Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora
Apr 2025 · Oxford University Press
Ebook
248
Pages
Tools
info
family_home
Eligible
info
About this ebook
A new interpretation of historical and contemporary Jewish texts that views diaspora as a positive outcome for Jews and for the world Jewish people have always wandered. According to their origin story, they wandered from Ur of Chaldees to Canaan, then Egypt, and then back to Canaan. From there, they were exiled to Babylon, where they lived for centuries. They also settled in Persia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, England, the United States, among many other places. Diaspora became normal to Jews, and though they may have hoped for a return to their "Promised Land" at the "End of Days," they made sense of their many homes, defending diaspora as the realm where Jewish life could grow, and they could fulfil their obligations to God. Embracing Exile analyzes biblical and rabbinic texts, philosophical treatises, studies of Kabbalah, Hasidism, and a multiplicity of modern expressions. It offers revised readings of the Bible's book of Esther, a survey of Talmudic treatments of exile, an in-depth analysis of the thought of the early modern master, the Maharal of Prague, as well as the work of novelist Philip Roth, among other modern authors. David Kraemer shows that Diaspora Jews through the ages insisted that God joined them in their exiles, that "Zion" was found in Babylon and Eastern Europe, and that, as citizens of the world, Jews could only live throughout the world. The result is a convincing assertion that lament has not been the most common Jewish response to diaspora and that Zionism is not the natural outcome of either Jewish ideology or history. Kraemer also argues that as the world's most experienced surviving refugees, Jews also offer a model to more contemporary refugees, demonstrating how they may not only survive but thrive and endure.
A new interpretation of historical and contemporary Jewish texts that views diaspora as a positive outcome for Jews and for the world Jewish people have always wandered. According to their origin story, they wandered from Ur of Chaldees to Canaan, then Egypt, and then back to Canaan. From there, ...
Discover more
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
