Russian Ideational Roots of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature

This book demonstrates how the Russian thought and literature of the 18th – 19th centuries influenced Jewish thought and Hebrew literature. Absorption of ideological influences is a universal phenomenon that is instrumental to progress and cultural development, and it is accepted in Jewish culture as well.

"This is an interesting contribution to Jewish literary and intellectual history and is recommended for academic libraries." — Shmuel Ben-Gad, AJL News and Reviews

“This book by Rina Lapidus contains deep and insightful research on the emergence of the set of Jewish national ideas and concepts of Jewish national identity as they were reflected in Jewish thought and Hebrew literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, here examined within the broad context of the ideologies of Eastern European and mainly Russian nationalisms. As Lapidus has earnestly demonstrated, most Jewish thinkers and writers of that epoch perceived Russian ideological and literary tradition as their own, rather than alien, and simultaneously as the epitome of the highest cultural values. Of exceptional interest is her innovative analysis of the influence that the nationalistic doctrines of the Russian Lovers of Wisdom, early Slavophiles (especially Khomiakov), later Slavophiles (like Strakhov), post-Slavophiles (like Viach. Ivanov and Berdiaev), and representatives of the “Soil” Movement (Dostoevsky and others) had on multiple Jewish thinkers and writers.” — Vladimir Paperni, Professor Emeritus, Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, The University of Haifa

“Russian thought and literature exerted enormous influence on Jewish nationalism, modern thought, ideology, and Hebrew literature. This vital cultural impact was sometimes assumed, imagined, or surmised but mostly overlooked or neglected by scholarship. This new groundbreaking book by Rina Lapidus offers both a penetratingly nuanced and splendidly comprehensive picture of Russian influence on the Jewish intellectual and psychic world and reveals categorically new phenomena, that were totally unknown nor previously intuitively construed. It is a major and trailblazing work; through extensive research it greatly enriches our understanding of contemporary secular Judaism, paving the way for future productive research in the field.” —Dov-Ber Kerler, Indiana University

This book demonstrates how the Russian thought and literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries influenced Jewish thought and Hebrew literature. Through a comparative analysis of an extensive corpus of writings by renowned Russian and Jewish thinkers, the book reveals how ideas regarding the need for a national awakening penetrated from Russian to Jewish thought. The Jewish thinkers who embraced these notions adapted them to the reality and experience of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe. Likewise, portrayals of an individual’s quest for the authentic and just God in Russian literary works gained purchase in ideological Hebrew literature, where the hero searches for a true path to achieve spiritual, social, and national well-being for the Jewish people. Absorption of ideological influences is a universal phenomenon that is instrumental to progress and cultural development, and it is accepted in Jewish culture as well.

• | Author: Rina Lapidus
• | Publisher: Academic Studies Press
• | Publication Date: Mar 07, 2024
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9798887194011
• | ISBN-10: 888719401Y