Q&A: From “A German Requiem,” page 261
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
From “A German Requiem,” page 261
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Attached:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xtg-1Ib2Og_m8bcVPtlW1BTYokYj2RnS
Answer
All right, but from here to an auditory and visual logic is still a long way off. He is talking about the fact that Jews place emphasis on hearing and the ear, as opposed to the Greeks, who emphasize seeing with the eye. But there is no statement here about different logics after all, the discussion is about listening to concerts.
Discussion on Answer
Do you know Frederick Grunfeld’s book Prophets Without Honor (Afakim Library, Am Oved)? It deals with the same issue (the desperate attempt of German Jews to integrate). I also seem to remember an article by Gershom Scholem in Devarim Be-Go about this.
He’s right. I should really read Buber’s article in the original sometime (I wonder whether it was ever translated). Amos Elon’s book doesn’t cite a source.
[By the way – in my opinion this is a must-read book, one that ought to be part of the curriculum in first grade. It’s a book about German Jewry and their pathetic attempts (at least in retrospect) to integrate into German culture and the German people. Amazing. And the fact that the author is a left-wing journalist from Haaretz who emigrated from Israel back to Germany because he got fed up with the Mizrahim here – that makes the book even better.]