The Modern Jewish Experience and the Entangled Web of Orientalism (Menasseh ben Israel Instituut Studies, IV). Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.The Modern Jewish Experience and the Entangled Web of Orientalism (Menasseh ben Israel Instituut Studies, IV)

Steven Aschheim discusses the crucial role perceptions of ‘East’ and ‘West’ played in shaping the modern Jewish experience. He examines the many ways in which notions of Orientalism and Occidentalism were used against Jews, but also how they were employed by Jews themselves. Presenting a colorful parade of characters from Jewish history, including Yehuda HaLevi, Gershom Scholem, Theodor Herzl and Jacob Israel de Haan, Aschheim shows how notions of East and West were a common thread throughout modern Jewish European history and demonstrates the ironic ways in which these opposites exerted influence on Zionism and on the conflict in the Middle East, leading to reflections on the ‘clash of civilizations’ and the work of Edward Said, but also to existential questions which remain relevant until this day and which sometimes seem to shape global politics.