Nachman Syrkin’s Approach to Jewish Tradition

Abstract

Although Syrkin’s approach to Judaism plays a central role in his philosophy, until now it has been a neglected area of research. Scholars of Zionism have overlooked the developments that took place between the first and second periods of Syrkin’s thought (1888 to approximately 1907; 1907 until his death in 1924).

In the first period Syrkin held that nationality had no intrinsic value. Nationalities were important only as a dialectical phase and would eventually be assimilated in the future socialist culture. His approach to Judaism was ambivalent. In the past it played an important role but in the present it was sickly, ugly, and primitive, therefore it had to be replaced by the progressive culture of social Zionism, and at a later stage by universal socialism.

After Syrkin immigrated to the United States in 1907, nationalism became the foundation of his philosophy. Under the influence of Moses Hess, Judaism increasingly served as the key element in his thought, its importance derived from its proto-socialist ethos, that is, the belief in equality, universal brotherhood, and man created in the image of God. Syrkin’s socialist interpretation of Judaism inspired him to begin the ambitious project of writing the history of Judaism. This effort strengthened his belief in socialist cooperation in the Land of Israel and drew him closer to tradition. This was not an ordinary religious revival but a prophetic movement that merged old and new, religion and secularism into an integrated organic philosophy.