Contribution of Leopold Zunz to Jewish Scholarship

This research examines the contribution of Leopold Zunz to Jewish scholarship. Zunz was a founder of modern Jewish historiography in the earlynineteenth century.

The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Historiography

The modern historiography of Jews was begun in Germany in the nineteenth century by GermanJewish historians (Zimmermann, 1989, pp. 423-440). Notable among these historians were Simon Dubnow (18601941), Heinrich Graetz (181718910, Isaac Jost (17931860), Nachman Krochmal (17851840), and Leopold Zunz (17941886). Prior to this time, history was essentially an unknown mode of thinking in traditional Jewish studies. The initiation of modern Jewish historiography, however, challenged Jewish identity (Meyer, 1988, pp. 160-175). Modern Jewish historiography held the potential to undermine the prevailing Jewish religious norms, and to demolish variations in Jewish legacies from the past. German historicism became a major shaper of Jewish historical writing through the work of Graetz, Jost, and Zunz. This scholarship brought the historians into conflict with the more traditional rabbis whose position and authority was undermined by the modern work. In the earlynineteenth century, scholarship became a central element in the cause of Judaic reform (Schorsch, 1990, pp. 73-101). This Jewish scholarship movement was led by Isaac Jost and Leopold Zunz, who were preeminent among the firstg

. . .
and interpreter of the Jewish past. Zunz was committed to a belief that Jewish historiography held farreaching and beneficial implications for the Jewish identity (Wieseltier, 1981, pp. 135-149). The objective of Zunz in the pursuit of the scholarship of Jewish history was to research and to define all aspects of historical Jewish culture. The pursuit of this objective entailed approaching Jewish religious texts as humancreated, temporal objects. This perspective brought Zunz into direct conflict with Jewish traditionalists and with Jewish fundamentalists, especially so in relation to the Hasidim (Meyer, 1971, pp. 19-41). The Hasidim emerged from the "tormented relationship between . . . Jews and gentiles has endured for nearly two millennia" (Friedrich, 1972, p. 122). Throughout this period in most of Europe, and in Eastern Europe particularly, the Jews have been the scapegoat for society's problems. In 1348, as an example, the Jews were blamed for the plague which caused the Black Death. In 1500, Jews in Germany were accused of ritual murder. For this alleged action, 30 Jews were burned at the stake. After 25 years had passed, it came to light that the Jews had been innocent of ritual murder. In 1573, however, the G
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
EastEuropean Jews, Leopold Zunz, Boeckh Jewish, United Kingdom, Zunz Pioneers, Martin Luther, Zunz Jews, Jews Germany, Communion God, Remembrance Departed, leopold zunz, modern jewish, jewish historiography, modern jewish historiography, jewish scholarship, leo baeck institute, book united, leo baeck, baeck institute, jewish history, united kingdom, institute book united, baeck institute book, institute book, book united kingdom,
Approximate Word count = 1947
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)