Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity: Architect of Zionism, Yiddishism, and Orthodoxy

366 Pages·2013·3.25 MB·English

by  Jess Olson

Stanford University Press Stanford, California
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
This book has been published with the assistance of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation and the Yeshiva
University Center for Israel Studies.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data Olson, Jess, author.
Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish modernity : architect of Zionism, Yiddishism, and orthodoxy / Jess Olson.
pages cm. — (Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture) Includes bibliographical references and
index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-7873-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8047-8500-6 (e-book)
1. Birnbaum, Nathan, 1864–1937. 2. Zionists—Austria—Biography. 3. Yiddishists—Austria—Biography.
4. Orthodox Judaism—Europe—History. I. Title. II. Series: Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture.
DS151.B5O44 2013
320.54095694092—dc23
[B]
2012020624
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10.5/14 Galliard
Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish
Modernity
Architect of Zionism, Yiddishism, and Orthodoxy
Jess Olson
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
STANFORD STUDIES IN JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE
EDITED BY Aron Rodrigue and Steven J. Zipperstein
To my beloved wife, Kara, with deepest love and gratitude
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
1. Discovering the Nation: Nathan Birnbaum and Early Viennese Jewish
Nationalism, 1882–90
2. New Conflicts, New Directions: Birnbaum’s New Nationalist Course and the
Arrival of Herzl
3. Rupture and Renaissance: The Jewish Renaissance Movement and the Ahad
Ha’am Affair
4. The Eastward Gaze: The 1907 Elections and the Yiddish Language
Conference
5. The Origins of an Orthodox Ideologue: World War I and the Turn to Religion
6. At Home in the Fold: Birnbaum, the Agudath Israel, and Orthodox Jewish
Politics
7. The Final Ascent: Der Aufstieg, Der Ruf, and Roads Not Taken in Interwar
Orthodoxy
Epilogue: Another Teshuvah
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Menachem Mendel Birnbaum
Asher Zalke Korngut
Cover, first issue of Megillah
Mathias Acher, 1901
Cartoon from Der Yidisher Gazlan, 26 August 1910
Nathan Birnbaum and Chaim Zhitlovsky, Czernowitz, 1908
Nathan Birnbaum, “Der Ba’al Teshuva,” 1918
Agudath Israel delegation to New York, 1921
Acknowledgments
This project began more than ten years ago and succeeded in no small part due
to a fortuitous bit of luck, a key tip from Brad Sabin-Hill, currently the curator of
the Kiev Judaica Collection at George Washington University. From him, I
learned that two of the grandchildren of Nathan Birnbaum resided in Toronto.
Thus, I stumbled upon the archive that would turn out to have a far greater
impact on my life than I could have imagined. I would like to thank the
following for their help, and all errors in this book are mine alone.
Without a doubt this book would have been impossible without the materials
of the Nathan and Solomon Birnbaum Family Archive. But even more, the
Birnbaum family’s hospitality and friendship allowed this project to succeed.
Eleazar Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto Department
of Near and Middle Eastern Languages and Civilizations, has given me
comments on my work that have been consistently illuminating. Jacob Birnbaum
of Washington Heights spent hours sharing his knowledge and stories of the
Birnbaum family history, and his wife, Freda, has attended every lecture I have
ever given on the Birnbaum legacy in the greater New York area. Finally, David
and Jytte Birnbaum of Toronto have opened their door again and again to me to
share the impossibly rich collection that they have cared for with unparalleled
passion and depth of knowledge, and David has provided many very helpful
comments on the manuscript at every stage. Beyond that, they have taken me
into their home, given me innumerable cups of tea and coffee, delicious meals,
and hours of conversation that I have relished every time I’ve been to Toronto. I
offer them my heartfelt thanks.
I am grateful to the many colleagues, friends, and teachers who have provided
valuable support and feedback as I wrestled with the book, including Aron
Rodrigue, Arnold Eisen, Norman Naimark, Gabriella Safran, and Charlotte
Fonrobert. My friends and colleagues Elissa Bemporad, Mia Sarah Bruch,
Kenneth Moss, Cecile Kuznitz, Holly Case, Julia Cohen, and Andrew Koss have
offered comments in different venues. Zachary Baker gave me hours of his time
and expertise at each step in researching this project, as did Heidi Lerner.
As I have seen this book through multiple drafts, many colleagues have read
parts and provided me with extremely valuable insight. Sarah Abrevaya Stein
has read every chapter and has always been tremendously generous with her
time and perspective. Michael Silber, Hillel Kieval, David Rechter, Gershon
Bacon, Tony Michels, Martin Jaffee, Shalom Carmy, and Joshua Karlip have
given parts of the manuscript their time and attention and provided me with
judicious comments. The late Jonathan Frankel gave me his time and comments
early on, helping me to grasp the larger importance of Birnbaum’s legacy. I am
grateful to Stefanie Agar for her sharp reading and helpful observations. At
Yeshiva University, where I am privileged to work with some of the finest
scholars of Jewish studies anywhere, I have benefited from discussions on
aspects of the project with my colleagues, including David Berger, Jeffrey
Gurock, Daniel Rynhold, Rachel Mesch, Debra Kaplan, and Schmuel Schneider,
who shared with me his own work on Czernowitz. I am especially grateful to my
friend and colleague Steven Fine, whose door has been open to me from the
moment I stepped onto the YU campus. Rabbi Yosef Blau and Rabbi Bernard
Rosensweig have shared their encyclopedic knowledge and incisive observations
about the early days of the Agudah, and Joseph Friedensohn, editor of Dos
Yidishe Vort, was kind enough to invite me to his home to discuss Birnbaum’s
legacy in the Orthodox world. I received great feedback on elements of this book
from numerous presentations and conferences, most notably the conferences
held in Toronto, organized by Kalman Weiser and Joshua Fogel, and in
Chernivtsi, Ukraine, organized by Wolf Moskovich, Leonid Finberg, and
Michael Chlenow, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the 1908
Yiddish Language Conference. I am also grateful to my many outstanding
students at Yeshiva, in particular, Shimshon Ayzenberg and Jackie Rosensweig,
who have read and commented upon chapters of this book with impressive
probity. In addition, my talented student and research assistant Yehuda Bernstein
provided me with exceptional assistance in combing through the Yizkor books of
Galicia.
Aside from the Birnbaum Family Archive, I have benefited from visits to the
YIVO and Leo Baeck Archives at the Center for Jewish History, the Dorot
Jewish Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives Department of
the National Library of Israel, and the Central Archives for the History of the
Jewish People. While writing and researching portions of this book, I was
generously supported by the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fellowship in Jewish
Studies, the National Foundation of Jewish Studies, the Hazel D. Cole
Fellowship in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington, and the Yad
Hanadiv/Beracha Foundation Fellowship in Israel. I am grateful to the Yeshiva
University Center for Israel Studies and the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation for
their generous assistance in the publication of this book. I also thank Norris
Pope, Sarah Crane Newman, and Carolyn Brown at Stanford University Press
for their guidance through the completion of this project.
I thank my mother, Paula; my father, Joseph; and my sister, Sara, for many
years of support and love. I am also grateful to Susan and Carl Wulfestieg for
their interest in my work and for always making me feel like a member of the
family.
To my mentor and colleague Steven Zipperstein I give my most sincere thanks
for the years of support and hours of discussions, meetings, and phone
conversations that went into this book. He has never wavered in his belief in the
importance and quality of this project, and I am profoundly grateful.
Finally, to my wife, Kara, and my children, Toby and Beruria: Regardless of
how much I struggled with this project, I have found happiness and solace in the
wonderful home we have built together. Kara’s constant support and
encouragement have made all the difference for the last fifteen years, and it is to
her that this book is dedicated with love and deep gratitude.