About Brinker
Menachem Brinker is Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, Emeritus, at the Hebrew University and Crown Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature at the University of Chicago. Brinker has published books and essays on philosophy, aesthetics, literary theory, and Hebrew literature, most recently Last Jews or First Hebrews: M. Y. Berdyczewski's Appeal for Re-evaluation of Jewish Culture (Hebrew). He edited the Hebrew literary journal Massa and the political-social monthly Emda and was president of the Israeli Philosophical Association. A spokesman for the peace movement in Israel, Brinker has pariticipated in public forums on contemporary Jewish life. He has also taught at teacher training seminaries in Israel.
A
summary of Brinker's work
(in Hebrew) was published at the time of his being awarded the Israel Prize for the study of literature in 2004.
Brinker's View of Jewishness
Brinker draws upon common assumptions that were shared by late 19th-century Hebrew authors in Eastern Europe. He approaches the question of Jewish education in our time by exploring the application of these shared assumptions to present-day realities.
Brinker's interpretation of the discourse of the Eastern European Hebrew authors regarding Jewish identity appears in his article, "Brenner's Jewishness," published in Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 4 Ed. Jonathan Frankel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).
An expanded version of this article appears in Hebrew in יהודיותו של ברנר in עד הסימטה הטבריינית (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1990).
In a publication for educators, Brinker presented some of these ideas in a condensed form in ייחולים לעיברי אירופאי בספרות העברית במעבר המאות
The Supplement to Brinker's conception in Visions of Jewish Education presents excerpts from Brinker's writing on the Eastern European Hebrew authors and from their texts (see pages 107 to 114). The following are the full articles from which the which the excerpts have been drawn.
Brinker on Ahad Ha-Am
ייחולים לעיברי אירופאי בספרות העברית במעבר המאות
מגוון דעות והשקפות בתרבות ישראל
From Ahad Ha-Am
"Slavery in Freedom" in Selected Essays of Ahad Ha-'Am, trans. Leon Simon (New York: Atheneum, 1970). Hebrew original: עבדות בתוך חירות
"The Law of the Heart" in The Zionist Idea, ed. Arthur Hertzberg (New York: Atheneum, 1979). Hebrew original: תורה שבלב
Brinker on Micha Josef Berdyczewski
ייחולים לעיברי אירופאי בספרות העברית במעבר המאות
From Berdyczewski
"Wrecking and Building" in The Zionist Idea, ed. Arthur Hertzberg (New York: Atheneum, 1979)
"The Question of Culture" in The Zionist Idea, ed. Arthur Hertzberg (New York: Atheneum, 1979)
Brinker on Yosef Hayyim Brenner
אחד העם, ברדצבסקי, וברנר: שלום התייחסויות לטקסטים מחייבים ביהדות
From Brenner
"On The Threat of Assimilation" in Ketavim, vol. 3 (Tel Aviv: HaKibbutz HaMeuhad, 1985)
Readers who want to become acquainted with the intellectual world of the 19th century Hebrew authors are referred to the classic anthology by Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea (New York: Atheneum, 1979) and to Shlomo Avineri's The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State (New York: Basic Books, 1981)
Brinker's Commentary on Modern Israel in Light of the Common Assumptions of the 19th Century Hebrew Authors
Is Brinker's thought an extension of Zionism beyond its political achievements or an alternative to Zionism?
Brinker argues that "the achievements of Zionism make its political ideology redundant" and that the challenge now is "building a more open, complex, and pluralistic Jewish society in Israel" (Supplement: Menachem Brinker, page 114). His essay "The End of Zionism," published in Dissent 32:1 (Winter 1985), shows this direction in his thought.
Brinker applies the ideas of the Hebrew authors to the question of the "culture war" between Orthodox and secular Jews in Israel in his article על גבולות מלחמת התרבות בישראל
Applications of Brinker's Vision to Contemporary Jewish Education
Early in the Visions of Jewish Education Project, Daniel Marom attempted to formulate the links between Brinker's ideas of Jewishness and his curricular suggestions. The resulting document is called "An Architectonic of Brinker's Conception of the Educated Jew."
In the supplement to Brinker's chapter in Visions of Jewish Education, we suggest that various American Zionist thinkers grappled with the possibilities of applying the ideas of Ahad Ha-Am and others to the American setting. An interesting example is Mordecai Kaplan, founder of the Reconstructionist movement in America. In his suggestions for the development of a Jewish community center, "Jewish Communal Organization" in Judaism as a Civilization (New York: Schocken, 1967) Kaplan worked with some of these ideas.
Horace Kallen developed "Zionist frameworks" called Menorah Societies for college students in the early part of the 20th century. See "Education and the Survival of the World Jewish Community: An Address Delivered Before the Board of Governors of the American Association for Jewish Education" (New York: American Association for Jewish Education, 1957).
