Nils H. Roemer. Jewish Scholarship and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Between History and Faith. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005. 251 S. $60.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-299-21170-7.

Reviewed by Anthony Kauders (Department of History, Keele University)
Published on H-German (February, 2006)

History as Faith? Jewish History and German Jews in the 19th Century

In the past decade or so, a growing number of scholars--David N. Myers, Susannah Heschel and Andreas Gotzmann, among others--have begun to study Jewish historiography in novel and interesting ways. Often employing concepts culled from poststructuralist thought, these scholars have been very much engaged with the question of identity--specifically, the extent to which history has replaced religion as the reference point for Jewish self-understanding. Nils Roemer, one of the leading experts in the field, has now produced an engrossing, meticulously researched and particularly sound exposition of the subject, which ought to become a standard work in the years to come.

Roemer's main objective in this book is to analyze the popularization of Jewish history in the course of the nineteenth century, as well as to assess its impact on the "formation of a distinct diaspora culture" (p. 3). Although heavily indebted to the work of Ismar Schorsch and Michael A. Meyer, whose work has traced how Jewish history has evolved from religious exegesis to historical understanding, Roemer seeks to move beyond these authors' primary concern with intellectual biographies and institutional histories. Rather, Roemer analyzes the work of famous scholars such as Leopold Zunz, Abraham Geiger, or Heinrich Graetz in order to ascertain their overall influence within the German Jewish fold. In doing so, the author intends to show that, first, "a mutual interdependence existed between the scholarly interpretation of the past and the popular German culture" (p. 4); second, that this interdependence, leading as it did to popular education in a Jewish context, "promoted historical memory and fostered modern Jewish identities" (p. 4); and, third, that although Jewish historiography "unraveled" pre-modern loyalties and engendered "denominational fissures," it aimed to "re-create a new unity based on a common past" (p. 11).

The first half of Jewish Culture and Scholarship in Nineteenth Century Germany is an extremely reliable rendition of the question of historicizing Judaism as it emerged in the various debates taking place inside and outside the Wissenschaft des Judentums. Roemer recapitulates the early hopes of Jewish Aufklärer (maskilim) that historical investigation would not only benefit their legal and social status, but also rejuvenate Jewish religious life. He explores the way in which the legacy of the Enlightenment, as well as the failure of emancipation in the aftermath of 1815, became defining experiences of the second generation of maskilim, who had to grapple with increasing hostility toward Jews, Judaism and Jewish scholarship. Roemer emphasizes the revolutionary nature of the founders of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, whose decision to unite all texts under the single description of historical sources "fundamentally altered their status and obliterated the demarcation between the sacred and the profane" (p. 30). This revolutionary moment notwithstanding, early efforts at historicization had a rather limited impact, given that the Verein für Cultur and Wissenschaft der Juden folded in 1824 and its periodical failed to attract a substantial number of subscribers.

Next, Roemer recounts the beginnings of popularization in reading societies and newspapers from the 1830s onward. Here, too, both participation and circulation met with limited success--not unlike efforts to institutionalize Jewish historiography, which faltered because of "the increasing fragmentation of Jewish scholarship and communities, as well as the disregard displayed by German academia" (p. 45). Thus, despite the special rubric for Jewish history in the most important Jewish newspaper of the time, Ludwig Philippson's Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, the historicization of Judaism remained very much confined to the sphere of specialists, who operated in a "fairly limited Jewish public sphere" (p. 46).

The sphere expanded considerably in the 1850s, when Jewish seminaries came into being in Breslau and Berlin. Since Judaism had become polarized along denominational lines (Reform, Conservative, neo-Orthodox), Jewish scholarship rapidly became a contentious affair that accentuated existing frictions. Various controversies involving the "great men" of the day ensued, pitting traditional figures such as Samson Raphael Hirsch against advocates of the historical craft, for whom Biblical and post-Biblical writings could be examined without recourse to divine law.

The second half of Jewish Scholarship and Culture, which covers the period after 1850, is devoted to popularization on various levels. An intellectual historian, Roemer is less interested in examining sources that would address the issue from a cultural angle--even though artifacts or diaries would provide fascinating insights into the reception of Wissenschaft. Instead, he understands reception in textual terms, according to which "new works are derived from others insofar as they refer, incorporate, and displace them" (p. 4). Roemer also examines the dissemination of texts in historical societies and public lectures, and is keen to account for failure and success by scrutinizing marketing strategies and the process of canonization.

The author covers a great deal of material in this section. He analyzes book clubs and lending libraries, which transformed the nature of the German Jewish reading public inasmuch as works on Jewish history became consumer products. Roemer is able to disclose how important figures espoused the idea that libraries and archives would stem the tide of modernization, the repercussions of which, they believed, were imperiling Jewish Kultur. Here as elsewhere, Roemer reminds the reader of the degree to which German and Jewish culture, mutually implicated and co-constitutive, cannot be separated. Roemer also shows how history became a means whereby Jews sought to regain self-pride in the face of growing antisemitism. The author therefore combines Herzl with Achad Ha'am, demonstrating that the popularization of Jewish history cannot be attributed solely to Jew-hatred (the Herzlian view), but has to be seen equally as a response to the threat of secularization (Ha'am's position).

One of Roemer's more forceful assertions, however, may be questioned--for it is not certain whether the nexus he wishes to establish between the advent of popular history on the one hand, and the notion that the historian became a prophet and religious leader on the other, holds true. To be sure, plenty of voices suggested this link, but they usually originated from within the establishment and became more widespread on special occasions, such as during anniversary celebrations. To maintain, therefore, that historians assumed prophetic roles and took on religious guises would be to underestimate prophecy and religion, to overestimate the self-perception of the historical Zunft, to rely perhaps too heavily on Yosef Chaim Yerushalmi's sharp division between a religious era and an historical age and to sideline such idols as (natural) science, political liberalism and the rule of law.

Yet this caveat should not detract from an otherwise very good work.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-german.

Citation: Anthony Kauders. Review of Roemer, Nils H., Jewish Scholarship and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Between History and Faith. H-German, H-Net Reviews. February, 2006.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11434

Copyright © 2006 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.org.