Alex Gordon

Jewish Biography: Hermann Cohen Sought a Merger of Judaism and Germanism

Beginning with the Kant and Moses Mendelssohn dispute, the German-speaking world debated the question of whether Judaism was a religion of reason. Cohen believed that Germany was the only country in which reason and religious feeling could easily be combined because of its philosophical idealism. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: The Love and Death of Ferdinand Lassalle

Lassalle was a “wunderkind” of the socialist movement. At the age of 23, during the revolution of 1848, he was already a prominent figure in the radical Democratic Party in Prussia. As an employee of the radical New Rhine Gazette, whose editors were Marx and Engels, he claimed to be a follower of their ideas. Lassalle defied the authorities by “challenging them to a duel” with his vivid sociopolitical agitation. His fame was aided by the charge of high treason for this activity. He was arrested, the jury acquitted him, but the correctional police court sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment. In 1858 he became known as a philosopher by publishing a work on the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Three years later he became famous as a jurist through the publication of a major work, The System of Acquired Rights (1861). In 1863 Lassalle founded the workers’ union, from which today’s Social Democratic Party of Germany grew. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Banker Ludwig Bamberger Almost Was Hanged as a Revolutionary

“The Red Jew” was probably the richest revolutionary in history. His range of occupations was immeasurably broad, and his activities were full of attempts to improve Germany and to forget the Jewish people. He became one of the first statesmen of a united Germany, but remained an outsider in the society of which he aspired to be a full member. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D]

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Gabriel Riesser, Germany’s First Jewish Judge

HAIFA, Israel — In the middle of the nineteenth century a Jew was first appointed a judge in a European state. This happened in Germany, in Hamburg. The appointed judge did little judging, but managed to govern. He was more like a charismatic ruler than a cold-blooded judge. He was more like a bold fighter

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Ludwig Börne, Bolshevik from the Frankfurt Ghetto

Ludwig Börne (Yehuda-Leib Baruch), German publicist, was born in 1786 and grew up in the ghetto of Frankfurt. He was in early opposition to the German rulers and was one of the fighters for freedom from German despotism. Börne attributed his desire for freedom to the double oppression he experienced as a Jew and as a German: “Because I was born a slave, I love freedom more than you. Because I was born a slave, I understand freedom better than you.” [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Baruch Spinoza: The Universal Anti-Hero

Spinoza was regarded in the Amsterdam community as what the rabbis call an “illui” ̶ outstanding disciple. However, the “illui” had a critical view of the Bible and Talmud, not treating them as sacred books, but subjecting them to analysis. He scoffed at the Jewish chosenness and questioned the chronology of the Bible. He argued that Moses could not be the author of the Pentateuch. The books of Moses, in his judgment, were not written by one man and not for the people of one era. [Alex Gordon, Ph.D]

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Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

The Melody of Zionism

Like my father, I was presented as a traitor to the homeland and an enemy of the USSR. Although my immigration to Israel was legal, I was honored with the title of “traitor to the homeland.” My father was labeled a “traitor to the homeland” in 1949, although he loved the USSR and socialism. I was labeled a “traitor to the fatherland” 30 years later. In that country, any Jew could be a traitor – one who loved the homeland, as my father did, and one who did not love it, as I did. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel, Jewish History