Judaic Culture In The Twentieth Century: An Analysis

Over the years, scholars of Judaism have often pondered what could be done to lessen or abolish an anti-Semitic environment. The Jewish nation has been persecuted for many thousands of years for not only its beliefs but also its lack of cohesion. In one regard, Judaic culture is fractured and needs to have a true Jewish stronghold to show oppressors that they are once again empowered. In contrast, the oppressors might see the Jewish stronghold as a way to quickly eliminate the culture. The Jews have been pressured for centuries by various nations because of their lack of assimilating to the “proper” way of life.
The Jews faced countless occurrences of oppression whether that be from the Nazis or other anti-Semitic organizations whose goal was to drive out the bad in society. In Germany, anti-Semitism was not that prominent in every day society in the late nineteenth century as well as in the early twentieth century. The post-1918 period marks the first time that anti-Semitic language started to seep into German …show more content…
Many Jews started to find that the religious aspect of Judaism was not that significant to them anymore. Some even converted to Christianity because they had lost so much faith in a way of life that they felt was irreparable. There was much tension between Jews who were secularized versus those that were orthodox. Because of this, Jews of eastern Europe was dividing without any pressure from oppressors. Moses Hess wrote in one of literary works titled Rome and Jerusalem, “ that Jews were not a religious group but rather a separate nation characterized by a unique religion whose universal significance should be recognized.” Hess felt that it was crucial to have a foundation in Palestine because Jewish history was so strongly rooted in that area. Furthermore, Herzl thought that the establishment of a Jewish state was crucial if Jews wanted to have a representation that would have