Papers by Itamar Ben Ami
Modern Intellectual History, 2024
This article centers on the early writings of Isaac Breuer (1910–17), arguing that Breuer's radic... more This article centers on the early writings of Isaac Breuer (1910–17), arguing that Breuer's radicalization of neo-Kantianism anchors his revolutionary call to politicize Jewish Orthodoxy. Moreover, it contends that neo-Kantianism, which is normally associated with liberal or social-democratic politics, was given a thoroughly antiliberal reading by Breuer that led to an antiliberal Orthodox politics. While the rise of non-Zionist political Orthodoxy is often regarded as an obsolete traditionalism unattuned to the nature of mass politics, Breuer's politicization of Orthodoxy reveals a coherent antiliberal political theory that addresses the aporias of the democratic age. Breuer uses neo-Kantianism to develop an anti-Weberian “science of politics” which attempts to overcome the modern plurality of values by positing Judaism as coercive public morality. Reading Breuer's Jewish writings through the lens of his quarrels with Weber, Stammler, and Cohen, this article explores Breuer's attempt to overcome the association of Kantian morality with liberalism, by legitimizing coercion politically, philosophically, and theologically. This enabled Breuer to criticize apolitical forms of Jewish Orthodoxy, Zionist programs to politicize Judaism, and democratic politics more generally.
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Jewish Quarterly Review, 2023
When did Orthodox Jewish politics become radical? Some contemporary forms of Orthodox politics in... more When did Orthodox Jewish politics become radical? Some contemporary forms of Orthodox politics incline indeed toward "totality" and antiliberalism; however, until the 1930s, Orthodox politics was mostly conservative and not radical. This essay excavates the invention of radical Orthodox politics in the writings of one of Agudath Israel's prominent ideologues, Isaac Breuer. Struggling with the crisis of modernity as it came to light in the Weimar Republic of the 1920s, Breuer developed a Gnostic worldview that deemed reality a site of corruption and sin. To rectify this situation, Breuer formulated a Jewish version of the "Conservative Revolution," calling to establish a "total state of the Torah" based on "the national socialism of the state of God." The essay reveals how deeply German right-wing thought influenced Breuer and his circle, and it presents the ideational context of Orthodox radicalism, pointing to Breuer's struggles with his early neo-Kantianism.
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Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2023
Guided by concepts advanced in Carl Schmitt's The Concept of the Political, this article attempts... more Guided by concepts advanced in Carl Schmitt's The Concept of the Political, this article attempts to formulate Orthodox Judaism's concept of the political. While it is evident that different Orthodox groups hold different and sometimes opposing political views, the question remains whether Orthodoxy as such possesses a foundational conceptualization of the sphere of the political that might be also be framed as "Orthodox." The article presents three possible internal Orthodox conceptualizations of "the political," yet highlights each of these positions' failure to integrate Orthodox commitment to halakha within a truly political framework. The first conceptualization negates the political in a manner that subsumes this realm under the purview of halakha. The second acknowledges the political as a secular realm standing outside the boundaries of halakha. The third possesses a religious understanding of the political that is nonetheless non-halakhic. In order to present an Orthodox concept of the political, the article turns to two thinkers who offered a critique of the epistemological regime of modernity (which is responsible for the existence of the political as a distinct sphere) from an Orthodox stance: Isaac Breuer and the young Leo Strauss. Their reflection on the political as such led them to call for a politicization of Orthodoxy's very commitment to halakha. Retrieving Breuer's and Strauss's truly Orthodox concept of the political enables the formulation of a novel, hitherto underdeveloped Orthodox critique of Zionism. Whereas Zionist voices tend to comprehend the exilic stance of Orthodoxy as apolitical compared to their own attempt to politicize Jewish existence, Breuer and Strauss argue that it is precisely Zionism that fails to offer a concept of the political that is truly Jewish.
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Harvard Theological Review, 2023
This article traces the incorporation of the modern state and the notion of sovereignty into Jewi... more This article traces the incorporation of the modern state and the notion of sovereignty into Jewish Orthodox thought, culminating in the idea that the role of Orthodoxy is to establish a statist theocracy. Unlike narratives that emphasize the continuation of theocratic thought from ancient to modern Judaism on the one hand, and the relationship between religious Zionism and contemporary forms of Jewish theocracy on the other, my research reveals a fundamentally anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox layer in the doctrine of statist theocracy, through a novel reading of the early writings of one of the leaders of Agudath Israel, Isaac Breuer (1883–1946). During the 1920s, Breuer coined terms such as Gottesstaat and Torastaat, which informed broader theocratic discussions into the 1930s. The article examines the intellectual history of this discourse and the grammar of this doctrine, identifying in it ultra-Orthodox reasoning such as an aversion to secularism and modern nationalism, resistance to a redemptive, kookian philosophy of history, and adherence to the “Rule of Torah.”
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Jewish Social Studies, 2022
Modern Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Israelis who have joined the army, workforce, and academia) are of... more Modern Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Israelis who have joined the army, workforce, and academia) are often perceived as a sign that contemporary Haredi society is becoming more liberal and Western. This article presents an alternative framework, which understands the challenge posed by modern Haredim to the classic Haredi society of learners not in terms of increasing liberalism but rather of increasing radicalism. What is peculiar to modern Haredim is not a greater openness toward secular society, but rather a profound change in the theory and practice of religious activity. Modern Haredim perceive the entire world as a potential arena for religious activity and reject the confinement of religious life to the boundaries of the house of study. Studying various radical activities of modern Haredim—which resonate with much earlier trends within Jewish Orthodoxy—this article argues that the religious attitudes developing in contemporary Haredi society are inner-worldly in orientation.
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Intellectual History Review, 2022
A prevalent scholarly view holds that Orthodox Judaism in the twentieth century was opposing or c... more A prevalent scholarly view holds that Orthodox Judaism in the twentieth century was opposing or challenging modernity, since it refused to assign religion its appropriate modern place as a distinct sphere of values. The goal of this review essay is to reconsider the connection between Orthodox Judaism and modernity. Based on four recent works on Orthodox Judaism during the first decades of twentieth century, which are devoted to political mobilization, gender, theocracy, and law, the essay explores, first, the modern methods whereby Orthodoxy attempted to gain a foothold in the public sphere and, second, the political philosophy of Orthodoxy, which challenges the separation of religion and state. It argues that Orthodox Judaism is a project of an alternative modernity, which strives to gain power in order to conduct a promethean reconfiguration of its surroundings.
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Op-eds, Interviews, and Non-Academic Writings by Itamar Ben Ami
Ha’aretz, 2019
Did Zionist Leaders Actually Aspire Toward a Jewish State?
Israel’s efforts to block Palestinian ... more Did Zionist Leaders Actually Aspire Toward a Jewish State?
Israel’s efforts to block Palestinian independence may lie in a historic aversion of the Zionist movement to the nation-state model
By Arie Dubnov and Itamar Ben-Ami
Ha'aretz English edition, May 31, 2019
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Ha’aretz, 2019
Survey of recent scholarship problematizing the idea of a Jewish state, co-written with and Itama... more Survey of recent scholarship problematizing the idea of a Jewish state, co-written with and Itamar Ben-Ami, aimed for the wider audience.
Appeared in Hebrew at Ha’aretz's weekend supplement, May 24, 2019, pp. 52-54.
English translation should appear a week later.
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Book Reviews by Itamar Ben Ami
המרחב הציבורי / The Public Sphere, 2022
מסת ביקורת על ספרו של דוד ברק־גורודצקי, ירמיהו בציון: דת ופוליטיקה בעולמו של יהודה לייב מאגנס (20... more מסת ביקורת על ספרו של דוד ברק־גורודצקי, ירמיהו בציון: דת ופוליטיקה בעולמו של יהודה לייב מאגנס (2018)
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Haaretz, 2022
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George L. Mosse Program in History, 2021
Adi Armon, Leo Strauss Between Weimar and America. Translated by Michelle Bubis. Cham, Switzerlan... more Adi Armon, Leo Strauss Between Weimar and America. Translated by Michelle Bubis. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Cloth $60.26. 235 PP. ISBN 9783030243890
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Haaretz / הארץ, 2021
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הארץ / Haaretz, 2020
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הארץ / Haaretz, 2020
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הארץ / Haaretz, 2019
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הארץ / Haaretz, 2018
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Papers by Itamar Ben Ami
Op-eds, Interviews, and Non-Academic Writings by Itamar Ben Ami
Israel’s efforts to block Palestinian independence may lie in a historic aversion of the Zionist movement to the nation-state model
By Arie Dubnov and Itamar Ben-Ami
Ha'aretz English edition, May 31, 2019
Appeared in Hebrew at Ha’aretz's weekend supplement, May 24, 2019, pp. 52-54.
English translation should appear a week later.
Book Reviews by Itamar Ben Ami
Israel’s efforts to block Palestinian independence may lie in a historic aversion of the Zionist movement to the nation-state model
By Arie Dubnov and Itamar Ben-Ami
Ha'aretz English edition, May 31, 2019
Appeared in Hebrew at Ha’aretz's weekend supplement, May 24, 2019, pp. 52-54.
English translation should appear a week later.