The Influence of Jewish Culture on the Intellectual Heritage of Central and Eastern Europe

388 Pages·01.633 MB·English

by  Teresa Obolevitch, Józef Bremer, editors

JEWISH_CULTURE_strony_1+2+3:HUMANITAS_9 5/17/11 1:14 PM Page 1 (Black plate)
The Influence
of Jewish Culture
JEWISH_CULTURE_strony_1+2+3:HUMANITAS_9 5/17/11 1:14 PM Page 2 (Black plate)
H U M A N I T A S
S T U D I A K U L T U R O Z N A W C Z E
Badania • Wprowadzenia • Monografie • èród∏a
j
Seria pod redakcjà Andrzeja Gielarowskiego
Komitet Naukowy
prof. dr hab. Tomasz Gàsowski, prof. dr hab. Henryk Pietras,
prof. dr hab. Stanis∏aw Stabry∏a, dr hab. Krzysztof Koehler,
dr hab. Kazimierz Kuczman, dr hab. Stanis∏aw Sroka,
dr hab. Andrzej WaÊko
j
Publikacje serii Humanitas. Studia Kulturoznawcze, przygotowywanej przez
pracowników naukowych Instytutu Kulturoznawstwa WSFP „Ignatianum”
w Krakowie, kierowane sà do czytelnika zainteresowanego refleksjà
nad kulturà w zakresie jej êróde∏, natury oraz przemian dokonujàcych si´
przez wieki i wspó∏czeÊnie.
Celem serii jest zarówno wprowadzanie w poszczególne dziedziny
kulturoznawstwa, jak i prezentowanie najnowszych badaƒ w tym zakresie.
Dlatego publikujemy prace zbiorowe i podr´czniki, jak te˝ monografie
oraz teksty êród∏owe ujmujàce tematyk´ kulturoznawczà
z ró˝nych perspektyw naukowych.
Naukowy charakter serii, gwarantowany przez uczestnictwo
w jej powstawaniu kompetentnych badaczy poszczególnych dziedzin kultury,
idzie w parze z jej przyst´pnoÊcià równie˝ dla czytelników stawiajàcych
pierwsze kroki w analizowaniu fenomenu kultury.
JEWISH_CULTURE_strony_1+2+3:HUMANITAS_9 5/17/11 1:14 PM Page 3 (Black plate)
Badania
The Influence
of Jewish Culture
ON THE INTELLECTUAL HERITAGE
OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Edited by
Teresa Obolevitch and Józef Bremer
Wy˝sza Szko∏a Filozoficzno-Pedagogiczna „Ignatianum”
Wydawnictwo WAM
Kraków 2011
© Wyższa Szkoła Filozofi czno-Pedagogiczna „Ignatianum”, 2011
ul. Kopernika 26 • 31-501 Kraków
Publikacja dofi nansowana ze środków przeznaczonych
na działalność statutową Wydziału Filozofi cznego „Ignatianum” (2011)
Recenzent
dr hab. Ireneusz Ziemiński, prof. US
Korekta
Łukasz Malczak
Projekt okładki i stron tytułowych
Lesław Sławiński – PHOTO DESIGN
978-83-7614-074-2 (Ignatianum)
978-83-7505-852-9 (WAM)
WYDAWNICTWO WAM
ul. Kopernika 26 • 31-501 Kraków
tel. [phone] • faks 12 42 95 003
e-mail: [email protected]
www.wydawnictwowam.pl
DZIAŁ HANDLOWY
tel. [phone] • faks 12 43 03 210
e-mail: [email protected]
KSIĘGARNIA INTERNETOWA
tel. [phone]
faks 12 62 93 261
e.wydawnictwowam.pl
Drukarnia Wydawnictwa WAM
ul. Kopernika 26 • 31-501 Kraków
Contents
Preface (Teresa Obolevitch, Józef Bremer). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Historico-cultural perspective
Tomasz Gąsowski
Yiddish Land – an Expedition to the Land of Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Edyta Koncewicz-Dziduch
Sephardi Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Tradition and the Present . . . . . . .37
Alexander Lokshin
On the History of Traditional Jewish Education in the Russian Empire:
the Volozhin Yeshiva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Olga Gubareva
The Mythologem of the Promised Land in the Soviet Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Małgorzata Śliż
The Contribution of Scholars of Jewish Origin into the Development of Selected
Fields of Study and Academic life, based on the example of the Jagiellonian
University in Cracow in the Dayd of the Galician Autonomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Philosophico-theological perspective
Svetlana Klimova
The Russian and Polish Existentialism as mirrored by the “Jewish Problem”
(the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Irina Bardykova
“The Jewish Question” in Writer’s Diary by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. . . . . . . . . . .89
Vyacheslav Musolov
Dialogue of Cultures: the Role of the Philosopher (based on the Interaction
between the Jewish and Russian Cultures in the 19th century) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Victoria Kravchenko
The Kabbalistic concepts in Vladimir Solovyov’s Philosophy: Philosophical
Tools and the Creative Development of Ancient Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Vyacheslav Moiseev
Judaic Motifs in the Works of Vladimir Solovyov and his
“Logic of the Absolute”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
6 CONTENTS
Alexey Kamenskikh
Philo of Alexandria and Vladimir Solovyov: Two ways of Sophiology . . . . . .127
Olga Zaprometova
The Symbol of Torah as Wisdom and Light refl ected in Eastern European
Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Vadim Miroshnychenko
On some features of the concepts of “Dialogue” and “Communion”:
through Negation to All-Unity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Peter Ehlen
The Personalistic Philosophy of Semyon L. Frank (1877–1950) . . . . . . . . . . .157
Teresa Obolevitch
Judaic Motifs in the life and works of Semyon Frank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Oksana Dovgopolova
The “fraudulent” place of Lev Shestov in Russian Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Krzysztof Duda
Jews and the implications of Judaism in the life and thought
of Nikolai Berdyaev. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Ina Nalivaika
From the Profane to the Sacred: the Dialogue between I and Another in Poetry
and Everydayness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
Olena Petrikovskaya
The Image of Judaism and the Problem of Synthesis of Religions in the
Philosophy of “New Religious Consciousness” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
Oksana Kravchenko
The religious roots of the Aesthetic Principles (V. Ivanov on the Sublime) . . .215
Lidia Bogataya
The Infl uence of Kabbalah Ideas on Analyses’ Methodology Formation
of Symbolic Units (based on V. Shmakov’s works). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225
Elina Shekhtman
The Seminal Idea of Dialogue in the Work of Martin Buber
and Mikhail Bakhtin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
Svetlana Panich
“Jewish issue” in the Russian immigration discourse of 1930th–1940th:
some refl ections on the Witness of Mother Maria (Skobtsova). . . . . . . . . . . . .249
Józef Bremer
Wittgenstein and Hasidism: Some Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267
Andrzej Gielarowski
Revelation in the Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig and Józef Tischner. . . . . .289
CONTENTS 7
Jacek Bolewski
The Signifi cance of Gershom Scholem for Christians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
Kirill Voytsel
Israel and the Church: The Unity of the Community of Election
in Karl Bacth’s Interpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327
Literary perspective
Dieter Schrey
Borrowed Metaphysical Splendor. On the Possibility of an Aesthetic Theodicy
after the Disruption of the Epoch (1914–1918) in the Example
of Joseph Roth’s Job. Novel of a Simple Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347
Fritz Hackert
Does Joseph Roth’s Hiob Have a Happy Ending?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
Elina Sventsitskaya, Sergey Sichov, Tamara Panich
Jewish Tradition in Anna Akhmatova’s Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
Irina Shatova
Particular characteristics of the Kabbalistic Idea of the Invisible
Word Representation in Daniel Kharms’ Carnival Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .373

Preface
Jewish culture has left a lasting mark on the intellectual heritage of
East-Central Europe. Yet what is it, in fact, that is meant by the phrase
“Jewish Culture?” For example, was Jewish culture in the Austro-Hungar-
ian Empire in essence the same as in Tsarist Russia? Even when we just fo-
cus on Jews residing in the latter of these two places at a specifi c historical
juncture, talk of a single Russian Jewish culture seems highly imprecise.
The reason for this state of affairs is partly to be found in the dispersed and
diverse geography of the places where Jews have lived, as well as the not
unconnected fact of the plurality of languages spoken by them (including
Russian, Yiddish, German, Hebrew and Polish). Yet it also partly lies in
the shifting attitude of the Jews themselves towards their own tradition,
and towards religion and politics more generally. An example of this last
feature is, perhaps, the plurality of approaches adopted to Zionist thought.
Such thoughts about a culture inevitably prompt a further question: can it,
whatever it is, be grasped from outside? Is it not the case that only those
who acknowledge a culture as their own can properly claim to know it, and
is it not then also the case that only these are entitled to evaluate the infl u-
ence of other cultures with respect to its intellectual heritage? Moreover,
as a result of the extermination of the Jews carried out during the period of
the Second World War, we have, in an important respect, lost our access to
the cultural phenomenon of a multi-national, multi-cultural and multi-faith
East-Central Europe.
As editors of the book entitled THE INFLUENCE OF JEWISH CUL-
TURE ON THE INTELLECTUAL HERITAGE OF CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPE, we are concerned with these diffi cult issues, and
it is for this reason that we have chosen to invite distinguished special-
ists from Belarus, Germany, Russia, the Ukraine and Poland, working in
a variety of domains of the humanities, ranging from philosophy and the-
ology to history and literary studies, to cooperate with us. As a result, this
publication has an interdisciplinary character and sheds light on the subject
10 TERESA OBOLEVITCH, JÓZEF BREMER
mentioned in its title in three distinct contexts. The fi rst part (“Historico-
cultural perspective”) contains articles that depict selected aspects of Jew-
ish history and culture in East-Central Europe: i.e. in Poland, the Soviet
Union and Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particular attention is paid
to the motive of the Promised Land, and to educational questions. The
second (“Philosophico-theological perspective”) explores and analyses
the particular topics connected with the presence of strains of Jewish cul-
ture in the thought of a wide range of distinguished writers, philosophers
and theologians of the 19th and 20th centuries, coming from Poland (Józef
Tischner), Russia (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Leskov, Vladimir Solo-
vyov, Semyon Frank, Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Vasily Rozanov,
Vyacheslav Ivanov, Vladimir Shmakov, Mikhail Bakhtin, Mother Maria
(Skobtsova), Viktor Malakhov, et al.) and German speaking (Martin Bu-
ber, Franz Rosenzweig, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gershom Scholem and Karl
Barth). Finally, the third part (“Literary perspective”) presents material
connected with the Jewish tradition that appears in the literary works of
Joseph Roth, Anna Akhmatova and Daniel Kharms.
The resulting publication is supposed to furnish an opportunity for
a strengthening of institutional and personal connections linking together
scholars from Poland and from elsewhere, providing a forum for the ex-
change of ideas and experiences. It is also conceived as a modest illustra-
tion of the state of research into Jewish culture (in the broader context of
research not confi ned to Poland), and as a nexus of scholarly interaction. It
is our hope that the presentation of Jewish threads in European civilisation,
and the mutual currents of infl uence – sometimes hard to separate out – of
these great cultures on one another, will engender a deeper understanding
of their signifi cance for the development of our intellectual heritage gener-
ally, and, especially, for the philosophical heritage of East-Central Europe,
opening the way to further studies in the area of the history of ideas, as well
as to interfaith dialogue.
We wish, here, to thank all of the authors who responded to our request
for contributions to the book for their excellent and fruitful cooperation.
We would also like to thank the administrative authorities of the “Igna-
tianum” Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education in Cracow, as well
as the Goethe Institute in Cracow and Ignatianum Press/WAM, for all their
assistance connected with the preparation of this volume for publication.
Teresa Obolevitch, Józef Bremer