"Recycling the "Jewish Question

One of the unforeseen consequences of the showing of Holocaust in Germany has been the resurfacing of the Jewish Question not only there but elsewhere in Europe' and the United States. In all of the ensuing fanfare, however, two crucial issues have remained unasked: what explains the resurgence of this question now (i.e., what are the political underpinnings of the debate); and what is the status of anti-Semitism today. Surprisingly enough, after decades of discussion on the subject, there is still no systematic theory of contemporary anti-Semitism other than that developed by the Frankfurt School. Thus, while the recycling of the Jewish question may appear as a desirable step (especially in Germany), it may actually have significant counter-productive consequences. The following will argue that the left primarily the American left and in particular that part involved in the recent debate in New German Critique has misunderstood the political significance of the new and improved Jewish question, and that a careful updating of the Frankfurt School's account of anti-Semitism explodes a whole series of myths and leftist conventional wisdom on the matter

Archaeology · Judaism · Critical Theory and Philosophy · German legal, social, and political studies · History · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity