What Ifs of Jewish History. From Abraham to Zionism

462 Pages·2016·5.68 MB·English

by  Gavriel D. Rosenfeld

What Ifs of Jewish History
From Abraham to Zionism
Editedby
Gavriel D.Rosenfeld
What Ifs of Jewish History
What if the Exodus had never happened? What if the Jews of Spain had
notbeenexpelledin1492?WhatifEasternEuropeanJewshadneverbeen
confinedtotheRussianPaleofSettlement?WhatifAdolfHitlerhadbeen
assassinatedin1939?WhatifaJewishstatehadbeenestablishedinUganda
instead of Palestine? Gavriel D. Rosenfeld’s pioneering anthology exam-
ineshowtheseandothercounterfactualquestionswouldhaveaffectedthe
courseofJewishhistory.Featuringessaysbysixteendistinguishedscholars
inthefieldofJewishStudies,WhatIfsofJewishHistoryisthefirstvolume
tosystematicallyapplycounterfactualreasoningtotheJewishpast.Written
in a variety of narrative styles,ranging from the analytical to the literary,
theessayscoverthreethousandyearsofdramaticeventsandinvitereaders
toindulgetheirimaginationsandexplorehowthecourseofJewishhistory
mighthavebeendifferent.
GavrielD.RosenfeldisProfessorofHistoryatFairfieldUniversity.
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107037625
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2016
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2016
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
isbn978-1-107-03762-5Hardback
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ofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
CONTENTS
Listoffigures pagevii
Listoffigureacknowledgments ix
Listofcontributors x
Introduction:CounterfactualhistoryandtheJewish
imagination 1
GavrielD.Rosenfeld
1
WhatiftheExodushadneverhappened? 24
StevenWeitzman
2
WhatiftheTempleofJerusalemhadnotbeendestroyedby
theRomans? 43
RenéBloch
3
WhatifKingFerdinandandQueenIsabellahadnotexpelled
theJewsofSpainin1492? 58
JonathanRay
4
Whatifthe“ghetto”hadneverbeenconstructed? 81
BernardDovCooperman
5
WhatifSpinozahadrepented? 103
EugeneR.Sheppard
vi/Contents
6
WhatifRussianJewryhadneverbeenconfinedtothePaleof
JewishSettlement? 123
JeffreyVeidlinger
7
WhatifaChristianstatehadbeenestablishedin
modernPalestine? 142
DerekJonathanPenslar
8
WhatiftheJewishstatehadbeenestablishedin
EastAfrica? 165
AdamRovner
9
WhatifFranzKafkahadimmigratedtoPalestine? 187
IrisBruce
10
WhatifthePalestinianArabelitehadchosencompromise
insteadofboycottinconfrontingZionism? 215
KennethW.Stein
11
WhatifMusaAlamiandDavidBen-Gurionhadagreedona
Jewish–Arabstate? 238
DavidN.Myers
12
WhatiftheWeimarRepublichadsurvived?Achapterfrom
WaltherRathenau’smemoir 259
MichaelBrenner
13
WhatifAdolfHitlerhadbeenassassinatedin1939? 275
GavrielD.Rosenfeld
14
WhatiftheNazishadwonthebattleofElAlamein? 298
JeffreyHerf
15
WhatiftheFinalSolutionhadbeencompleted?:Nazimemory
inavictoriousReich 311
DirkRupnow
16
WhatiftheHolocausthadbeenaverted? 332
JeffreyS.Gurock
Notes 355
Index 402
FIGURES
Cover:PostagestampfromthecountryofNewJudea
1 TheCrossingoftheRedSea(1633–4),oiloncanvas,
paintingbyNicolasPoussin page2
2 WoodcutofFlaviusJosephusfromWilliamWhiston’s
translationofAntiquitiesoftheJews(1737) 11
3 Israelitesbuildingthecities,pagefromtheBarcelona
Haggadah,fourteenthcentury 27
4 MoseswiththeTenCommandments(1648),oilon
canvas,paintingbyPhilippedeChampagne 35
5 TheDestructionoftheTempleofJerusalem(1638),
paintingbyNicolasPoussin 44
6 TheSacrificeoftheOldCovenant(ca.1626),oilon
panel,paintingbyPeterPaulRubens 48
7 EngravingofSultanMehmedIVofTurkey 60
8 KingFerdinandIIofAragonandQueenIsabella
ofCastile 66
9 ViewofthecityofCracow,woodcutfromthe
NurembergChronicle(1493)byHartmannSchedel 86
10 TheGhetto,Rome(1847),engravingbyS.V.Hunt,
Cassell&Company 95
11 PortraitofBenedict(Baruch)Spinoza,ca.1665 104
12 PortraitofHeinrichHeine,1838 118
13 PortraitofTadeuszKos´ciuszko(1746–1817) 130
viii/Listoffigures
14 PortraitofTsarAlexanderI(1777–1825)(1814),oil
oncanvas,paintingbyBaronFrançoisPascalSimon
Gerard(1770–1837) 135
15 PhotographofChaimWeizmann 146
16 PhotographofChristianTemplersettlersinWilhelma,
Palestine 149
17 PostagestampfromNewJudea 166
18 MapofNewJudea 183
19 PhotographofFranzKafka,Israel’sfirstrecipientof
theNobelPrizeforLiterature 188
20 PhotographofFranzKafkainPraguebeforehis
departuretoPalestinein1924 195
21 PhotographoftheArabHigherCommitteefeaturing
HajAminAl-Husseini 220
22 MapofarmisticelinesinPalestinein1947and1949 232
23 PhotographofDavidBen-Gurion 240
24 PhotographofMusaAlami 241
25 PortraitofWaltherRathenaubyEdvardMunch
(1907) 260
26 PhotographofAlbertEinstein 267
27 PhotographofGeorgElser 276
28 PostagestampofAdolfHitler 281
29 PhotographofHajAminAl-HusseiniwithAdolf
Hitler(1941) 303
30 PhotographofGeneralErwinRommelinNorth
Africa 306
31 PhotographofmannequinofJewholdingTorahscroll
intheKlaussynagogue 319
32 PhotographofNaziideologueAlfredRosenberg 326
33 PhotographofHjalmarSchachtandAdolfHitler 335
34 PhotographoftheruinsoftheKingDavidHotel,
Jerusalem 346
FIGURE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Figure1:NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne;Figure2:(cid:2)C
Gettyimages/CultureClub;Figure3:(cid:2)C TheBritishLibrary;Figure4:
CourtesyofHermitageMuseum,SaintPetersburg,Russia;Figure5:(cid:2)C
HeritageImagePartnershipLtd./AlamyLtd.;Figure6:(cid:2)C Museumof
Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA / Gift of William A. Coolidge
/ Bridgeman Images; Figure 7: (cid:2)C Getty images / Hulton Archive;
Figure 8: (cid:2)C Musée Condé, Chantilly, France / Bridgeman Images;
Figure 9: (cid:2)C Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman
Images;Figure10:(cid:2)C PrivateCollection/BridgemanImages;Figure11:
(cid:2)C Alamy Ltd.; Figure 12: public domain; Figure 13: (cid:2)C De Agostini
Picture Library / A. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images; Figure 14: (cid:2)C
MuséeNationalduChateaudeMalmaison,Rueil-Malmaison,France/
BridgemanImages;Figure15:(cid:2)C Gettyimages/ThreeLions;Figure16:
LibraryofCongress,matpc.09278;Figure17:author’screation/public
domain; Figure 18: original artwork; Figure 19: National Library of
Israel, public domain; Figure 20: (cid:2)C 2015 Archiv Klaus Wagenbach;
Figure 21: (cid:2)C Getty images / Universal History Archive; Figure 22:
original artwork; Figure 23: (cid:2)C Getty images / LIFE Picture Collec-
tion; Figure 24: public domain; Figure 25: Courtesy of the Rasmus
Meyer Collection,Bergen,Norway; Figure 26:(cid:2)C E.O.Hoppé/Corbis;
Figure27:publicdomain;Figure28:originalartwork/publicdomain;
Figure 29: (cid:2)C Bundesarchiv Bild 146 1987 004 09A; Figure 30: (cid:2)C
Bundesarchiv Bild ioi 1786 032 7i9; Figure 31: (cid:2)C Jewish Museum,
Prague;Figure32:(cid:2)C BundesarchivBildi8319850723500;Figure33:
(cid:2)C Bpkpictureagency;Figure34:(cid:2)C Gettyimages/HultonArchive.
CONTRIBUTORS
rené bloch isProfessorforJewishStudiesattheInstituteforJewish
StudiesandattheInstituteforClassicalPhilologyatthe
UniversityofBern.
michael brenner isProfessorofJewishHistoryandCultureat
theLudwigMaximilianUniversityofMunichandholdsthe
SeymourandLillianAbensohnChairinIsraelStudiesat
AmericanUniversityinWashington.
iris bruce isAssociateProfessorofLinguisticsandLanguagesat
McMasterUniversity.
bernard dov cooperman isLouisL.KaplanAssociateProfessorof
HistoryattheUniversityofMaryland.
jeffrey s. gurock istheLibbyM.KlapermanProfessorofJewish
HistoryatYeshivaUniversity.
jeffrey herfisDistinguishedUniversityProfessorintheDepartment
ofHistoryattheUniversityofMaryland,CollegePark.
david n. myers isProfessorofHistoryattheUniversityof
California,LosAngeles.
derek jonathan penslar istheStanleyLewisProfessorofIsrael
StudiesattheUniversityofOxfordandSamuelZacks
ProfessorofJewishHistoryattheUniversityofToronto.
xi/Listofcontributors
jonathan rayistheSamuelEigAssociateProfessorofJewishStudies
intheTheologyDepartmentatGeorgetownUniversity.
gavriel d. rosenfeld isProfessorofHistoryatFairfieldUniversity.
adam rovner isAssociateProfessorofEnglishandJewishLiterature
attheUniversityofDenver.
dirk rupnow isProfessorofContemporaryHistoryattheUniversity
ofInnsbruck.
eugene r. sheppard isAssociateProfessorofModernJewish
HistoryandThoughtatBrandeisUniversity.
kenneth w. stein istheWilliamE.SchattenProfessorof
ContemporaryMiddleEasternHistoryandIsraeliStudiesat
EmoryUniversity.
jeffrey veidlinger istheJosephBrodskyCollegiateProfessorof
HistoryandJudaicStudiesattheUniversityofMichigan.
steven weitzman istheAbrahamM.EllisProfessorofHebrewand
SemiticLanguagesandLiteraturesattheUniversityof
Pennsylvania.