What does it mean for modern Jews to keep Jewish religious law?

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H06665
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Religious studies
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: MARUYAMA TAKAO 東京外国語大学, 世界言語社会教育センター, 講師 (90807827)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-08-25 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ユダヤ教 / ドイツ / 正統派 / 律法 / ヘッシェル / ローゼンツヴァイク / ブーバー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, I analyzed what Jewish thinkers thought and argued about practicing the traditional Jewish law in German Jewish world in the early 20th century, namely Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Isaac Breuer and Abraham Heschel. By comparing their arguments, the research shows the complex relationship between tradition and the construction of identity among German Jews in the very secular German society at that time. Buber, Rosenzweig and Breuer represented different streams within Judaism then: Buber zionism (National-Jewish), Rosenzweig liberal Judaism (very unique type, though), Breuer Separatist Orthodoxy. Heschel, on the other hand, is one of the most prominent Jewish thinker after the World War II. They all tried, in their own way, to construct Jewish identity and reestablished relationship with the traditional religious law.

Free Research Field

宗教学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

２０世紀初頭のドイツ・ユダヤ人社会の精神的状況、とりわけ伝統主義的な人々がかかえた伝統と現代文化のあいだの葛藤を明らかにした。また、世俗化が進んだ社会における伝統の位置づけを解明することで、多文化共生をめぐる今日的課題に対する重要な視点を提供している。