Franz Rosenzweig and Gershom Scholem on zionism and the Jewish people

Abstract

Among the many thinkers who have shaped post-Emancipation Jewish spiritual life in both Israel and the Diaspora, Franz Rosenzweig and Gershom Scholem have been particularly significant. Each of these men, in different ways, dealt with the major questions of Jewish existence. Rosenzweig, as a believer, as an adherent to his ancestral faith, considered the Jews to be the Eternal People who live outside history and who by their very existence, play a significant role in the redemption of the world. Scholem posited a dialectical development of Jewish history, yet his understanding of Judaism is closely linked with Zionism. His great contribution was his focussing on kabbalah and demonstrating the power that it wielded throughout Jewish history.