Final Report Summary - TRADITION (The Dialectic of Tradition and the Transformation of Theological Knowledge in Modern Jewish Writing)
This project deals with transformations of theological knowledge in 20th century Jewish literature and thought. It looks at various cases in which religious traditions have been interpreted and implied in new contexts of poetics and political thinking. The project, however, studies not only how traditions shape the world of modern Judaism, but also looks at modernist interpretations as creating new experiences of tradition. The project thus should lead to a better understanding of tradition beyond the familiar binary thinking about religiosity and secularism, myth and science, faith and skepticism. Most of the project’s case studies deal with German-Jewish and Hebrew cultures in the 20th century. Its methods are multidisciplinary and are based on literary theory and criticism, intellectual and cultural history, rabbinical studies and Jewish philosophy.
The project has been defined to deal with five main research topics:
1. The unsacred language – on the New Hebrew and the challenge of secularism
2. The Akeda and the riddle of literature – on the biblical story of Isaac's binding and its modern poetical/philosophical interpretations
3. Angels and demons – on figures of revelation in modern Jewish literature
4. Poetry and prayer – Jewish literature and the liturgical tradition
5. Messianism and literature: theology, poetics and modern political thought
These topics embody not only five main case studies in modern Jewish studies, but also represent an attempt of redefining the concepts and methods of tradition – by stressing categories such as openness (tradition as a process of [messianic] "becoming"), mediality (tradition as a medium of transformation, translation, delivery and dialogism), textuality (tradition as a field of inter-texts and con-texts of reading), and physicality (tradition as a corpus based on body-languages – embodying gestures, voices, senses and wounds, representing theological experience and liturgical praxis).
The main research project was accomplished in the writing of a monograph (ca. 300 pages), accepted to publication (forthcoming: November 2015), titled Bodies and Names: Readings in Modern Jewish Literature. The project also produced the publication of eight different scientific articles in academic journals and anthologies.
Another significant outcome of the project is the translation into Hebrew, the editing and the publication of scientific editions of two selections of writings: Walter Benjamin’s selected writings on Theater and Literature (published 2015) and Erich Auerbach’s selected writings on philology, theology and literary criticism (Forthcoming December 2015).
The research topics mention above were the subject matter in eight of my advanced seminars in the recent four years. Discussions and presentations in class and dozens of seminar papers submitted after-class were very significant for the elaboration of the research topics and for the expansion and exploration of new materials.
In the previous four year I presented my theses in about 30 lectures in different academic contexts and research frameworks. 20 of these lectures were held in international conferences and workshops (8 of them abroad). The other lectures were introduced in special sessions of research groups, faculty seminars and programs of advanced studies in Israel.
The research project was planned as an anchor for the grounding of my professorship and tenure position at the Tel Aviv University, creating the framework for research, teaching and supervising of advanced students in comparative literature, German and Jewish studies. The project was expected to serve as my main academic enterprise for a long term, also in terms of building up the development of my career in the international framework. In January 2013 I was appointed as the new director of the Minerva Institute for German History at the Tel Aviv University. One of my first steps at office was the integration of the project "Dialectic of tradition" into the research framework of the Institute. Due to this development the project gains a new strength, being institutionalized, becoming now part of the university research agenda that involves research seminars, international workshops and conferences, connected also to new organs of publication (such as Das Jahrbuch of the Minerva Institute for German History).
The project involved the engagement of 10 researchers: research assistants, post-doc candidates, doctoral students and MA students who engaged in their individual research projects different realms, topics and aspects of studies, which were linked directly to the major key concepts, methods and materials of my project.
The project has been defined to deal with five main research topics:
1. The unsacred language – on the New Hebrew and the challenge of secularism
2. The Akeda and the riddle of literature – on the biblical story of Isaac's binding and its modern poetical/philosophical interpretations
3. Angels and demons – on figures of revelation in modern Jewish literature
4. Poetry and prayer – Jewish literature and the liturgical tradition
5. Messianism and literature: theology, poetics and modern political thought
These topics embody not only five main case studies in modern Jewish studies, but also represent an attempt of redefining the concepts and methods of tradition – by stressing categories such as openness (tradition as a process of [messianic] "becoming"), mediality (tradition as a medium of transformation, translation, delivery and dialogism), textuality (tradition as a field of inter-texts and con-texts of reading), and physicality (tradition as a corpus based on body-languages – embodying gestures, voices, senses and wounds, representing theological experience and liturgical praxis).
The main research project was accomplished in the writing of a monograph (ca. 300 pages), accepted to publication (forthcoming: November 2015), titled Bodies and Names: Readings in Modern Jewish Literature. The project also produced the publication of eight different scientific articles in academic journals and anthologies.
Another significant outcome of the project is the translation into Hebrew, the editing and the publication of scientific editions of two selections of writings: Walter Benjamin’s selected writings on Theater and Literature (published 2015) and Erich Auerbach’s selected writings on philology, theology and literary criticism (Forthcoming December 2015).
The research topics mention above were the subject matter in eight of my advanced seminars in the recent four years. Discussions and presentations in class and dozens of seminar papers submitted after-class were very significant for the elaboration of the research topics and for the expansion and exploration of new materials.
In the previous four year I presented my theses in about 30 lectures in different academic contexts and research frameworks. 20 of these lectures were held in international conferences and workshops (8 of them abroad). The other lectures were introduced in special sessions of research groups, faculty seminars and programs of advanced studies in Israel.
The research project was planned as an anchor for the grounding of my professorship and tenure position at the Tel Aviv University, creating the framework for research, teaching and supervising of advanced students in comparative literature, German and Jewish studies. The project was expected to serve as my main academic enterprise for a long term, also in terms of building up the development of my career in the international framework. In January 2013 I was appointed as the new director of the Minerva Institute for German History at the Tel Aviv University. One of my first steps at office was the integration of the project "Dialectic of tradition" into the research framework of the Institute. Due to this development the project gains a new strength, being institutionalized, becoming now part of the university research agenda that involves research seminars, international workshops and conferences, connected also to new organs of publication (such as Das Jahrbuch of the Minerva Institute for German History).
The project involved the engagement of 10 researchers: research assistants, post-doc candidates, doctoral students and MA students who engaged in their individual research projects different realms, topics and aspects of studies, which were linked directly to the major key concepts, methods and materials of my project.