The Case for “Assimilation” and Diaspora

It's hard to believe, reading Gerson Cohen's brilliant, provocative essay "The Blessing of Assimilation in Jewish History," that fifty years have passed since its delivery as a commencement address at the Hebrew Teachers College in Brookline, MA. Cohen asserted in blatant underst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Jewish quarterly review 2016-10, Vol.106 (4), p.450-458
Main Author: EISEN, ARNOLD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assimilation
Cohen, Gerson
Diaspora
FORUM
Hebrew language
History
Jews
Judaic studies
Teachers
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It's hard to believe, reading Gerson Cohen's brilliant, provocative essay "The Blessing of Assimilation in Jewish History," that fifty years have passed since its delivery as a commencement address at the Hebrew Teachers College in Brookline, MA. Cohen asserted in blatant understatement, on the way to marshaling the considerable authority of his historical scholarship, in "Blessing" and a number of essays that followed, to challenge a variety of contemporary orthodoxies. If only Jews paid more attention to history, Cohen lamented time and again; if only they would allow the lessons of the past to bridge "the chasm that exists between Jewish assessments and what should long have been recognized as the real state of affairs.
ISSN:0021-6682
1553-0604
1553-0604
DOI:10.1353/jqr.2016.0033