however, as the most popular feuilleton writer in Vienna—a kind of personal journalism that had been invented half a century earlier by the German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine. And he worked for the greatest newspaper in Central Europe, Vienna's Neue Freie Presse. Before he became a Zionist, Herzl had fantasies about fighting duels on behalf of the Jews of Vienna or, alternatively, leading them in a mass conversion to Christianity. He certainly thought seriously about baptizing his son: "I am in favor of conversion. For me the matter is closed but it bothers me greatly for my son Hans. I ask myself if I have the right to sour and blacken his life as mine has been soured and blackened…. Therefore one must baptize Jewish boys before they must account for themselves, before they are able to act against it and before conversion can be construed as weakness on their part. They must disappear into the crowd." The author of these lines would seem to be a very unlikely candidate for the role of Zionist leader. It was the double trauma of the Dreyfus Affair in Paris and the election of Lueger in Vienna that sealed his conversion to Zionism. "Herzl always saw things, good or bad, in highly dramatic terms: it was the horrific drama of Dreyfus's degradation, and his solitary voice hopelessly intoning his innocence, which finally made up Herzl's mind…. If even France turned against the Jew, where in Europe could he look for acceptance? As if to reinforce the point, the French Chamber of Deputies only narrowly rejected an anti-Semitic motion banning Jews from public service" (Paul Johnson). And it was his newspaper experience that gave him the confidence he needed to publish his Zionist tract, The Jewish State (1896), and to put himself forward as a roving ambassador for the Zionist cause. From the beginning of his Zionist career, he used his status as a leading journalist for one of Europe's greatest newspapers to request audiences and promote his cause with leading statesmen, princes, financiers, and other men of influence. Yet his own newspaper, the mighty Neue Freie Presse, opposed him. Its Jewish publisher, Moritz Benedikt, warned: "No individual has the right to take upon himself the tremendous moral responsibility of setting this avalanche in motion. We shall lose our present country before we get a Jewish state." And Benedikt was not the only important figure who rejected Herzl: Edmond de Rothschild, who was already funding nine small colonies in Palestine, made it plain that in his view Herzl's grandiose project for Jewish statehood was not only unworkable but would jeopardize whatever progress had already been made. Herzl was undaunted. He organized a series of Zionist conferences starting in 1897, and he himself was the most imposing figure at these events: a very tall man, superbly dressed, with the biggest top hat and the most impressive beard among the delegates, he dominated these events and became the idol of poor Eastern European Jews whose lives he hardly knew. "Some of Herzl's histrionic traits remained with him to the end. He insisted, for instance, that all public Zionist meetings be ceremonious and formal, with delegates wearing full evening dress even if it was only eleven o'clock in the morning. He dressed fastidiously, carefully brushed top hat, white gloves, impeccable frock coat, when making an official call as Zionist representative. He insisted that all Jews who accompanied him must do the same. It was part of his effort to destroy the old image of the pathetic, shuffling, gaberdine-wearing ghetto Jew" (Johnson). He used the rousing strains of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser overture to welcome delegates into the hall of the second Zionist conference in 1898. Wagner of all people—a very unfortunate choice for a Zionist meeting! But Herzl was an impresario, a kind of actor-manager in his own production—after all, he had come from the world of theater, of show business, as well as that of journalism—and he understood the importance of style and of spectacle in forging a political movement. Having been spurned by Jewish establishment figures, Herzl found himself embraced as a messianic figure by poor Jews in Eastern Europe and immigrant Jews in the East End of London. David Ben Gurion, the future prime minister of the state of Israel, recalled that as a ten-year-old boy in Russian Poland, he had heard a rumor: "The Messiah had arrived, a tall, handsome man, a learned man of Vienna, a doctor no less." Herzl was undoubtedly aware of the example of Charles Stewart Parnell, the Protestant landlord who became the leader of the Irish nationalist movement in the 1880s, even though he had very little in common with the mass of Catholic peasants who were his chief supporters. What was the substance of Herzl's message? He thought of Zionism as a rational solution to the problem of anti-Semitism and the failure of assimilation. (The anti-Semites themselves, he thought, should support the idea.) He hoped to obtain a charter from the Turkish sultan, gather broad international support, and raise money from Jewish financiers to set up a Jewish state in Palestine (and he was willing to consider other possibilities, from Cyprus to Uganda). Such a state would have a liberal constitution and would make use of the best modern technology. Its economy would be organized on socialist, cooperative lines. Women would have the same rights as men, including of course the right to vote. Moreover, the new state would have sumptuous squares, glittering avenues, coffee houses and opera and theater—just like Paris and Vienna. It would have an army, because all modern states have armed forces, but Herzl did not foresee any real military role for it. The "present possessors" of territory set aside as a Jewish state would benefit from its development into a modern society. He assumed, in other words, that Palestinian Arabs would trade their own right of self-determination for an increase in their standard of living. Shlomo Avineri, in his excellent history of Zionism, is illuminating on this important point: "With all his tolerance and universalistic humanitarianism, characteristic of his Central European outlook and his impeccable vision of civil rights as related to the Palestinian Arabs, Herzl obviously overlooked the potential of a national movement emerging among the Arab population, not least as a response to Jewish immigration and the attempts of Zionism to transform the country into a Jewish national home. There is no doubt that for Herzl the problem was limited to insuring the human, civil rights of the Arabs as individuals . The issue of an Arab national movement never crossed his mind." Herzl's own life ended prematurely, at the age of 44 in 1904. He did not come close to realizing his vision in his lifetime. But his particular combination of charisma and chutzpah did succeed in making Zionism into a viable political movement.
2. AHAD HA'AM: THE MORALIST
Like Herzl, Ahad Ha'am was a rationalist. In spite of his Hasidic family background, there was a "Lithuanian" element in his mentality, visible in the restrained character of his writing, his emphasis on clarity and consistency, and his total lack of interest in Jewish mysticism. But neither do we find in his essays the obsessive concern with national honor that is so prominent in Herzl's writings. Herzl's lieutenant, Max Nordau, wrote a memorable article entitled "Muscular Jews," in which he suggested that Jews should cultivate physical fitness in order to combat the anti-Semitic stereotype of the weak and pallid Jewish scholar who lives entirely for his studies. Ahad Ha'am, as far as we know, had no interest in Jewish gymnastics. For him, the great strength of the Jewish tradition was its ethical character. Unlike many highly educated Jews, he did not think that Jewish culture was inferior to that of the general European culture. On the contrary, he thought it was superior. Its essence was "a kind of constant and powerful protest on the part of spiritual strength against physical force and the saber." For him, writes the great historian of Zionism Anita Shapira, "the uniqueness of the Jewish national identity lay in a moral worldview, epitomized in the biblical verse 'not by might nor by power, but by my spirit' (Zach. 4:6). His stress on the ethical and his aversion to the use of force were accompanied by a worldview based on moderation, on opposition to all extremism, exaggeration, and short cuts." And as his biographer, Steven Zipperstein, reports, "he shunned the larger European stage, he insisted on writing in Hebrew (though he had mastered several European languages, including Russian), he remained suspicious of gentile help, of grand plans, and most public gestures." Whereas Herzl was not displeased when his followers took him for a "second Moses," Asher Ginsberg, for all his brilliance, presented himself as "Ahad Ha'am," "one of the people." More important, whereas Herzl's goal was a Jewish state like any other, Ahad Ha'am argued that Jews had not suffered so much for so many centuries in the diaspora merely to bring into the world another tiny polity like Serbia or Montenegro. Nor did he share the widespread tendency among Zionists to denigrate the diaspora as a period of stagnation in which Jewish creativity had ceased. "He remained enclosed within the ambit of a Jewish ethnic and cultural world. He did not wish to fling open the portals to the broader world outside and was uninterested in what non-Jews thought of him. He regarded any sign of Jewish acceptance of the behavioral and value norms of non-Jewish society as an existential threat" (Shapira). To be sure, Eastern European Jewry needed to find a new identity for itself in the modern world—one that depended neither on the traditional religious symbolism of the Jewish past nor the artificial segregation of the ghetto. And here a Jewish center (as opposed to a sovereign state) in Palestine could play a vital role: "So [Jewry] seeks to return to its historic center, in order to live there a life of natural development, to bring its powers into play in every department of human culture, to develop and perfect those national possessions which it has acquired up to now, and thus to contribute to the common stock of humanity, in the future as in the past, a great national culture, the fruit of the unhampered activity. For this purpose Judaism needs at present but little. It needs not an independent state, but only the creation in its native land of conditions favorable to its development: a good-sized settlement of Jews working without hindrance in every branch of culture, from agriculture and handicrafts to science and literature. This Jewish settlement, which will be a gradual growth, will become in course of time the center of the nation, wherein its spirit will find pure expression and develop in all its aspects up to the highest degree of perfection of which it is capable. Then from this center the spirit of Judaism will go forth to the great circumference, to all the communities of the Diaspora, and will breathe new life into them and preserve their unity…" Moreover, unlike Herzl, who for all his many gifts as a diplomat and a leader was in many ways naïve about international politics, Ahad Ha'am was a realist: "A comparison between Palestine and small countries like Switzerland overlooks the geographical position of Palestine and its religious importance for all nations. These two fact will make it quite impossible for its 'powerful neighbors'… to leave it alone…" In 1891 Ahad Ha'am visited Palestine and gave more proof of that realism in a prophetic essay entitled "Truth from the Land of Israel": "We tend to believe abroad that Palestine is nowadays almost completely deserted, a non-cultivated wilderness, and anyone can come there and buy as much land as his heart desires. But in reality this is not the case. It is difficult to find anywhere in the country Arab land which lies fallow…. The Arabs, and especially the city dwellers, understand very well what we want and what we do in the country; but they behave as if they do not notice it because at present they do not see any danger for themselves or their future in what we are doing and are therefore trying to turn to their benefit these new guests… But when the day will come in which the life of our people will develop to such a degree that they will push aside the local population by little or by much, then it will not easily give up its place." And the most prescient warning of all: "One thing we certainly should have learned from our past and present history, and that is not to create anger among the local population against us…. We have to treat the local population with love and respect, justly and rightly. And what do our brethren in the Land of Israel do? Exactly the opposite! Slaves they were in their country of exile, and suddenly they find themselves in a boundless and anarchic freedom, as is always the case with a slave that has become king; and they behave toward the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, infringe upon their boundaries, hit them shamefully without reason, and even brag about it. Our brethren are right when they say that the Arab honors only those who show valor and fortitude; but this is the case only when he feels that the other side has justice on his side. It is very different in a case when [the Arab] thinks that his opponent's actions are iniquitous and unlawful; in that case he may keep his anger to himself for a long time, but it will dwell in his heart and in the long run he will prove himself to be vengeful and full of retribution."
3. MICHA JOSEF BERDYCZEWSKI: THE VITALIST
From the perspective of the history of Zionism, Berdyczewski's importance is his contribution to the idea of "the new Jew," the idea of a revolutionary break with the past. "Give me myself, my being, my life… my own hopes, and do not make me into a guardian of my fathers' inheritance. I want to conquer my land and work the virgin soil… I want to begin everything not from yesterday, but from today… Every past, in that it is the past, buries the present, and everything old swallows up the new." This was a kind of vitalism: "the myth of man freed from the bonds of tradition and from the burden of past generations, who thus autonomously confronts his destiny" (Shapira). Berdyczewski became the mentor for the younger generation of Zionist pioneers, including the poet Saul Tchernichovsky (who wrote a famous vitalist poem entitled "To the Sun") and the writer Yosef Hayim Brenner. Herzl felt no particular empathy for the Jewish past, and thought mainly in terms of the present and the future. Ahad Ha'am regarded the continuity of Jewish history and ethical culture from biblical times as a basic tenet of Zionism, and saw no contradiction between the culture of the diaspora and that of the new center in Palestine. But for Berdyczewski's new Jew, Jewish life in the diaspora was a miserable, unhealthy deviation from the heroic standards of the original nation. Berdyczewski "challenged the attempt to present Jewish history as a linear story of the Jewish people guided by the Torah. He emphasized the internal contradictions, the divisions, the struggles, with which the national history was replete. Morality, which according to Ahad Ha'am was the essential characteristic of the Jewish people, was viewed by Berdyczewski as an expression of the constraint forced upon the people by its leaders, a coercion bought at the price of vitality and one that undermined the ability of the nation to fight" (Shapira). In contrast, Ahad Ha'am was opposed to the use of force in almost all circumstances and regarded violence as radically alien to the spirit of Judaism. There are, then, a variety of voices and positions among the early Zionists. Berdyczewski may seem like an eccentric figure, but he probably had a greater influence on the development of what would become Israeli culture than either Herzl or Ahad Ha'am. For Zionism in Palestine was among other things a youth movement, and its proponents self-consciously rejected the diaspora way of life in favor of a pioneering ethos. It was Berdyczewski, rather than Herzl or Ahad Ha'am, who spoke to and for the next generation. |
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