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The Voice of Judaism in the Conversation of Mankind: Thoughts on Michael Oakeshott

March 1, 2007 | Alan Mittleman

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a leading British social and political theorist, often credited as a father of libertarian thought. His wide-ranging oeuvre engaged fundamental problems in philosophy, such as epistemology and the analysis of experience, aesthetics, as well as the nature of human conduct and the modern state. Above all, he theorized the necessary postulates of human liberty. Oakeshott's thought was characterized by areas of agreement and of tension with the Jewish political tr

Continuity and Change in the Constitutional Experience of German Jewry

October 21, 2001 | Alan Mittleman

Despite the progress of Emancipation in the nineteenth century, German Jews were required to belong to legally recognized Jewish communities. Even after this requirement was lifted, Jewish communal life remained strong. The community structure that the Prussian state expected the Jews to implement was modeled after German civil administration. This framework, however, resembled both medieval German and medieval Jewish models. Thus, German Jews, while modernizing their own communal institutions,

Mishpat HaMelukhah and the Jewish Political Tradition in the Thought of R. Shimon Federbush

October 30, 1998 | Alan Mittleman

R. Shimon Federbush, a Mizrachi leader, proposed a blueprint for reconciling Jewish law with the law of modern, democratic Israel. He developed a traditional category, mishpat hamelukhah, as a highly flexible mechanism for accomodating the decisions of a Jewish legislature to the pre-state Jewish legal tradition. Federbush represents a comprehensive attempt to reconcile inherited Judaism and modern republicanism. His contribution shows both the promise and the limits of that still urgent project.

The German Jewish Community: Between Adjustment and Ambivilance

October 15, 1997 | Alan Mittleman