The Jewish Political Tradition

Many people think that there was no Jewish politics from the time of Bar Kochba to the time of Ben Gurion. In fact, the engagement with politics is continuous in Jewish history, despite the difficulties and vulnerabilities produced by statelessness—and despite the fact that political activity was valued far less than intellectual activity in Jewish tradition. This seminar will look at three aspects of Jewish politics, the first having to do with attitudes, the second with practice, and the third with theory.

In the first session, we will reflect on what Jews thought about politics, its importance and its perils, and discuss what might be called the rules of engagement for Jews in their own politics and in the politics of their host countries.

The second session will focus on the medieval and early modern kahal, the autonomous or semi-autonomous communities within which Jews organized common life. Who ruled in the kahal? How did its institutions work? How was mutual aid organized? What were the recurrent conflicts?

The third session will deal with the Jewish view of war and the conduct of war. Since Jews had neither a state nor an army for most of their history, the topic is, until 1948, largely theoretical, but Jews did think about war—necessarily, because they were so often its victims. In '48 and after, the subject became an urgent one in which Jews are unavoidably if also unhappily engaged.

One of America’s foremost political thinkers, Michael Walzer has written about a wide variety of topics in political theory and moral philosophy, including political obligation, just and unjust war, nationalism and ethnicity, economic justice, and the welfare state. He has played a critical role in the revival of a practical, issue-focused ethics and in the development of a pluralist approach to political and moral life. Walzer’s books include Just and Unjust Wars (1977), On Toleration (1997), and Arguing About War (2004); he served as co-editor of the political journal Dissent for more than three decades, retiring in 2014. Currently, he is working on issues having to do with international justice and the connection of religion and politics, and also on a collaborative project focused on the history of Jewish political thought.

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