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Between Two Worlds
Between Two Worlds written by famous Jewish writer Marcus Lehmann
175 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
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July 27, 2014
The 19th century was a period of mass assimilation amongst the Jewish people, largely made possible by the Age of Enlightenment. Though that Age brought the world science, technology, and political liberation, it also brought about the spread of atheism. Just as it toppled the Church, so too did the new opportunities for Jews open the doors for them to leave Judaism behind. We are still feeling the effects of it today.
In Germany, the push toward assimilation came from the Reform movement. Its founder, Moses Mendelssohn, was a personal friend of the Crown Prince of Prussia and once bested Emmanuel Kant in philosophical debate. His message to the Jewish people was, “Be a Jew in your home, and a German on the outside.” In his personal life, he did indeed observe Torah Law, but within a generation, his followers and children were on their way to the baptismal fount.
To combat this trend arose Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch. Unlike many other Orthodox rabbis of the era, he did not reject the secularism of the Enlightenment outright. True, it was bringing about atheism, but it had its positive side. So he proposed “Torah im derech eretz,” that a Jew must learn Torah and secular subjects but only in such a way that secular studies always returned the person to the recognition of G-d. His movement succeeded in preserving Torah Judaism because it put Torah first and had a way of addressing the flood of information, technology, and freedom that had the power of carrying away so many Jews. He is considered the father of Modern Orthodoxy.
Among his followers was Marcus Lehman, the author of this book. Rabbi Lehman chose as his weapon the pen. He ran a newspaper called “The Israelit” and wrote novels of Jewish history so that the Jewish youth would have something to read other than the popular German literature of the day. This book in particular is the retelling of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda.
Compared to George Eliot, the writing style of this book is amateurish. The dialogue sometimes comes across more like speechifying than natural conversation, and because it’s a shorter book, the resolution seems a bit too pat. But in fairness, this is a translation, so that may be part of the problem.
Even still, I liked the book. My favorite parts were the ones taken almost directly from Daniel Deronda, namely Daniel’s childhood and his discovery that the Jewish religion was alive and in practice, not just some ancient relic. It’s a little strange that George Eliot captured the feelings of the "pintele Yid” through Mirah better than Rabbi Lehman did in this book, but perhaps she, an ex-Christian living through the Enlightenment who traveled to Frankfurt to research the book discovered "Torah im derech eretz" and found that it answered questions she herself had. Good subject for a dissertation, no?
In Germany, the push toward assimilation came from the Reform movement. Its founder, Moses Mendelssohn, was a personal friend of the Crown Prince of Prussia and once bested Emmanuel Kant in philosophical debate. His message to the Jewish people was, “Be a Jew in your home, and a German on the outside.” In his personal life, he did indeed observe Torah Law, but within a generation, his followers and children were on their way to the baptismal fount.
To combat this trend arose Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch. Unlike many other Orthodox rabbis of the era, he did not reject the secularism of the Enlightenment outright. True, it was bringing about atheism, but it had its positive side. So he proposed “Torah im derech eretz,” that a Jew must learn Torah and secular subjects but only in such a way that secular studies always returned the person to the recognition of G-d. His movement succeeded in preserving Torah Judaism because it put Torah first and had a way of addressing the flood of information, technology, and freedom that had the power of carrying away so many Jews. He is considered the father of Modern Orthodoxy.
Among his followers was Marcus Lehman, the author of this book. Rabbi Lehman chose as his weapon the pen. He ran a newspaper called “The Israelit” and wrote novels of Jewish history so that the Jewish youth would have something to read other than the popular German literature of the day. This book in particular is the retelling of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda.
Compared to George Eliot, the writing style of this book is amateurish. The dialogue sometimes comes across more like speechifying than natural conversation, and because it’s a shorter book, the resolution seems a bit too pat. But in fairness, this is a translation, so that may be part of the problem.
Even still, I liked the book. My favorite parts were the ones taken almost directly from Daniel Deronda, namely Daniel’s childhood and his discovery that the Jewish religion was alive and in practice, not just some ancient relic. It’s a little strange that George Eliot captured the feelings of the "pintele Yid” through Mirah better than Rabbi Lehman did in this book, but perhaps she, an ex-Christian living through the Enlightenment who traveled to Frankfurt to research the book discovered "Torah im derech eretz" and found that it answered questions she herself had. Good subject for a dissertation, no?
Displaying 1 of 1 review