The Non-Jewish Jew and Other Essays

by Isaac Deutscher, Tamara Deutscher (Editor)

Essays on judaism in the modern world, from philosophy and history to art and politics In these essays Deutscher speaks of the emotional heritage of the European Jew with calmness and clear-sightedness; as a historian he writes without anger but with compassion; as a non-Jewish Jew he writes without religious belief, but with a generous breadth of understanding. As a philosopher he writes first of some of the great Jews of Europe: Spinoza, Heine, Marx, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, and Freud. He explores the Jewish imagination through the painter Chagall. He writes of the Jews under Stalin and of the ‘remnants of a race’ after Hitler; of the Zionist ideal, of the establishment of the state of Israel, of the war of June 1967, and of the perils ahead.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Jewish, Religion, Judaism, Essays

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 1978

About the author

Isaac Deutscher was a Polish-born Jewish Marxist writer, journalist and political activist who moved to the United Kingdom at the outbreak of World War II. He is best known as a biographer of Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and as a commentator on Soviet affairs. His three-volume biography of Trotsky, in particular, was highly influential among the British New Left.

Reviews

[shakespeareandspice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally published on shakespeareandspice.

“An unrepentant Marxist, an atheist, an internationalist—in what sense am I then a Jew? What is it that brings me near that ‘negative community’?”

Isaac Deutscher’s The Non-Jewish Jew ponders upon the existential crisis of Jewish identity in the twentieth century. Deutscher, himself an atheist, explores what Judaism means to Jewish people and what constitutes Jewish identity in the context of capitalism, socialism, communism, and Zionism.

Throughout his essays, his voice is calm, collected, and incredibly stimulating. There are various junctures at which the discourse could’ve become easily fumbled yet he simplifies the nature of the argument and its supports smoothly. He explores his own identity and the identities of Jewish people across Europe—east and west. A key distinction he emphasis is that while the Jews in the West were persecuted for capitalistic greed (as the pejorative stereotype goes), in the East, segregation held a stronghold and Jews were barely allowed to exist, let alone own property and prosper. The Jews in West “enjoyed formal equality in the eyes of the law” whereas in the East, especially in Russia, “their position was little better than that of the Russian and Polish peasant serfs” but even “peasants were at least not subjected to the pogroms.” The contrast between the two Jewish identities eventually caused a rift as Zionism pushed for Jewish migration to Palestine because the Jews in the East saw migration as “yielding to hostile pressure, a surrender to anti-semitism.”

Further explored in this collection is the identity of Jewish Socialists of Eastern Europe, Jewish immigration, the establishment of Israel, the colonization of Palestine, and more troublesome conflicts that inflicted the twentieth century. His views on Israel-Palestine conflicts are fairly nuanced. He illustrates the juxtaposition of Arab-Jew conflicts as such,

“A man once jumped from the top floor of a burning house in which many members of his family had already perished. He managed to save his life; but as he was falling he hit a person standing down below and broke that person’s legs and arms. The jumping man had no choice; yet to the man with the broken limbs he was the cause of his misfortune. If both behaved rationally, they would not become enemies. The man who escaped from the blazing house, having recovered, would have tried to help and console the other sufferer; and the latter might have realized that he was the victim of circumstances over which neither of them had control. But look what happens when these people behave irrationally. The injured man blames the other for his misery and swears to make him pay for it. The other, afraid of the crippled man’s revenge, insults him, kicks him, and beats him up whenever they meet. The kicked man again swears revenge and is again punched and punished. The bitter enmity, so fortuitous at first, hardens and comes to overshadow the whole existence of both men and to poison their minds.”

He also has much to say on the role the West played in the twentieth century and its ripple effects,

“The responsibility for the tragedy of European Jews, for Auschwitz, Majdanek, and the slaughters in the ghetto, rests entirely on our western bourgeois ‘civilization’, of which Nazism was the legitimate, even though degenerate, offspring. Yet it was the Arabs who were made to pay the price for the crimes the West committed towards the Jews. They are still made to pay it, for the ‘guilty conscience’ of the West is, of course, pro-Israeli and anti-Arab. And how easily Israel had allowed itself to be bribed and fooled by the false ‘conscience money’.”

The support for Israel, in his view, is about nothing more than establishing a “Western outpost in the Middle East.” Suffice to say he has much to express about the hypocrisy of the West and the East in their management of the ‘Jewish problem.’

There is much to be learned in this short collection. As someone who read this with minimal knowledge of Jewish history prior to the collection, the essays are friendly to newcomers and easy to read. There are a few sections where understanding Israeli politics becomes crucial but a quick internet search will yield great answers in those cases. If you are keen on learning about Jewish history in Europe, Isaac Deutscher should be a top priority.

[Mahmoud Moftah · Rating 4 out of 5]

إسحق دويتشر صاحب الخلفيه اليهوديه عن حربى 56 و 67

تألمتُ كثيراً وأنا أرى الغُزاه (إسرائيل) يعرضون وحشيتهُم ومظاهر التعصب ويحتفلون بنصر لامجد فيه .. متجاهلين الألام التي أصابت العرب وطوابير اللاجئين وجثث الجنود المصريين الذين ماتوا عطشىَ في الصحراء ، إفترسني الألم وأنا أرى الحاخامات والناس يرقصون بجانب حائط المبكي وضاقت أنفاسي حيث تيقنت أن تلك البلد يسودها التعصب التلمودي ورأيت كيف أصبح (موشي ديان) بطل أسطوري مزيف يتحدث بلغه تدل علي تخلف في الوعي السياسي ؛ إنني مقتنع بأن هذا سيتحول في المستقبل القريب إلي كارثه تصيب إسرائيل نفسها



مُلحد ماركسي بهوية ضبابيه يهوديه يتلمس الحياديه للوصول لجوهر المسألة اليهوديه ؛ يأتي الكتاب في 5 فصول تغلفهُم فكره أساسيه واحده وهي إهتزاز الهويه اليهوديه

يُؤسسْ "دويتشر" رؤيتهُ لأزمة الوجود اليهودي علي تناقُض موجود في الديانه اليهوديه أدركه بعض الشخصيات وتجنبوا الوقوع فيه فكان لهم نصيب من العظمه الفكريه كـ (سبينوزا وفرويد وماركس) إلخ ... ويتابع سردُه للعديد من الأسباب التي ترتبت علي القاعده الأصليه التي أسسَها (التناقُض الديني) ومنها يصِل إلي تفسير لماذا رأىَ اليهود أن (فلسطين) هىَ الحْل !

يمكنك أثناء القِراءه الشعور بمدىَ إخلاص وصدق رغبة الكاتب في أن يكون حيادياً ولكنه لم ينجح في ذلك كما ذكر بعض الأصدقاء ممن قاموا بمُراجعة الكتاب ولكنه فشل في ذلك الحياد لأسباب غير التي ذكروها (وهذا في رأيي الشخصي)

في الحقيقه لم يتعصب الكاتب لليهود علي حساب العرب كما يرىَ الأصدقاء ولكنه هاجم سذاجة الجانبين علي حد سواء وتعاطف وتفهم الأزمه في الجانبين علي حد سواء .. لذلك سيكون من الإجحاف إنكار هذا ولكن فشله في الحياد يتمثل في رؤيته تجاه أساس الأزمه حيث بناها علي تناقُض ديني وهو (ملحد) ورأىَ الحل في الماركسيه وهو (ماركسي) وهذا بعيد كل البعد عن الحياد حيثُ قيدته أيدلوجيتهُ لكن هذا لا ينفي أبداً أن الكتاب يظل جيد وممتع في أغلب أجزائهُ وبه كثير من التفاصيل التي بإمكانها تفسير العديد من الأفكار بداية من هوية اليهود وحتي الأزمه بينهم وبين الأوروبيين سابقاً ثُمَ العرب حالياً

[Agnes Kelemen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable, short, sharp essays that give a lof of food for thought. Deutscher seems original to me as a Marxist thinker who does emphasize his Jewish identity, he is neither silent about it, nor is he a self-hating Jew, nor does he claim that Jewishness is unimportant to him.

A lot of his conclusions are provocative an debatable, but it is worth to contemplate about them:
- It is antisemitism alone that maintains the Jews -icluding the non-religious ones - as a distinct group of people. Jewry rised as a phoenix from the ashes of the six million Jews.
- The Holocaust was the price the Jews paid for capitalis not having vanished on time but overstaying. Nazism was the self-defence of capitalism. Since this society still exists, in any moment of hardship racialism and xenophobia will cause a persecution of the Jews again.
- Deutscher sees the existence of the State of Israel as a historical necessity, but also as an additional tragedy inflicted upon the Jews by the world, as it forces the Jews to put their hopes in a nation-state in an age when the nation-state is an anachronism and there is no hope left in it.

(I am also skeptical about his claim that the thrilling Yiddish literary and cultural life of interwar Poland came about thanks to the Jewish workers.)

Deutscher was also a Trockist, in Poland he founded the Trockist opposition within the illegal Communist party. The good thing about being a Trockist is that they can always blame all the dark sides of Communism on the fact that Stalin won.....

I would be curious to know whether or not Isaac Bashevis Singer and Isaac Deutscher knew each other when both of them lived in Warsaw. Reading Deutscher's essays makes me think that Singer had specifically him in mind when he ridiculed the Polish Jewish Troskists in his memoir.

[shamaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two really worthwhile essays about Jewish identity and then terrible critiques of Zionism that tend towards orientalism and a defence of colonialism and genocide. Wouldn't recommend

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot of poignancy about the way he writes about the nature of the Jew about the contradictions gone thru in the East and West and the relation to capital or lack thereof in both. Where the relation between anti Zionism and anti semitism seems absurd. That’s why we continue to see the proudest of Jewish traditions being that of anti-Zionism. That’s why you see so many Jewish folks leading the charge against Israel currently. Why abandon what we’ve built world wide in our communities in our traditions for some nation state that’s being imposed upon us as salvation? Obviously Deutscher lacks a certain amount of nuance that I think we would’ve seen from him had he say been born in a post Shoah world. He was one that bridged both eras. He directly understood why some people fell victim to the concepts of Israel post Shoah. Where he views a possibility of a mutual state of existence between Israel and Palestine (you see this in his house metaphor). But where he grossly misunderstands is that the house may be on fire but it’s still Palestinians home it’s still their land so there’s much more at stake for them. They don’t need you to come back heal and foster a relationship with them. They need you to stop occupying their house.

Could also do without the constant throating of Trotsky as well but what can you do a lot of people fell victim to his liberal individualism interpretation of Marxism.

[أسرا · Rating 4 out of 5]

اليهودي قد يلحد لكنه يظل يهوديًا، تعصب الكاتب لقومه ظل واضحًا اثناء قراءة الكتاب رغم انه ملحد ماركسي، تعامل مع تفوق اليهود كبديهية مع انه اظهر نفيها و عندما بدأ التكلم عن العرب و الكيبوتز اظهر ان ارض فلسطين كانت صحراء عمرها اليهود و زرعوها بجهدهم، لا اعرف ارض من التي اشتهرت بالزراعة و الزيتون من قبل ان تتدنس الارض بقدومهم، لم يخف احتقاره للعرب و وصفهم للتخلف مع الترويج لاسطورة تعمير اليهود لفلسطين مع انه زارها شخصيًا عدة مرات فيعلم جيدًا انها ارض خضراء خصبة، عدا عن هذا كتابُ جيد

[Hamza Razzak · Rating 3 out of 5]

يوضح الكاتب في المقدمة المعنى من اليهودي اللايهودي الذي هو كل منافح عن القضايا الفكرية والانسانية الكبرى دون الاستناد الى اي اصل ديني او عرقي او قومي. ومن هؤلاء اللايهوديين الذين نشؤوا في أسرة يهودية ونزعوا عنهم رداءها بعد نضجهم نجد مثلا سبينوزا الذي طرد من اليهودية بعد التشكيك في معتقد كون الله موال لليهود وحدهم الذي يناقض فكرة عالمية الله، ويذكر ايضا ماركس وروزا لوكسمبورغ وتروتسكي وفرويد... وبعد ان انتقد هولاء المعتقدات اليهودية ذات الجذور القومية تم الالقاء بهم خارج الديانة ككل، لتلج بهم مساهماتهم الفكرية والعلمية في قاموس الخالدين

وبعد هذا الفصل يقوم الكاتب بالقاء الضوء على معنى اليهودي. فهو في نظره مفهوم لاينطبق معناه على كل من ولد في كنف اسرة يهودية، بل ليس من الممكن حتى اعطاء تعريف لليهودي دون الوقوع في فخ الاختزال او المبالغة، نظرا لأنه لا يوجد مرجع واحد نستقي منه مفهوم اليهودي. فلتحديد هوية اليهودي يجب اخذ مجموعة من الاعتبارات في الحسبان. ويدل كل جنس من هذه الاعتبارات، كالطائفة الدينية والقومية والنسب والثقاقة...على وجود عدة انماط من اليهود. بمعنى ان تعريف اليهودي لايقتصر على خاصية واحدة، وانما على عدة خصائص يتميز بها كل شخص او فئة عن الاخرين. ويختم الكاتب هذا الفصل بالدعوة الى التخلي عن محاولة تحديد معنى لليهودي والمساهمة في خلق مستقبل افضل للانسانية كلها.

وفي الفصل الموالي يتطرق الكاتب الى مسألية اليهودية والاتحاد السوفيتاتي. ويذكر ان اكثر اليهود الذين تم تهجيرهم لإسرائيل هم اليهود الروس والبولنديين والشرق المانيين. وان هؤلاء، خاصة بعد نجاتهم من المحرقة النازية و المعتقلات، قد استقبلهم ستالين أولا بالاحضان قبل ان يستبدلها بالاضطهاد والقمع. فدويتشر، كماركسي اشتراكي اممي، كان يرى ان حل المسألة اليهودية لا يكمن في القومية او اقامة دولة يهودية، بل في بناء مجتمع اشتراكي عالمي يتجاوز القوميات. لكن بعد الاضطهاد الذي لقيه اليهود في روسيا حيث لجأوا للاشتراكية لتجاوز اضطهاد المحرقة، وجدوا ان القمع يتواجد ايضا في منابع الاشتراكية.

وفي الفصل الرابع فقد خصصه الكاتب للحديث عن الاختلافات الجوهرية بين مختلف اصناف اليهود، كاليهود الغربيين والمغاربة والتونسيين والصحراويين والفرنسيين... الذين تم ترحيلهم او اغراؤهم بالهجرة الى اسرائيل

اما الفصل الاخير المتعلق بالصراع العربي الاسرائيلي فيؤكد فيه الكاتب على ان اسرائيل ماكانت لتفلح في القضاء على الجيوش العربية في حرب 67 لولا مساعدة امريكا لها وقرار روسيا بعدم التدخل، بعد ان قطعت وعودا لمصر بالوقوف الى جانب العرب عند اي تدخل امريكي في الصراع. لكن اتضح بعد خيانتها ان روسيا تبنت قرار الحياد بعد اتصالها بالبيت الابيض. ويشدد ايضا على ان تمركز السلطة في يد رئيس واحد، عبد الناصر مثالا، وضعف البنيات الاقتصادية والعسكرية للبلدان العربية كانت هي ابرز العوامل التي لعبت لصالح اسرائيل في هذه الحرب. وفي الاخير يدعو العرب لاعتماد مبدأ الدبلوماسية مع المحتل ورفض المفاوضات الى ان تقبل اسرائيل بالتقهقر لحجمها الطبيعي الصغير، وان يجتنبوا الدخول معها في اي صراع او حرب اخرى.

وفي هذا الطرح المسالم، لا ينفي الكاتب حقيقة المجازر التي اقترفتها اسرائيل في حق الفلسطينيين. لكنه في المقابل، يعطي رؤى طوباوية عن كيفية التعامل مع المحتل الذي لاينفك يزدري فلسطين ويذبح ابناءها، بدلا من الاقرار بضرورة التشبث بمبدأ العين بالعين في التعاطي معه عن طريق اعداد عدة عسكرية واستراتيجية لذلك، وهو ماقد تخلى عنه الحكام العرب منذ عقود طويلة حفاظا على عروشهم الفانية ومصالحهم الاقتصا-سية الزائلة

باستثناء الفصول الاخرى، فان الفصل الاخير هو الاقل موضوعية من حيث دفاع الكاتب بشكل غير مباشر عن حق اسرائيل في التواجد من داخل الاراضي الفلسطينية التي احتلتها

[lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this! isaac deutscher is an interesting guy and this book outlines his ideas about israel, jewish culture, and the holocaust. written accessibly with minimal need for outside research.

[Frederic Eco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute Pflichtlektüre.

[Aljoharah Alobaikan · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكاتب يصف نفسه بانه ملحد ماركسي من اصول يهوديه
رغم محاولة الكاتب ان يبدو حياديا الا ان ماذكره بخصوص تفوق اليهود وتقدمهم والمآسي التي تعرضوا لها خاصة يهود اوروبا الشرقيه لم يكن حياديا
حاول الكاتب ان يحلل المسألة اليهودية وان يكشف الطبيعه الرجعية للعقيدة الصهيونيه وان ماحدث في فلسطين هو احتلال صهيوني
وعبر عن تعاطفه مع الموقف العربي بشكل متحفظ
وكان مما ذكره عن تشرذم الموقف العربي وعدم اتفاق العرب كمصدر لبقاءاسرائيل وعن حرص اسرائيل على بقاءالعرب كدول متخلفه جاهله من اهم ماذكره وفيه من الحقيقة الشئ الكثير
اعتقد ان الكتاب لابأس به ومهم قرأته لانه يمثل وجهة نظر مختلفه من كاتب يهودي

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Non-Jewish Jew gives us not the great Deutscher, the biographer of Trotsky. Some of the merely topical pieces offered in this collection rise episodically to the lapidary and aphoristic heights of his books on Stalin and Trotsky. But most of Deutscher's work as a jobbing journalist came from probing the motivations of the Malenkovs, Khrushchevs, and Nassers.

The finest pages in The Non-Jewish Jew offer beautiful generalizations about Marx, Freud, and Marc Chagall.

Worth it for that alone.

[Differengenera · Rating 3 out of 5]

collection of essays reflecting on Jewish intellectual life as part of a broader attempt to contest the Judaic intellectual tradition as a sort of revolutionary anti-tradition particularly against the separatism of the Bund as well as the chauvinism of the Zionist state. one of the essays has that infamous allegory of Israel as a person jumping from a burning building and falling on someone. While his identification of people like David Ben-Gurion as rejecting the cosmopolitan internationalist camp he wants to aspire to is obviously bang on, there is a blocker here: he never uses the word 'Palestinian'. He does refer to Egyptian and Jordanian refugees, which is very peculiar, and I think it would be fair to say he doesn't reckon with the idea that there might by a particular claim to nationhood or land. Israel is figured as nationalistic and chauvinistic, but hapless, in committing acts of dispossession and violence it's also guilty of self-harm, and strategic and military self harm rather than spiritual deformation, which I'd be more open to. while I wouldn't accept it, I can understand why a Polish Jew living at the time he did could think this way. what I found really galling though are the references to Israel's spirit of egalitarianism and the cues it takes from the Bolshevik revolution, off the wall stuff.

I also think the discussions of Jewishness probably have more to do with someone like himself who came from an orthodox background into secularism (the opening biographical essay written by Tamara is probably the higlight). Luxemburg Marx and Trotsky, who are consistent touchstones, just did not struggle with their heritage in the same way he did. There's an assertion that their reasoning is in some essential way Talmudic, which I'd of course be interested to hear about, but isn't landed. Luxemburg and Trotsky were obviously geniuses and brilliant writers but not really known for their ambiguity or use of allegory, they have very definite conclusions and these were flinty and combative. Marx could make sense here but primarily in a comparative, cult studs way. Is it coherent to talk about secular Talmudism (not a word)? I suppose that's what we're struggling to realise in one form or another.

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 4 out of 5]

When one raises the question of the Jewish identity, one starts from the assumption of the existence of a positive identity. But are we entitled to make such an assumption? In this period of the history of the world is not Jewish consciousness a reflex, in the main, of anti-Semitic pressures?... Who is it who sets out à la recherche de son identité juive: Sir Isaac Wolfson or Mendès-France? Ben Gurion or Lazar Kaganovich? The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain or myself? To speak personally once again: to me the Jewish community is still only negative... If it is not race, what then makes a Jew? Religion? I am an atheist. Jewish nationalism? I am an internationalist. In neither sense am I, therefore, a Jew. I am, however, a Jew by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated. I am a Jew because I feel the Jewish tragedy as my own tragedy; because I feel the pulse of Jewish history; because I should like to do all I can to assure the real, not spurious, security and self-respect of the Jews.

One could take this as the central thesis on which this beginning set of essays turns: "Jewishness" is a negative, not positive, identity, and the forces which seek to define it positively are precisely those who wish to do so in order to exterminate it, or to exterminate the Other in its name. Spinoza, Heine, Marx, Luxemburg, Trotsky, Freud... one would have to add at least Derrida to this list of "non-Jewish Jew[s]" in the modern day.

On Stalin: without seeking to downplay the Holodomor, Deutscher helpfully notes that Stalin also brought millions of Polish and Soviet Jews inland during the course of World War II, saving them from the Holocaust. The collection ends with ruminations on Israel, including their racism against Eastern Jews, the limits of the nation-state form, and the 1967 War.

[Sydni · Rating 4 out of 5]

u ever read an entire collection of deutscher essays at 4 o'clock in the morning?? he was arguing that capitalism and the nation-state had outlived their usefulness in the 50s! in the NINETEEN-FIFTIES!!! I'm going bananas y'all

[Zaki Amin]

هل حقا قال عبد الناصر إلى الروس أن الاتحاد السوفيتى يصبح دولة من الدرجة الثانية بعد قرار الأمم المتحدة بوقف إطلاق النار بين الع ب وإسرائيل دون اتخاذ موقف حازم من انسحاب إسرائيل إلى ما فبل الحرب وان شرق أوربا أيضا انتبه القلق من موقف روسيا مع العرب كما ذكر المؤلف

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag, really. Some of Deutscher's observations are extremely prescient. At other times, he is too spellbound by Marxist orthodoxy and the result is close to ridiculous. A great pity he had died so early and did not have the opportunity to update his analysis in light of further events.

[Gideon]

great book, highly recommended for anyone who finds that the title piques their interest.

[Muhammad Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

يمكن تلخيص فكرة الكتاب في نقطة واحدة وهي، إيجاد حل أممي برؤية ماركسية لحل المسألة اليهودية في أوروبا.

من المفارقات بأن الكاتب ينتقد بعض ممارسات الحركة الصهيونية وينتقد المتدينين اليهود بأنهم رجعيين ،ولكن لايعارض قيام دولة لليهود واستيطانهم في فلسطين كحل "أممي"!!

ويقترح أيضاً كونفدرالية شرق أوسطية تستوعب دولة قومية لليهود !!

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isaac Deutscher is perhaps best known for his 3-volume biography of Trotsky. This is a very thought-provoking collection of essays his widow Tamara Deutscher put together after his death.

I also suggest as must reading The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation by Abram Leon and The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch.

[نينوفر · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب ممتاز لفهم الهوية اليهودية, من وجهة نظر يهودي ملحد أممي, على الرغم من قدم الكتاب, إلا أن فائدته ما زالت قائمة.
على أية حال هذا تلخيص للكتاب لمن لم يستطع الحصول عليه :
http://www.civicegypt.org/?p=48786

[Ayman Mohammed Ali Arbash · Rating 4 out of 5]

يطرح الكاتب إشكالية اصطدام العقيدة اليهودية مع تكوين دولة مدنية.