Modernity within tradition: the social history of orthodox Jewry in imperial Germany

Abstract

Orthodoxy's image of itself was that of bearer and guardian of the ancient Jewish faith and of ancient Jewish tradition, explains Mordechai Breuer, in his study of Orthodox Jewish life in Imperial Germany. As secularization and reform pervaded German Jewry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Orthodox Jews became a minority, resulting in alienation and social rifts. Yet despite the decrease in numbers and social problems, Orthodoxy increased in spirit, perseverence, and inner strength. Breuer depicts the life of those German Jews who sought to remain fully loyal to the Jewish tradition while integrating German culture into their lives. He examines the religious, cultural, social, and economic factors that shaped Orthodox Jewish life in Germany, using the literary documentation of the period - periodicals, personal memoirs, and religious literature. The book covers a wide variety of topics, including the different types of German-Jewish Orthodoxy, Jewish and general education, cultural attitudes toward Orthodoxy, identity as Germans and Jews, the development of nationalist Judaism and its relationship to Zionism, and reactions to anti-Semitism.

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