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259 Chaim Zhitlowsky (1865–1943) was a socialist and Jewish writer, and one of the chief advocates of Diaspora nationalism and Yiddishism. Born in Vitebsk, Russia, Zhitlowsky lived in St. Petersburg before moving to Berlin and Zurich, where he was active in socialist and Jewish politics. In 1908 he moved to New York, where he continued his work as a writer, editor, and political activist. This article was first published in the Yiddish newspaper Der Tog (New York), May 31, 1927. See the entry in the Encyclopedia Judaica, 16:1009–11. Who and what is a Jew? What is Jewishness (Yiddishkeit)? The Jew and Judaism have existed on this planet for a long while; nonetheless, it appears that when it comes to these questions one can’t do without disagreement and controversy . . . Georg Brandes51 dies, and already comes the question, can we include him in the category of “Jewishness,” and can we say that he, Brandes, the great writer, was also a great “Jew”? It appears to me that the lack of clarity here derives from the fact that with the words “Jew” and “Jewishness” we are actually designating two very different things that are everywhere and quite commonly bound together. Yet they are not so closely tied to one another that the one should not be able to exist without the other. Often we identify only one type of Jewishness and take that as the genuine article (etz toch fun dem inyan), negating all other versions and placing ourselves in contradiction to real life and to every natural classification, which it—life, I mean—expresses. It is therefore absolutely imperative that we have a clear conception of the very real variations of Jewishness, so that we might arrive at the correct standard by which we are able to evaluate this or that Jewish essence or nature (mahut). The simplest and clearest sort of Jewishness is the religious. This is a discrete collection of beliefs and opinions that are known around the world as either 36 | Jews and Jewishness Chaim Zhitlowsky “Yidn un Yiddishkeit,” in Yidn un Yiddishkeit (New York: Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky Verlag-Komite, 1939). 51. [Georg Brandes (1842–1927) was a Danish writer and critic.] 260 | P O L I T I C S , P O L E M I C S , A N D A P O LO G E T I C S “Jewishness” (Judentum) or “Judaism.” A Jew is someone who believes in the ways of Judaism today. He may do that like the Vilna Gaon or like the New York Rabbi Stephen Wise52 [. . .] Moreover, one does not have to be a Jew from birth. The [members of the] Russian sect that called itself Gerim are kosher Jews according to Jewish law (ke-din u ke-dat). According to its internal aspirations, the Jewish faith ought to be a religion not only for the Jewish Volk but for all peoples and races, for humankind in general. That is its ideal, its greatest hope, because like its children—Christianity and Islam—Judaism too is a universal faith, for all mankind. “And He shall make everyone into one community (Agudah),” this we don’t cease to ask of God. A former Jew, from a strictly religious standpoint, is anyone who renounces Judaism. This could be someone who formally converts to another faith, or someone who liberates himself from the formalities of religious confession. In earlier times, when every Jew was a religious Jew, one understood that religious Jewishness alone was the meaning of Jewishness, and thus no other form of Jewishness was possible. In recent times, we’ve begun to think differently about this subject. There have emerged “Jews” who have absolutely nothing to do with the Jewish religion. In the first place there are the national Jews—or, more correctly, nationalist Jews. Furthermore, this type of Jewishness is bound up with a particular manner of thinking, a certain conscious striving, and also often with emotions that flow from such thoughts and strivings. But our Jewish consciousness insists on a solidarity with the national destiny of the Jewish people, and in the explicit desire for a national destiny that is more beautiful and more significant. Dr. Herzl and Dr. Nordau can serve as splendid examples of just such a type of nationalistic Jewishness.53 It is clear that religious considerations play absolutely no role for them. Let’s set Herzl aside; but with regard to Nordau, there is clearly no doubt that he never had...

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