Judaistik at German Universities Today

Judaistik at German Universities Today Judaistik at German Universities Today· Margarete SchlUter Margar~te Schluter studied Judaistik, history, and archaeology at the University ofMunich, the University ofCologne, and the Hebrew University ofJerusalem. Her M.A., Ph.D., and Habilitation are in Judaistik. She' has been Assistant Professor for Judaistik at the Universities of Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. Currently Margarete Schliiter is Professor for Judaistik at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main, President· ofthe Society for the Advancement ofJudaic Studies at Frankfurt am Main, a member of the Commission for Research of the History of the Frankfurt Jews, President of the Association of Judaisten in the Federal Republic of Germany, and a member of the Executive Committee ofthe European Association for Jewish Studies, as weII as editor of the journal FrankfUrter Judaistische Deitrage and of the monograph series FrankfUrter Judaistische Studien. 25 Leafmg through the catalogs of German universities, one comes across an increasing number ofcourses in Jewish subjects-particularly in the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences. The spectrum ofthe courses offered encompasses those traditionally found in the realm of Christian theology, such as courses on the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Qumran, Hellenistic-Jewish literature, Philo of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius, and, more recently, also modem religious philosophers such as Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig. It also includes Hebrew and Aramaic philology in the context ofSemitic or Oriental Studies, themes concerning "German-Jewish" history--especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, frequently from the perspective of antisemitism and the Holocaust, and occasionally ,ofthe Middle Ages-themes concerning "German-Jewish" literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as contemporary American-Jewish literature. Finally, one encounters courses in Yiddish and, sporadically, courses in Jewish art and synagogue architecture, all within their respective university departments. These courses, as well as others that cannot be summed, up in detail here but are partly represented in separate articles in this volume, are very welcome, for they enable a growing number of students to come into contact with Jewish themes, at least selectively, in their respective disciplines. This situation at least opens up the possibility that students increasingly perceive Jewish culture as an integral component of the culture and society being studied, or as having a somewhat close relationship with it. "I would like to thank Dr. Dean BeII and Dr. Annelies Kuyt for translating my article into English. 26 SHOFAR Summer 1997 Vol. 15, No.4 The number of courses in Jewish themes offered within individual departments, however, varies greatly from one university to another. Frequently, courses are only offered sporadically, subject to the chance and individual preferences ofacademic staff. Moreover, all too often, though not inevitably, Jewish subjects are viewed and treated primarily from the "outside," without proper attention to the specific conditions of Jewish culture itself. This phenomenon has its origins in a certain lack ofcompetence of academic teachers at German universities, concerning the Jewish componen.t of a particular theme by reason of their individual academic background (for example in Anierican Studies, German literature or history). Moreover, they often have no access to important sources and secondary literature either, that are, for example, written in Hebrew. In this case as in other situations, it is true that "one only sees what one knows." The reverse would naturally be more desirable: not "everyone" should happen to treat a Jewish theme within hislher discipline, but, rather, experts for Jewish themes should be integrated into the respective disciplines. Unlike some American universities, however, German universities do not have a specialist for each Jewish subject within the respective departments (in Jewish philosophy, or medieval Hebrew literature, for example).1 The illusion that one need only bundle up the scattered courses-which are, as mentioned before, generally desirable and could serve an important function-in order to have the equivalent to the American "Program in Jewish Studies" in Germany cannot, therefore, be maintained. Even in an area in which a high level ofcompetence is presumed, as for example, in Biblical Studies within the theological faculty, it does not seem advisable as a rule to integrate it in such' a program. On the one hand the . Christian theological perspective from which "Old Testament...