WCHJ Jewish History Buffs
The next meeting of the History Buffs is on February 17 at 10AM at Ann Toffel’s (16 Quincy Lane, White Plains, 914-948-3332. The book to be discussed is The Chosen by Chaim Potok. There is no charge for the club, and all are invited. |
The Jewish History Buffs meet on the 2nd Saturday morning of each month, at
members’ homes, from October through June. With the help of some
coffee and something to munch on, we tackle Jewish history from its
earliest beginnings through issues related to the formation and
preservation of modern Israel. Religion is of course an integral
part of Jewish history, and so becomes part of the discussion
whenever relevant, but we try to keep a relatively objective view in
our readings and discussions, viewing religion primarily from an
historic perspective.
Three years ago we completed the cycle from the earliest entry
of Jews into world history to the founding of Israel and then
began again, expanding our reading and interests. We use the
curriculum guide provided by the Society for Humanistic
Judaism and the "Historical Atlas of the Jewish People" by
Eli Barnavi, suggested in the curriculum. In addition, we have included
in our readings Max Dimont’s “Jews, God and History”and “Jews
in America”, as well as writing on biblical archaeology. Last spring
the focus was on “Constantine’s Sword”, a fascinating description of
the seeds of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church, written by
a former Catholic priest. We also download original writings mentioned
in the syllabus, and members bring in their own discoveries—books,
articles, topics they’d like to explore further, or just opinions
and questions.
In biblical history we discussed what we can know and what remains
myth, the origins of the written Bible, the development of
monotheism and a religion which included, but then went beyond
ceremony and ritual to stress moral imperatives, laying the way for
ethical monotheism, and eventually secular
humanism.
We then followed the Jewish people as they fell subject to Persians and
Assyrians and Greeks and Romans, adopting new ideas from the
conquerors, splitting into very contentious factions, but always
retaining their Jewish identity. Every destructive event in Jewish
history seems to have contributed to the strength and determination
to remain one people. They modernized, they adapted, and they
survived. In the past two years we spent more time on topics we had only touched on earlier, the birth
of Christianity, the fundamentals of Islam, and the relationship of
Judaism to the two religious spin-offs. This fall finds us in the
aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. The Jews are about to leave
the ghettos of Europe. Western European Jews will gradually
participate in the the Western European Enlightenment, while the
Jews of Eastern Europe will struggle much longer to escape the
ghetto mentality of the shetls. Finally, we will reach the
beginnings of Zionism and the founding of Israel, although
experience suggests that we will take enough detours to
find we need at least another year to get to that
point. |
Membership
Information
|
Come and join us—all members
are welcome, but we request that non members of WCHJ pay a fee
of $50 for the year.
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For information about topics, readings, and locations for specific meetings, please email
Pat Hammer or call (914)693-3156. |