Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: lbert Einstein is on most, if not all, lists of twentieth-century Jewish heroes.So is Chaim Weizmann, who was also a great scientist.Paradoxically, Weizmann is not normally celebrated for his science, but for using his scientific success to further Zionist aspirations.Einstein, who was also Zionist, is not normally celebrated for his Zionism, but for his scientific contributions.We celebrate Weizmann for being a great contributor to twentiethcentury Judaism.On the other hand, why do we celebrate Einstein who contributed very little to Jewish discourses?Do we celebrate him because he was a Jew who distinguished himself in the non-Jewish world?The case of Einstein seems different from the way many American Jews celebrate, say, Sandy Koufax.With Koufax we think, "Wow, a Jew can pitch and pitch well."But with Einstein, we don't think, "Wow, a Jew can do science and do it well."Did Koufax enhance Jewry's understanding of itself?Perhaps, but we don't normally speak of him that way.What Einstein achieved in the non-Jewish world, on the other hand, did affect our Jewish understanding of ourselves.Perhaps the great irony is that the people who first posited the connection between his science and Judaism were the Nazis and Nazi sympathizers like Philipp Lenard who referred to Einstein's science as "Jewish science."On the one hand, we hold up Einstein the scientist as a Jewish hero, but on the other, we ridicule the claim that Einstein's science work is "Jewish Science."Could there be a sense in which the Nazi's absurd claim is correct?It depends upon what is meant by "Jewish science." 1 We thank Lawrence Baron and Lisa Portmess for their helpful comments.A
DOI: 10.17613/kstdf-76m25
Authors: Stern, Stephen J, Gimbel, Steven
Language: English
Topic: Jewish Identity and Society
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204705754