Postmodernism, Jewish history, and Jewish historiography

Abstract

Postmodernism has productively pointed to contingency, the human-madeness, and hence the changeability of cultural norms and practices. Moshe Rosman notes that postmodernism has raised significant questions about Jewish identity and the very essence or nature of Judaism. In a postmodern perspective it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to define what is Jewish. In the postmodern world, there appear to be some significant changes from, but also some equally significant continuities with, modernity that affect Jewish society and impact the approach to Jewish history. If some historians have been troubled by certain aspects of postmodernism and the poststructuralist approach, some central themes that have gained attention as a result have resonated in Jewish historiography. Jacques Derrida—the French philosopher born in Algeria and with his own complex connection to Judaism—helped more than most to usher in and expand a poststructuralist approach and period.