The Jewish Reformation

In a riveting work, Michah Gottlieb tells the story of the Jewish Reformation-namely, the endeavor to reconstruct a new form of Judaism grounded in German middle-class modernity. Gottlieb both unsettles and reconstitutes the boundaries between Protestantism and Judaism, and redefines, in original ways, such terms as Orthodoxy and Reform. This excellent work raises fascinating questions about how we read religious texts; what is specific about such readings and what is universal about them; and how translation, education, and novel understandings of culture and cultural production generate new exegetical practices. * Perspectives in History * In The Jewish Reformation, Michah Gottlieb skillfully restores the Bible to center stage in the process of German Jewry's emancipation, its endeavor to gain equal rights and acceptance in German society and culture. He significantly highlights the role of Bible translation in the ambitious effort to identify with the surrounding culture and fashion an appropriate version of 'bourgeois' piety while concomitantly maintaining Judaism's foundational distinctiveness. * David Sorkin, author of Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries * Why were German Jews so preoccupied with Bible translation? From 1783 to 1961 there were fifteen Jewish translations of the Pentateuch into German. Among the translators were Moses Mendelssohn, Leopold Zunz, Samson Raphael Hirsch, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig. Michah Gottlieb, a leading interpreter of German-Jewish thought, explores this question and gives surprising answers. His important book tells the heroic story of German-Jewish piety, erudition, controversy, and bourgeois integrity. * Warren Zev Harvey, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem * In The Jewish Reformation: Bible Translation and Middle-Class German Judaism as Spiritual Enterprise, Michah Gottlieb has brilliantly employed the biblical translations of Mendelssohn, Zunz, and S.R. Hirsch as gauges to measure the cultural transition of German Judaism and German Jews to the bourgeois world of modern Germany. Gottlieb provides a remarkably detailed and insightful exposition of these works and provides a delightfully rich historical and intellectual contextualization of his subjects. The Jewish Reformation constitutes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of modern Judaism! * David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University *