Intro to my Jewish History Blog

Why bother blogging? I have wanted to start a blog for a while but then ask myself: what’s the point? Something to put on the CV? Not good enough, really. Laziness generally trumps pragmatism in my battle of wills. Do I particularly enjoy sharing my views with other people? Unless it’s cricket-related, not really. I don’t have that many strong views on contemporary events and I don’t particularly like participating in online discussions because too often it descends into rhetoric or name-calling and very rarely do any discussions have the required subtlety to be meaningful. 

Well, the one area I really do have interest in is Jewish history, from both an academic and a religious perspective. I am a religious Jew and one area of my religious experience which I feel is rarely tapped into or spoken about sufficiently is that of the historical journey of the Jewish people. This incorporates a great number of disciplines and is certainly not a specific area but is one I feel that over the last few years I have gained license to share. Since leaving Yeshiva a whole new world of thought, experience and depth has opened up to me and has illuminated the journey which I embark upon as a Jew. 

From reading the works of figures from Maimonides to R. Hirsch to the historical biographies of figures such as Mendelssohn and Shabbatai Tzvi (who was the subject of my Undergraduate dissertation) I have been moved to share what I consider to be insights about the lives of individuals, societies and conflicts that have been so pivotal to shaping the reality of the Jewish experience. 

It is this that I love so much about history, both as a student as an interested reader – it is complicated. It is subtle. There are rarely black and white answers in explaining motives behind decisions or events major and minor and by examining different periods honestly, powerful and novel insights can be gained into our own lives and identities as Jews. And despite what I was told on my first day in University, there are many lessons to be learned.

In particular, I am interested in great leaders and their insights, the place of the individual within Jewish society, conflicts, the weird and the wonderful. I would like to starting from the era of R. Saadia Gaon in the 9^th century and attempt to comment chronologically on themes that interest me, but will probably get side-tracked. There are certain obvious themes that are of general interest: the tension and harmonisation between Jewish thought and Greek philosophy, the wonderfully complex personalities of figures such as the Rambam; the strictly ‘rationalist’ philosophy of the medieval period, the emergent mysticism and Kabbalah and the tension between the two schools of thought, the struggle of the Jew in the modern era and the engagement with the age of emancipation. 

I am not going to pretend that I will systematically evaluate any of these areas. More likely I will go on long rants. But maybe I will raise questions and insights of interest and perhaps give people a taste of my fascination with exploring our past. I have decided to call this blog: Infinite Museum. This is a pretentious title, mainly chosen due to my Bob Dylan obsession and he will get regular mentions in my posts. Dylan claimed that “inside the museums, infinite goes up on trial”. I feel the opposite. By exploring the museums I really get a taste for the infinite. Hope you enjoy! I will try and publish at least one article a week.