Theomorphism and Modern Hebrew Literature's Search for the Divine: Brenner and Shlonsky as a Case Study

Abstract

Modern Hebrew literature emerged during the 19th century as part of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, which attempted to break from traditional Judaism and offered a new understanding of Judaism and Jewish life. The “New Hebrew Literature” embraced the rebellious nature of the Haskalah. In this context, it is commonly viewed as a secular literature, which defied Jewish Orthodoxy and rejected the Hebrew God and the Jewish law.1 This perception assumes a dichotomy between religious and secular literature. In the current article I challenge this assumption by suggesting that two central modern Hebrew writers who are commonly perceived as secular, Yosef Hayim Brenner (1881–1921) and Avraham Shlonsky (1900–1973), actually developed a nuanced, original and complex conception of God. An interesting example of these writers’ engagement with the divine is the way they make use of the concept of theomorphism. Theomorphism is the notion that man shares God’s form and image. The idea that man was created in the image of God (be-tzelem elohim) has its roots in the ancient world. In the Jewish and Christian contexts its main source is Gen 1:27.2 Alexander Altman points out that already in the writings of Philo of Alexandria we can find Platonic uses of the term tzelem (eikon) in this sense.3 According to Philo, man is not a direct image of God, but was created according to God’s image, the logos. Philo distinguishes