Questions for Week 10
Vital, chapter 6
I. (I would like everyone to be ready to discuss section I)
What does Vital mean (p. 476) by the "rule of mutual assistance"?
In the 1880s, Jewish philanthropic/aid organizations were beginning to replace "individual" aid. Explain why kind of organizations these were and why their role was growing more important than that of private aid. For instance, what was the AIU? The AJA? How were they organized? And why does Vital describe them as basically "conservative"?
What kind of aid were such organizations providing in North Africa and the Middle East? And in what sense were these aid organizations "national" (not Jewish national, but German, French, etc., national)? How were their activities dependent upon diplomatic support from the Great Powers?
Were these "diplomatic initiatives" particularly useful in helping the Jews of Russia? Explain.
Given all of the political and diplomatic complications discussed here, how did Jewish philanthropists find it best to "go about their business"? And what political risk did they run if they were seen as identifying too closely with "foreign" Jews?
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Assignments for the remainder of the chapter: I have assigned each of you to a "small" group for sections II-VIII for Tuesday. Most of the reading assignments total 20 pages or less (section VIII is longer, and therefore has a three-person group). I've also assigned each of you to a "large" group for sections IX-XI, for Thursday.
Each group is responsible for presenting "its" section of the chapter. That means that you have to determine what is most important in "your" section. You then have to find a way to present that information to the class as clearly as possible.
On Tuesday, these presentations should be about ten minutes long (each) for sections II-VII and fifteen minutes for section VIII.
On Thursday, the presentations should be at most a half hour each for IX and for X-XI. We will also discuss documents on Thursday.
Remember that we are concentrating not only on the "facts," but also on how the facts that Vital presents fit into his argument. Your job in your presentation is to explain the most important information in your section and how the material in your section fits into the general argument we've been charting in this part of the book.
I would suggest that each group exchange e-mail addresses and that you communicate with each other as you are reading, in an effort to reach agreement on a "strategy" (what is important in our section, what is Vital's point, how should we present this, etc). If you want, include me in your e-mail correspondence (hickey@planetx.bloomu.edu).
I would also suggest that you might find it helpful to "write questions" for yourself, similar to the study questions that I give you, as a way of focussing on the main points of your section.
Tuesday
II. (Lori and Jennifer)
III and IV. (Amanda and Margaret)
V. (Katherine and Joseph)
VI and VII. (Alicia and Lisa)
VIII. (Kara, Scott and Monteise)
Thursday
IX. (Lori, Jennifer, Scott, Amanda, Margaret, and Katherine)
X and XI. (Alicia, Lisa, Kara, Joseph, and Monteise)
Documents (for Thursday):
Herzl, The Jewish State (from Goldstein and Boyer, Nineteenth century Europe)
(This document actually fits into our readings for week 9, but I wanted to remind you of Herzl's argument by having us discuss it at the end of week 10...)
How does Herzl define his version of the "Jewish Question"?
How does Herzl view previous resettlement efforts? Explain.
How does Herzl explain the causes of anti-Semitism? Its effects?
In a few words, explain his "plan"?
Drumont, Jewish France (from Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World)
How did Drumont describe the social status of Jews in France? What does he propose be done with "Jewish capital"?
How does he describe the source/nature of "Jewish capital"?
Does he consider Jews to be Frenchmen?
Protocols of the Elders of Zion (first protocol)
This document is a forgery, a fraud. It appeared in first in Russia, but was translated into English and published by 1912. The authors passed themselves off as the leaders of a super-secret Jewish society, which (they claimed) was laying out a plan for world domination.
This is the "first protocol" of the "Elders," where they (supposedly) lay out their plan in outline.
Be prepared to discuss the following:
What this document alleges Jews to want, and how they allegedly planned to gain their goals.
What connection is proposed between Jews and liberalism.
Why the authors would be attempting to link the growth of capitalism, social change, liberalism, revolution, and democratization of society to a supposed Jewish conspiracy. What does this tell us about the political nature of this particular manifestation of anti-Semitism?
Please note that the full text of the protocols are on the following site. They are posted there by someone who believes that there is a real "world Jewish conspiracy." To get a sense of the mind-set of such people, look at the introduction he has provided to the document, and his extensive efforts to try a) to prove that the document is not a forgery; b) to prove that the document represents a real Jewish conspiracy. (ftp://ftp.std.com/obi/Rants/Protocols/The_Protocols_of_The_Learned_Elders_of_Zion)