They Made Their Souls Anew

Andreå Neher was a Professor at the University of Strasbourg and the author of more than twenty works translated worldwide.

"The book is an imaginative...brilliant discussion of the moral and religious plight of Jewish intellectuals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The theme is that of Teshuvah or return. This is probably one of the best books written on this theme since Martin Buber's. The author is something of a poet, a biographer, a historian of ideas, even a sage. Few people are able to write in so profound and comprehensive a way. They Made Their Souls Anew is in a class by itself and is going to be talked about for a long time." — Kenneth R. Seeskin, Northwestern University"Neher thinks, in these pages, with learning, imagination, and with great honesty. He brings the past into contact with the present by focussing on a number of contemporary or near-contemporary figures (e.g., Lazare, Heine, Fondane) through whom the past and issues of Jewish identity in general are to be grasped. This gives both a sense of immediacy and a historical basis to the work. It is an interesting and valuable book." — Berel Lang, State University of New York at Albany

• Opening ChordsProdigal Sons of AssimilationHeinrich HeineBernard LazareThe Vertical IrruptionFranz RosenzweigArnold SchönbergThe Challenge of the HolocaustKarl WolfskehlBenjamin FondaneThe Challenge of Eretz IsraelAaron Abraham KabakThe Nazir of JerusalemPart One: Dialectic of the Jewish Condition1. The Knots and the TensionsThe Jewish Statement: An Essential ContradictionThe Dialectics of "Being for Oneself" and "Being With the Others"Taking the Same Path as Everyone ElseThe Danger: Moving From Participation to AlienationThe Dissymmetrical Character of the Nineteenth Century2. The "Anti" and Its MasksFrom the Witness Stand to the Box of the AccusedThe Crime of ExistingThe Fruitless EscapeDid the "Anti" Have its Roots in Germany?The "Anti" Has Roots in FranceThe "Anti" Has its Roots EverywhereThe Incarnation of the Absurd in History3. The "Meta" and its MorphosesAnd Yet, PerhapsSome Foul Blows Are Strokes From the HeavensThe Fascination of the ShemaThe Search for an Additional SoulLiving a QuestionThe "Meta" in Its Human Relationship:Thou Art My PeopleBeing Taken Hold of by the "Meta": Yom KippurNext Year in Jerusalem... (We Have so Willed, and It Is not a Dream)The Dialectics of the "Anti" and the "Meta"Yes, PerhapsMaybe the MessiahPart Two: The Situation of Biblical Man4. The Ontological PsychodramaRupture and ContinuityThe Dialogue of the CovenantThe Ontology of the MaskComedy, Tragedy...The ExitThe False Legend of the Wandering JewThe True Story of the Wandering: A ReturnThe Secret of Teshuva5. The Typological SociodramaWhere Art Thou, God?Where Art thou, Moses?The Exodus of the Jew Toward HimselfHe Who Had Called Others Gets His CallThe Typology of the DesertIsrael, A Company of Unlimited Liability6. The Prophetical MetadramaThe Forced ReturnThe Kingdom of a God Whose Throne Is Down HereThe Morphology of RhythmPhantasms of the CurvatureThe Jewish MysteryThe Conjugal MemoryPart Three: From Denial to Reaffirmation7. The Variants of Dis-assimilationThe Absolute ImpasseToo Late: Heinrich HeineA Road Without a Landscape: Bernard LazareDis-assimilation by TransferenceThe Frustration of an Elusive Figure: Franz Kafka8. The Challenge AcceptedBenjamin FondaneTurning Around Judaism Like a MothFrom the Exodus to the Burning BushIn Thy Fearful Nights of WrathKarl WolfskehlThe Germanic FiefdomThe Flight to the AntipodesThe Irruption of the Voice: The Fiefdom of GodThe Four Mirrors of JobThe Voice SpeaksThe "Old-new Gales"9. The Returners from MarxismThe Jews of the AwakeningRutenberg, Steinberg: The Fighters of the October RevolutionThe Piotr-Pinhas AdventureSon of Mother RussiaSon of My People IsraelEmbarked Upon the Phantom Ship of LibertyJewish Prayer at the Heart of the Supreme SovietLiberty Graven in the Law...... And Justice as WellThe Non-promised Land of Utopia10. The Pilgrim of Hope: Ernst BlochGenesis Is at the EndThe Counterpoint of a Jewish MelodyThe Exodus PrincipleThe Principle of HopeThe Jewish Response of LibertyI Command You To HopePrincess Sabbath11. From the Temptation of the Cross to the Star of Redemption: Franz RosenzweigA Duel With DeathThe Patience of RediscoveryOn the Threshold, in Search of the KeyRediscovering the LanguageThe "Personalism" of Teshuva: The Return to ObservanceReturning to the Absolute12. From Baptism to Kol Nidre—Arnold SchönbergThe Written Document of a TeshuvaConversations With (and About) GodJacob's LadderVicissitudes of Teshuva—the "Meta" and the "Anti"Surviving in Exile Until the Hour of DeliveranceA Militant Exile—a Zionist Political DoctrineThe Presence of Events: The Shoa and the State of IsraelMount Nebo13. Kol NidreGlossary of Hebrew TermsShort BibliographyIndex