"A Rich Brew"

A Rich Brew: How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture by Shachar M. Pinsker describes café life in Odessa, Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, New York, and Tel Aviv, from the 19th century to the era before World War II. The book is a magnificent treatment of the subject that has concerned me throughout writing this blog: that is, the subject of secular Jews and their culture. For a long time, I've been trying to understand how modern Jewish culture -- the secular variety -- was created. There are other answers, but this one is a good one.

Pinsker shows how an essential location where 19th and 20th century Jewish (and sometimes non-Jewish) writers and intellectuals gathered in these cities was their cafés. He describes how these cafés were often a "Jewish space" because of both the owners and the customers. He names many, many Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Russian, and other-language writers that I've heard of and in many cases that I've read, and describes the cafés they frequented. It's a very good read!

I wrote a sort of an appreciation of the book at my other blog, in this post "How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture."

Kurt Tucholsky (January 9, 1890)

Kurt Tucholsky was a journalist and fiction writer in the exciting atmosphere of Berlin in the pre-Nazi era, when a kind of Jewish intellectualism and freedom seemed too good to be true -- and was. He wrote all kinds of stuff under various pen names (even Kaspar Hauser), and led a mixed-up and difficult life. He's remembered vividly and loved by current Berliners, even very young ones.

On a visit to Berlin a few years ago, we saw a street named after him, and we ate at Cafe Tucholsky, where the walls are covered with photos and memorabilia from his life there. As far as I can tell, he has little traction with Americans of any age.

Some of his works have been translated recently, and he's getting some attention from English speakers. Here's a quote from an anti-war poem in an article titled "I wish I had met Kurt Tucholsky"

"Lord God! If you’re really up there as we’ve been taught
Come down from Heaven or send your son.
Tear off the banners, the helmets and the medals
And tell the nations of the earth how we’ve suffered,
How we were wiped out by hunger, lice, shrapnel, and lies.
In your name, the preachers have led us to our graves.
Come down now and explain why they lied.
Those of us who have knees are kneeling before you. Listen to us.
Drive us back under the ground, but first give us an answer."

Resolutions

Happy New Year!

My new goal for this blog in 2012: to read about cities where communities of assimilated or secular Jews have lived. Each city is different; sometimes a newly founded community took an unexpected direction. Sometimes new ideas would emerge in a long-established community.

A few preliminary examples: Odessa was founded at the end of the 19^th century. From the start it was a very culturally and socially open place, where Jews and many others found economic and educational opportunities. This “New Russia” on the Black Sea always contrasted to Old Russia where Jews were severely restricted in every way. The Odessa Jews became successful and increasingly assimilated, though they kept a Jewish identity for the most part. Despite several pogroms in the 1800s, Jews towards the end of the  century were sure that persecution and antisemitism would soon end. I’ve been reading some very interesting books about this community, and will have much more to report.

Vitebsk and Vilna, in contrast, were traditional cities in the heart of the repressive Pale of Settlement. Despite the limitations, Vitebsk was the original home of several innovative 20^th century artists. And Vilna, famous for its religious center, was also the site of the founding of YIVO, which continues today in New York as an outstanding secular Jewish institution. Again, I’m aware of some interesting studies of these communities and their progeny, and hope to explore them.

Venice, in 1515, invented the Ghetto so that they could admit Jews without actually living alongside them. The Venetian Ghetto became a lively place with a strong life of its own, especially famous for Purim parties and as a halfway stop for secret Jews escaping from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. I've read quite a bit, and hope to review some of the more amusing anecdotes about this community.

Berlin allowed virtually no Jews in the 18^th century (Moses Mendelssohn needed a special exception to live there). However, when the situation opened up a bit, Berlin became a center of secular Jewish culture and was home to a number of interesting writers and thinkers. This fascinating era lasted from around 1800 until the Nazis solved the “problem.” German Jewish intellectual circles in Berlin are fascinating to read about, and I also have a reading list for this.

So my plan is that I’m going to learn more about these cities and I hope many others, thus exploring a different approach to the almanach of birthday celebrations that I’ve done so far. I still have a few more birthdays each month, as well as these new avenues for reading and writing.