Skidmore CollegeOur Homeland, the Text Author(s): GEORGE STEINER Reviewed work(s): Source: Salmagundi, No. 66 (Winter - Spring 1985), pp. 4-25 Published by: Skidmore College Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40547708 . Accessed: 24/04/2012 17:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Skidmore College is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Salmagundi. http://www.jstor.org Our Homeland, Text the BY GEORGE STEINER often citations a context in of Successive, polemicinterpretations, or sacreddoctrine ofpolitical-historical around construe, opportunity, thearchaic,cardinalwordsin theHebrewcanon,a resonant field.An and definition extends aura ofvitalparaphrase aroundtheword-core; and or ofdubiousdefinition misunderstanding, lessdynamic no (miscan yieldthemoreurgent the understanding reading, morecompelling out attention). Meaning vibratesas does a crystal, of whose hidden and interference. clarity pulsatefragmentation To the word mikrascholarsof Biblical and Talmudic Hebrew of attach a network meanings. They questionits literalroots kof, and the consonantalmi. The definitions forward are resh,alef, put delineate semantic a field(again, literally, la lettre). à they polysémie, The mikramay,at theoutset,have been theplace of summoning, of To the vocationand con-vocation. experience Torah and Talmud as to these texts cognitive emotional in and is mikra, apprehend plenitude, It to hearand accepta summons. is to gather oneself the(inseparaand in ble) community a place of calling.This summonsto responsible to answerability themostrigorous in intellectual ethical and response, is simultaneously and public,individual and collective. sense, private The concepts and associationthatattachto mikra makeofthereading of the canon and its commentaries literal-spiritual the locus of selfand of communal for identification theJew. recognition It follows,proclaim a numberof rabbinic masters,that the commandment Judaism, to in supreme supreme precisely thatitcomall and animates others, given Joshua,1,8: "The book ofthe is in prises law shallnotdepartout ofthymouth;butthoushaltmeditate therein and night." Observetheimplicit or critiqueof sleep. day prohibition to Hypnosis a Greekgod, and enemy reading. textwas theinstrument exilicsurvival." He breaksthenatural Abrahamdeliberately and their bondswhichunitea humanpersonto hisancestors places of burial(the 'Antigone'themeobsessesHegel). thepromised mystery thenative Israel). doubtless.are an exile fromaction. Hegel's analysisis ominous. he abandons his neighthe Such bonds.Specifically. centrality thebook does coinof cide withand enactthecondition exile.has been seenbyZionism.of God's direct. night) absentfrom of of from destruction theTemple to thefoundation themodern the stateofIsrael. divideJewish of strip land on theother.theDavidic and SolomonicTemplemayhave of of a beenan erratum. the The tensions. estrangements from of and of therest mankind theharmonious (Hegel's integration theself. the Abrahamrepudiates worksand days of his childhoodand youth. and to thetexton boththemeditative-interpretativethebehavability motionofpersonaland nationalhomecomis iourallevels. Theyconstitute of in theorganictotality theactual world.The 'textuality' theJewish is condition. Thereare radicalsensesin fromthe banishment whicheven the Torah is a place of privileged unwritten of immediacy Adamic speech.transcend humanand boursand culture. the at of the from existential innocence praxis. seemed suchrepudiation No lessthanforRousseau and theromantics.as one oftragic thatsurvival of The impotence.textualexegesis. arguesHegel. itsattempt architectural tive. to ascribed Israelis the is night day).and theterritorial consciousness.the OurHomeland. presence nature.evenwhere textis aiming practicaland politicalconsequence. dialecticalrelationsbetweenan unhousedatof on the between dwelling-place thescript theone in homeness thetext. (which das aufgeschriebene theBook. thecentral and The Torah is metat theplace ofsummons inthetimeofcalling ing.says Hegel. perhaps earlier. By leavinghis nativeland of Ur. To at of a camewithin breath annihilation.the'peopleofthe Book' had. tautological addressto man.to be a nation. patrimoine. Heine'sphraseis exactly House of right: In is the The Vaterland. once again. answerIn post-exilic Judaism. Text 5 but activereading. its to immobilize textin a substanthe in doomedimmanence.The dwelling and assigned.The readeris one who (day and of action. both of of to Hegelthemostcorrosive alienations. Reading. 'land ofhisfathers'. endure all. in man'slegitimate thesecularsphere.can be seen. the of At thesame time. misreading thetranscendent mobility thetext. thescript. space. . Torah isthetrue in hand(wherever theworlda Jewreadsand meditates of of ground. "breaksthetiesof love. tiquesof themessianic emancipated by . readers themuffled on a severed to Abraham. Driven out of this land by upon the restored to conquerors.He is incapableoflove in theunreflexive.byvirtue of oftheimplacable elevation attributed abstraction. passer-by of communal and organiccontext love and oftrust. through legalism literalfor ism of reiteration ritualrepresent.6 GEORGE STEINER the callsto mind severance the from in childhood.traversing instinctual offoot. to those outside the covenantof his search.strictly subsequent merely speaking. contrary the orderno theHebraicperceives thenaturaland pragmatic in Hellenic. in contradiction.furthest from man. Hegel. Judaism. medium thebitter struggle between and analytic between man's reflection. theunfathomable to Him. here. life excellence. pre-maturity polemic mienof thevery thebentshoulders and somnambular youngYeshiva in bones of children. The sensibility theJewis. wordand text. Hegel's Abrahamis radically macy hostileto othermen.profoundly is. the naturaland the supernatural whichinspireGreekreligiinfinite. self nations. Hegel. More thananyother people. him placeto go. the of each land withindifferent He is a shepherd the winds. (Greek) in uninterested or even withGod.SeekingonlyGod and a singular. For eventhelandpromised was nothis. Jewis. from familial.is a wanderer theearth.indeedthey nearnessto the conceptof God. haveit. masters uses physical nature.par of the of between and thought. to realworld. spontaneous immediacy unisonwithhis bodyand environment man'sestrangement and from them.Jewsclaim. a logical but also and to endeavour keeptheworldat bay and to remain God's in desperate The descendantof rootlessAbrahamhas no other neighbourhood. to and Abrahamobjectifies. Mosaic law.In itsextreme As Hegel'sdialectic would Hebraism comesto scornthenatural sphere.Abrahamand hisseed are enmeshed a tragic seemto achieve. sense. in and and itscreative at-homeness thevariousness beautyofthe osity to commitment abstraction. They do so at the suicidal cost of the of mundane of ostracism from earth itsfamily and renunciation. the and Thus theJudaicrelations between finite the animatemystery. of to to Hegel. theJewish addictionto minutiaeof archaic obsertheatrophy theJewish of tradition and vance. hisnativity dispersal.) old students. lightness intialmostautistic.ButtheGod to whomtheJewwouldstandso nearis.He could seize it only by cunningand conquest. hischosenforeignness.(Lévi-Strauss's itself chapterin the cria tragicanthropology. According this'foreignness' becomesontological. as does languageitself.by virtueof commentary. of satellite by texts. hermeneutic debate elucidation. commentary theMishna.the the tradition reading.they always latentin the presentapplication.the OurHomeland. historically Thisis obviously ina formal so sense. Text 7 Hegelian. community be defined a concentric can as of The Gemara.to purloin and life-giving echo. theMidrash. he reads. . scattering.The Torahis thepivotofthe of weave and cross-weave reference.)To Hegel.express larly theinterpretation thescriptural thecontinuum Jewish of of being. so longas theseare read and surrounded a constancy secondary.enigmatically regenerative. of the seekto elicit Theymanifest presence thedeterminant past. of at Theirarts and energies reading.'the people of theBook' are as a cancer deepTheirBook is notthatoflife. whichinform whichorganize. from thatwhichwoulddrawlivemeaning intoinert or Via the merelyliturgical monumentality. is and define endless). as within him. when.like analyticthought its most consume and deconstruct living the intense. of esoteric and chalallegoric. whichis thatpartofthecommentary pertaining particuto of and activate canon.The incessant readings theprimary theexegetic.and suggestive). genius a When he its survival. congruence to Hegel. a Whatis to Hegelan awesomepathology. each commentary return. By explication these texts rescue canonfrom ebbing the the motion of lenge. readings thesereadings disputatious. 'textual' in Judaismare ontologically the interpretative and fabric. objectof laser-sharp pitch. dialogue "The seeming nomadintruth carries world of the "theshepherd being. makes of his readinga theJewis. on of collection oral laws and prescriptions whichmake up the Talmud. virtue metaphoric.The textis home. practises at theheartofJewish identity. their questioning. tling the But whether theyare seen as positiveor negative.theyaim at the futurities Thus neither act Israel'sphysical nor original ofrevelation. abrogatetheauthority aUctoritas can of (the of or authorship) thepressure meaningin theholybooks. to others. secondary thepast tense. dailyand thehistorical The lifeof thecommunity. thepassage ofmillennia. Heidegger's image. elaborative of texts.one senses. unsettheillicit on. does Leibniz'smonad(the play the between twowordsare.vital. the organically. (theprocess formally pragmatically temporality. seated. tragic. opensecret theJewish is. magisterial commentary. arrested stagein towards liberated a theadvanceofhumanconsciousness homecoming the of and of from alienation. 'underwriter'.spoken-written of . which ofa lostself-evidenceGod's "I am thatI am". yet applications is and of a The Adamiccircumstance one of linguistic tautology to wereas Adamnamedand said them be. present to It the perfect tomorrow.theJewhas carried houseofthetexton hisback. of and illuminations spirit unperceived. memories dreams. of become the store-house of oftenmessianicrecollections futurity. a distrust thewritten at word. less of thanin thatof Plato.8 GEORGE STEINER as existential yield given passagewill. necessary secrecies. In the relationto God whichdefinesthe Jew. acrossthelanguagesof whichhe of hisharrying. The tenseoftheverbis also thatof summons remembrance. Whatother domicilehas beenallowedhim? and Butthedestiny history Judaism 'bookish'ina fardeeper of are set sense.a critical regret are The is thepassingoforality. thedeof of struction theTables oftheLaw on Sinai.and in one thatdoes virtually themapart. and of hope. narrative contract A a charter.Like a snail. Wherethereis perfect contentment. and frequent has been a forcedborrower master.In Hobbes and Rousseau. magnacartaand document instauration narrative setting and obligationsas betweenGod and man. vestiges no Ideally.havebeenextinguished thegraven burning has beentheindestructible On theother hand. writing guarof the of antor. Judaism. the which so of and are coercions reality. In Hebraicsensibility. was the Fall of Man thatadded to human its its itsambiguities. of bush. of is in theprimary obscurely.is a methodological In it fiction. theinvocation an original of contract between individuals civicsociety between soveror the founding eignand thosewho delegatetheir powersto him. theidentity theJew:acrossthefrontiers acrossthecenturies. Hence the need to re-read. post-script. evident. written alwaysa shadowafter in a senseoftheterm. 'if constructions) dissent speculatively After Fall. is a literal a deed instrument. Word Things lasting present.of that firewhichspoke in the of set or facsimile. thematerial moment meaning exemplified.the conceptsof and of covenantare not metaphoric.are current. in themaking a second The letters fire. in silence thestone. of in form. thereis no and worldwereone. The foundation electidentity textual. power(thecounterspeech to from opaque the the factuals. is out reciprocalrights in of is explicit Genesisand in Exodus.assuredly. his towards antennae the menace.inplacesand times yetunknown.to re-call(reexperience in of in the vocation)thosetexts whichthemystery a beginning.suchrecallshouldbe oral. decayfrom Its thefact. a moratorium an act of grace."Ezekieldoes so "and ittasted sweet honey" wespeak as as and thathauntstillof"honeyed ofthelinksbetween words". thefocusofre-examination. pounding God's interest. ofwhich Book ofJobis only dialoguewith Thisimagecan be themostpointed is thatofa 'bookkeeper'."Ezekielis bidden"eat this all of scroll"(Ben Jonsontellsofthe'ingestion' classicaltexts).a twofold for tution. physical "and it was written overon bothsides. God 'keeps closely. Jews? precisely. and inextricably. legalistic thefineprint. there Is and not. there a sensein whichtheJew'keepsbook' on is Concomitantly. accountableto God as is no othertribe. and doublyso after at each visitation of transcendent disasteron the Jewishpeople. is.the Text 9 not and communal ratification. God. this clerkship eternity. videShylockand his bond. this custody. language associateboth ingsavourwhichMiddle Easternand Atticmythology ."Swallow thisscroll. to takes on a grotesque 'keepingof books'.the covenantand its The innumerable are codicils. God's emissary holdsout a scrollto His servant. thecovenantat Sinai and the tion. subject onlyto constant personal the the but to close probing.Our Homeland. the after Flood. to theJew.more happiness? God mettheobligations contracted the with of advocatesand negotiators being. fantasy. litigious of inheritance sharppractises barter. 3. economy.whoare. balance?Is there intelligiever ble balance-sheet be drawnbetween to merit and recompense (Job's and to and certify book of life).the revaluation all currency. legal-ritual is and textual. protocol. book' on His people. 'keeperof the a of The accountant byvirtue this of Book'. even after redaction Sinai. thosefirst to Anti-semitism alwaysdenouncedin Judaismand its relations has an God.whichis survival deed of titleto the promisedland.Even after promiseto Noah.Whereit is allowed. and notethesemantic overlapand interference an as between 'account'and 'narration'. an archivist therevealed. the The millennial God.everlastingly.between the suffering attempt inspect Has He with man.inthemoralisticrestiof didacticepilogueto themysterium tremendum Job. vehemence. proof of claimedin Christ. trust.an empty is. Therehas beentoo muchagonyin latter moral. pressed creathedebtors His initial to advance whichis. payment damagesincurred? But the 'bookkeeper'is also. Do theaccounts. is as The cancellation thedebt.In Ezekiel.a contractual. such is the comfor of His and clientIsraelis in arrears.pastall repayment. the God-pact. partner evenin default. At all times. shall remain. It is a sequenceof demonstrative thetextof God's (non-)reply Job and to thetextsof theProphets. thatwhich of of wentout bya hundred. of to foot-notes.ostracism. the The rest beenunbearahas Everything there. again). As theshepherd takesout of themouthof theliontwo legsor a piece of an ear. But considerthedeterminants terror thescript. . 750 B. thosewho hearand who read themare to be made ash. fate Judaism kept. ten The long terror the Diaspora is precisely of promised:the songs of "shallbe howlings. of The citythatwentout bya thousandshall havea remnant a hundred.10 GEORGE STEINER withthesun and thegardensof thedead." Israel"shallwanderfrom to sea. and it shalldevourthepalace ofJerusalem. Whatis there add to Amos. 'books havebeenkept'and keptup to date.The 'keepers' in and historical make new entries everymoment theirindividual at of in existence. It is thecontractual. Considerthe overwhelmingly manifest metaphysically rationally and yet to scandalousadherence Jewish of experience theprescriptsetdown foritin thebooks whichare itscard of identity. so shallthechildren Israelbe takenout .which to taketo be theoldest scholars ofprophetic books. spelt-out blefulfillment. proudly contentiously Rigorously is a post-script thepenalty to clausesin God's contract (thatfine print. for and tion. other No menhavehad to bearlikewitness thecognate to soprescribed. other No no on has culture thisearth been nation. Because in God's wordsare of fire. thebooks ithas so in the of and viewed. marginalia. .C. whentheNorthern Kingdom of Israelwas headingforruin? is God's promise unequivocal: I willsenda fire upon Judah. and sea worship fromthe northeven to the east" seekingsanctuary vain.datingitc. other of whichsignify denunciaand meanings prescription ofproscription. to is from start. foundation coreofJudaism and promissory the of which haveentailed singularity pathology contra (the naturami) The survival. a written designation death. . therepentant from heart the of The restored. coercive as a as of blueprint. Amos's clairvoyance to Zionism is as prescriptive is his as as of in and foresight Jewish agony. Part of the answerlies. and expoundedwithout thetexts end which by * Ifthisis Amos'sscript. setagainst Israel. the find Wheredid Judaism Prophets? writ had beenservedon itbyitsown seersofdarkness an apocalyptic to set havebeenrealised. dialectic possiblerehabilitation springs wind-scattered the at ofterror. imperative or ofthepromise selective ultimate of rescueis as binding.throughout prophetic is of horizon. yielding goingmoreor less collectively willed self-destruction impulseto both do run deep in Judaic (the of the and foresight its knowing. Text 11 Its and The oracularis open-ended. the and whenthepredictions out in thiswrit me This strikes as the timeand timeand timeagain? hideousletter. 'Jewish question'. be theybut a handful.the OurHomeland.Theyshallplantvineand inhabit the shall rebuild wastecities.How has itbeenpossible theJewish peopletoendure to moreor less without mad. themessianic thatof interminable suffering."and they them. God's sentence Israelthere redeeming is never clauses. of course.from outset. dispersaland martyrdom. meetat thatcrossing roads of Propheciesare the contrary oracles: theyanswerbeforetheyare without for asked. life-tenacity. and eat of the Theyshallmakegardens yardsand drink winethereof.the mannerof theirfruit. itis precisely promissory for this passagewhichmanyscholars as regard a muchlaterinsertion. learnt heartor byrote. duplicities triplicities three nearDelphi.in the antinomian. The just. . of motion theMosaic and prophetic Catastrophe prescripts are on In unconditional.are thoseofhumanfreedom. reading re-reading binding sensibility) when theresolve.* of the dictate future books which the theTorah." in miraclein whichthesehave been realised.are 'programmed' this verseof thisninth fourteenth Throughout chapterof Amos's script.re-read cease. its without read. are theprevisions persecution. is eloquent thecloseofArnos: captive. maybe saved. It backto thepromised of remnant Israelshallbe brought land. pendular themselves. The entireZionist dream and purpose.No othercommunity theevolution of social history man has.thenoteofcompensation. Butthistwofold truth holywrit in the onlycomplicates phenomeThe deterministic nologicaland thepsychological question. in thedual senseof utterance a contract and ofbinding affirmation.12 GEORGESTEINER These texts. in inthismatter). is The messianic an escape-clause bothparties. greater inertial In realisation. of and Does thismeanthattheUtopian pre-vision homecoming of withAbrahamand in thecoda to the peace which. is on theadventof for It of themessianic orderthattheprevision blessedness Till hinges.signifyingsolemnburnt offering.in the settlement on will books. certain accomplishment . 'givenHis word'. to Israel. it is because the'Book of Life' is. promissory Abrahamand Moses. The parable on Judaismis and a It unmistakable. thattheJewdwellsapart. therefore. in Judaism. notoriously.are requiredof a people called geniusforservitude takedictation itself? of to.Canetti written playwhich in man knows. stronger prophecies to a degree.Yet theJewhas had to inhabit has a turns textofhisforeseen literal being. feltto be of are spell out its whole destiny.in the Shoa (the noble Greek word. infallible their in as and transcendent pre-diction. a has 'holocaust'. not. it of pro-visional. self-fulfilling. note servedon himwhenGod soughtout a written writ. moreoftenit is proclaimed. of Again one asks: what abstentionsor strengths spirit. Jewwouldseemto the towards thrust the to havebeenintent certify accuracyoftheroad mappedforhimby The script been'acted'.thisservile and tion.whichbothfascinated repelled Hegel. hisdreadhistory. no legitimate place morerecently theforetold.His Logos and His bond. underwritten contractually to return Israel.notnecessarily seculartime.moreover.follows millennial suffering. in theexact Latinetymological sense. factis Thoughthepsychological The a commonplace: are. date of his own death. authorship authority. then. also be realised? prophetic in is Not now.in advanceand on theconceitofa society whichevery the ineluctably.) mechanism remains the obscure. uponto actouta primal the Lightblindsus whenitis too clear. as itwere. the the its the prophecy.enactsprivately historically.The print too fineforthat.(It wasjust thissuffocating textual. is becausehe lives. God has.It cannotbe brokenor refuted. withtheinevitable. is a previsionthe natureand temporality whose remains uncertain. literally from unknown theJewish the in condiimmunity déjà-vu. at eventhein-gathering Zion is. are is oraclesinthepaganworld. pre-script. of and massacrewhichclimaxedin shadowand of thenight dispersal of the "whirlwind" the 1940s.The script.first has acrossthatvalleyofthe theProphets.what and what pride. In him.avoid theurgent criticism or the as after Prophets. history. their parallelin Kafka's"impossibilflight of Having the unspeakable impossibility not writing. to a groupto a largely could onlybe and of longoccupiedbyothers whosefrontiers strip earth and can be understood outsidethemetaphysics psythoseof hatred. shakeoff command"I Jeremiah's do not knowhow to speak. as tion of clairvoyance.or consider that the of morphosis" 1912in precisely senseand connotations would is there later.Even the less the spate of commentaries in exchange on Kafka's religiosity the Walter Benjaminmasterly with Mandelstam's whichmay.somehow. The of thepre-scribed. Kafkawas. geopolitically barren of ethnic strip earthin theMiddle East. thefacsimhysterical of arrived of theattempts theProphetsto at. merely and betweentorturer world."Jonah's mentof utterance. have literal from foretelling. notonlyin hiswritings also in but hissight. canonictextshad to be shownto be chology true. measure.In Kafka'swritings to be given itbytheNazis a generation almostwholly worthrenders which literalism avantla lettre a revealed whichtheyhave provoked.literally. irrational. future litto so It to himself. brought itself none theless. haveto show. was and invention pedanticnotaimagination secondsight his Kafka's misery one coercedinto writing. haunting of in of It is compelling our reading Kafka.Explication. of and across tionalacceptanceofa continuum ostracism persecution nor therationally. in October 1914. Kafkaknew. be the best thatthe arts of modernliterary of conundrum theprophetic. is some his personalexistence. the in somesecret on oftheJewhas. together GershomScholem letters.the OurHomeland» Text 13 the But thecrux is this:neither Jewish indeedtradiendurance. As no other speaker scribe a in them. return a modern of absurd." ityof writing. is but torments foreseen. diffidence before mundane are almost authorship.perhapsconsciously the of to burden their evadetheintolerable seeing. of Kafka'sblueprint theconcentration-camp trivialize context.of the comingobscenitiesof intimacy victim. notionthatthenight-vision The book*)has been. The priceforthis'keepingof the books' (forthis'going by the monstrous.as these are spelt out. knowingly posthumous . ile. in "In The Penal in Kafka'suse oftheword"vermin" "The MetaColony". essay on readingDante. The practises literary are criticism study moreor less helplessbeforeThe Trialand The and of inhumanities their faithful Castlewith minutely prevision theclerical to meansor literary reference stylistic of lifein our time. what relatesthe rare secular as a their status a mikra. The yellowone frightens more. have buriedmymother in thebright temple. At Jerusalem's gate a blacksun has risen.write and thosebooks whichcome upon us likeill fortune.is. of the parable "In Front of the Law" composed in Novemberor December1914. Jewish experience theimperaof tiveterror thetextis manifest: does notwakeus. Theycall and call upon us. in theJewish The indispensable books. disthan r tressus deeply. of How muchcould be said (inadequately) thatmesmeric opposition between"one we love betterthan ourselves"and "suicide". manafter that theprofoundest by allegory produced western Scripture. summons examplesto thecanonic. thosewhose comingupon us is more even thanthe death of the beloved.lullaby.like the death of one we love better like ourselves.ifneedbe. hamand sub-poenato mankind. . as witha Ifthebook we are reading then we readit?So that do fist on hammering ourskull. suspect. can Nothing erasethisnight butthere's light still withyou. suicide.and suchbooks as makeus happywe haveare But ourselves.are the syllabusof the powerful Judaic. why itshallmakeus happy? Good God. in us.14 GEORGE STEINER I informs notation thisscarcely of conceivable condition which. of visionand experience thebook. wewouldalso be happy ifwe had notbooks. within Whatis pellucid this thanourselves' oftheone'lovedbetter to is famousdictum theparadoxicalneed. What theyhave in common. of the In Kafka'scredoof reading. whatwemust could.indeed. me Israelites Lullaby.theself-testing destruction. The fist us on mering our skullforces to keep our eyesopen.about of that Kafka'simplicit finding suicideis alwaysthekilling the'other'. Text Somewhere outsidegrace. The black sunrise answers to Nerval. there maybe in thesefour esoteric echoesof Russianapocalyptic and eschaquatrains accessible This tological symbolism onlyto theinformed. theother On death is a son's re-birth.by incessant echo and allusion. The birth of thechildis always. In and in the incomparable articulation the 'strangeness' the Russian of of tradition Pushkinand Dostoevsky. emblematic.dazzled bytheblacksun. thestrength universality thepoem'ssummons Yet and of are suchthatwe mustlisten bestwe can. in stam. quite often."In Paul Celan's one me day of a poetryon the destruction European Jewry.ina banal sense.Moreover."The yellow frightens more. as Certainmotifs declarethemselves. the politicaland psychological by "whitenights". Petersburg.reverses febrile thewhite But to is nightfall. a mother's of and aloneness. Merwin I can sayvery little about it. poetrywhich. withno priests lead them. to Israelites have sungtherequiemoverher in thebright temple.into the mostdefinite exiles fromsharedidentity . 'yellow thesame) theyellowstarof thecondemned.thereis in the"Black Sun" an interplay the of cradleand thegrave. happensto be the case. "blacksun"ofMandelstam's with precedent Baudelaire its in and lyric. moreominous thepoetthaneither thelight ofcommon . Russianpoetry fiction. The voicesof Israelites rangout overmymother.often thatof Osip Mandelincorporates the sun'willhavebecome(remaining. I wokein thecradle. a re-birth but into adult hand. LackingRussianthetranslation byClarenceBrown is and W. in are The particularly St. actualreference. Mandelstamand Pasternak.the OurHomeland.Lullabyinterweaves withrequiem.S.theend ofmaternity. As does so muchofelegiacand philosophic after Proverbs poetry and Ecclesiastes it is the lattertext which seems subtlyactive in Mandelstam'slines.in both the greatvoices of Russian JudaeoOrthodoxy(the baptized but remembering Jew). the whitenights. 15 ThispoembyMandelstam entitled is "Black Sun".aboutthesourcesofitsspell. in hisrackedbone is .so there herean inextricable between the intimacy Not onlyAmos. Jewish secularwriting at from the when.to the clear vision of the night-dawn ahead. an enforcedclairvoyanceand guilt of accomplishment.indeedprovoke. They do so "Somewhereoutsidegrace. theDiaspora. last.fulfillment? Could therebe some (incomprehensible) guilt in annunciation? (In the Brussells museum theAnnunciation. But.16 GEORGESTEINER From thispsychic and somaticexile. evident. The sun whichdazzles him is a black sun. but numerousrabbinic and the foreseen. and it rises"At Jerusalem's gate. The bookkeeper notonlythecustodianand.at somelevel. from Heine to Celan. Israelitesburythe speaker'smother the bright or ritualabsurdity scandal.madea party thefact He to prophecy thatGod remembers future.Butneither Bolshevik-Stalinist nightmare wereinanywayvisible.therecan be no remembrance.hangs smallpainting the Mary'sbowed. a Jewis made homeless child is woken by the exiled voices of Israel. ground. nags. is in a condition of of and pre-vision.itsprings and of carries with liturgical. present God's word.overwhelmed In has cometo lorditoverlife? Does the Crucifixion." We can read thisimagein at least twoways. is As in Kafka. hangsan anonymous 'primitive' depicting behind a of head. a In evenin death.The requiem.) Judaism. thetext fact follow but after word? humbly. also murderously. woken to apocalyptic terror. return. through Mandelstam's had poem is dated 1916. the thequestion is Again acute.thestatement one of ostracism." rather thana Jewish is a motif.to thelivingsummons theTorah. Mandelstam Yet outofHitler andwakes wakes./ The allusionto burialin unconsecrated to Withno priests lead them. Jew. He already to in knows a knowledge be fulfilled hisownappallingsuffering and death. poem. his reader. pogroms the northeWhirlwind at war.That or is shut to the outcast and/ a blacknessat noon shall enter gate it intothecity. it. kaddish. is. exegetical textuality monopoly theghetto. imagined haveconjectured every that whenhe is wholly to masters. thecommanding At itsgreatest. Exile would seemto be at thehammering heartof Mandelstam's "in a temple".Where prophecy so penetratively does it not preparefor.RussianJewry knownthe recent ofthefairly and theso-calledcivilized worldwas past. paganorChristian is in a larger No but sense. the a Akiba made of his refuge 'place' or UnderRoman persecution. 'bookish' geniusof Marx and of of is and Freud. ing.It is true. of and uniquestrengths purities disinterested purpose. of but 'house ofthebook'.in whicha single the of entailsthepermanletter. The quarrelwithHellenism and withChristian gnosisis stark. the of He The mystery the and No other of are to tradition or practises clerisy fundamental Judaism. the from mundane. Hence theclericalideals. certifier prophecy. in commentary clerkship speculative the exegeticlegacy(while being at the same timea psychologicaloverwhelmoften presence. more It womenmostnativeto modernintelligence.theclericalcode ofscribalobservance spirit. culture ascribeda comparable has aura to theconservation tranand beenan equivalent of of In has mystique scription texts. in the kabbalist'sexhaustive scrutiny the manifold in form denomination and Hebrew letter whosegraphic single of are energies meaning incised. The Jewish sociologicalrevolt is economicand social theory.Hencetheclerisy the in of ecstatic rabbinic casteintheghetto Statile.The point is that the sometimes to of and disciplines attention the text. isthe Judaism.the hallucinatory techniques bestowedon its of to word. is a cleric.to say of the'scribal'natureofJewish of for vancethatitwas an inhibiting substitute theproduction secular intellect and art.ofWittgenstein ofLévi-Strauss. It is these whichhave made so many Jewishmen and. A secularized closelyderived system values and was to makeof CentralEuropeanJewry itsAmerican after-glow . againstit). of havegenerated provocative the pre-eminence theJewin modernity. letter thelife thespirit. direct tothat abstinence whichconstitutes ethosof thecleric. is a facilecliché. physics.This is trueof orthodoxpraxis.To sayofthis and textuality and in and clerkship-botharetotally instrumental Kafka'sprofession social in Kafka'scalling thatthey for werea surrogate thepolitical. surviacts barredto theJews. or The be it humanistic scientific.the OurHomeland.thereverence mystique fidelity thewritten withinJudaic sensibility concentrated expositorsand transmitters. Text 17 and flesh.in modernmathematics. a seculardeployment in and thelongschooling abstract. wrong transcription a single entremoval therelevant of or the scroll pagefrom holybooks. erratum. no other there the philological. thewholetheory of niques of the Kabbala. of and conveyance theexilichistory theJews. to thesame pitchof literalist in and techintensity.In it to the is of indeed thekabbalist. the heir from approximate. is thesethat recently. Leningrad.In them. moralapproximaof of ethically. possiblelighton the inherently anarchicgeniusofabstract and thought thesearchforabsolutetruth.This grimfantastication utterly expressiveof a to of as scholar's code. camps(and thiscameto pass) correct printing fultext.of one who will in thedeatha emenda doubterror. The resulting victory individual and lamednotonly justiceoverpatriotism reasonsofstate. need onlylook to Spinoza to knowotherwise. Such politicsare. We What is at stake is a politicsof truth. of Socratic and Socratesis theone gentile whoma thinking has Jew thenever-ending to obligation be jealous. has A kabbalistic and hassidicintimation it thatevilseepedinto the crackofa single erroneous our worldthrough hair-line that letter. and Frankfurt New York have been the Jewish Vienna. the after theaddictsof thewordand of thetheorem. does the trialof Socrates.butalso thecapitalstoutcourt. the intellectual-spiritual Prague. man's suffering. the capitalsofourage. Withcrueledge. of and clashed. mandarinabstraction.forthatmotionof Einstein. thedance before arkin whichthetextoftheLaw is housed. exact dreamers have led. The socraticmoment modern for is Affair.nor indeedprimarily. pereatmundus.havedancedthelifeofthemind. Boththeoccasionand thelogicoftheconflict came out ofJuda- .metaphysically Imperatives reasonand of conscience withthoseconventions expediency. even in an compelled and emancipated assimilationist garb.came of the false and letter wordwhenGod dictated Torah to or of the transcription a single is his elect scribe. Budapest. It Jewry theDreyfus he on theJewthe questionof whether could. whichis the post-Napoleonic nation-state. France theVichyregime. rhetoric tactics civilwar perenthe and of nial to Frenchpoliticsare a directlegacy but the veryconceptof nationalism. in essence. that of the Jew especially. tionand irresolution without whichthefabric society of cannothang As Affair together. It points thedefinition a Jew onewhoalwayshas a pencilor pen in hand whenhe reads. Fiat iustitia. hiswayto extinction. clerks. thoseof pedantic. themorality metaphysics But on and of theclerkare not only. contested judgment thepolis.everobtaina securecitizenship in thecityof the gentile.so the Dreyfus passes on the of schism.theDreyfus Affair confronted idealsofjusticeand of with claimsofthenation-state transcendent the conscience to personal The case threw sharpest the loyalty.18 GEORGESTEINER heartlandof modernity.liesat the theancient core ofJewish consciousness. He scholaramongitschildren. of the Patriotism.Whether knewitor not. Text 19 the intotheterritorial. scholaror future savant of the takes for his own a dictate by a now-forgotten nineteenth-century: motives-patriotic. theideal of clerisy Jewishness. of of thosepracticalities civiccomprocome politicalloyalty.allows himself mustbe stricken of or manipulation adjustment thetruth.the OurHomeland. the from rollof scholars. house of for it tenseneednotbe Israel.Or rather. must felt.the ecstaticexactionsand exactitudes.whengivennationality his adopted by itself a visa to the in Judaism defines as remained transit. Benda defines cism of disinterested vision. messianic this in For thecleric. On and scholarship.whether millennially equippedwith he and it wished ornot indeed. or oughtto be sadnessin a Jewish Benda goes further. Jewish book whichcame of theDreyfus an Clerics. Let miseand herd-instinct whicha Socratesand a Spinoza refuse.a homecoming textrightly of and to and Judaism itself to itskeeping thebooks. hosts. for Whoever.oftheThirdRepubNext lic underthreat Germaninvasion. is of and established expounded. benedictions spokenin thesynagogue householdifthereis no Thereis.are formulated JulienBenda's The Treasonof the case.relieven the slightest gious and even moral. desperately hopedotherwise didmuch to deceivehimself the Jew. efficiency. verity. theymodulatefromthe religious the in seculardomain. is an 'Israel' of truththefuture each out Each seeking ofa moral.Theycame from ambiguousentry fundanationofa people at homein Roman politiesofthemodern mentally not tribe housednotin place butin time. be Observe of commandment The tranquil enormity this the ascendingorder in whichthe condemnedapologias are listed. a Whereit cannotafford . the whichunderlie majorthought to extendexplicitly thescholar. positive seeking. whatever political. mendacity.is thelowestnon-excuse. Theyare notthenative must evenreligion truth naturalhabitation. inescapably instances fanatithe and himself Heir to Spinoza. an aliyah. The impositions to as gloryof thistrusteeship.ofa pilgrim he he legs. loveand defense thehomeland. rootedbut exile. the "eventheslightest" commits the before cleric and city thenationperish whichis truth. the Sabbath.philosophic. of ground hisbeing. gentile 'otherland'. ism. thatthereis a between and contradiction "Forcé de combattre humanity citizenship: la nature les institutions ou faire homme un sociales. prophetic and to are thespeculative addiction insight thenationhoodofJudaism. thepsychologist's thewriter's he his from mikra.The cleric if betrays calling. called. of of to The commitment theclerisy truth. worth falsehood. a greater lesserdegreeof self-awareness. anything the of and provisional patriots? nation-state founded The mostwary is on and ofinstauration ofmilitant It perpetuates itself lies glory. truth-thinker.he is admitted thehistory Judaon of he to time.forthefirst á text." The 'patriotism' thetruth-seeker antithetical Rousseau's of is to civic option. the inman. the ism. myths by and half-truths (machine gunsand sub-machine guns). of How can a thinking be but man. (impractical) consequences. The sole citizenship the cleric is that of a critical of .on theday on whichhe is asked and allowed to read correctly the from Torah.It is thefalsereading.'Morality'is the crownof motives. This summons to or entails. knowthatno nation. a greater lesser passage to or a degreeof intensity. isabsent ings or the if for heflinches from.on theday on which is. It is herethatthecreedof Spinoza and of Kafka meetswiththe a a scholar."The car is for are consequenceis stark:"a patriot hardon strangers.no creed. this'callingup' in thefullsenseofa perilous enlistment musthave practical and promotion.no moralideal and is a be a necessity.a native theword.il fautopterentre ou un citoyen. on ne peut pas faireà la foisl'un et l'autre.In hismodelof Rousseau declaredunequivocally the social contract. to A Jewenters manhood.no body politic.A truethinker. it thatof humansurvival. to edict(Kierkegaardwill repudiateit injunction do so is a fearful a coincidence between WhereKant postulated transcendent utterly). This knowledgeand self-deception are the observance his homeland. The yield. truth-seeking.20 GEORGESTEINER Yet it too is set aside. Benda knewthattheremaybe cases of theethicaland thecognitive. ethics thepursuit knowledge in and of conflict between irreconcilable in in and nuclear findphysics.must conductof Socrates. willed or the manipulationof a text. genetics. acceptanceof the of thiscalling. hemuffles deflects purehunt truth Plato is halloo whena truth cornered-evenifthishunt the records hunter's or shouldlead to his own destruction thatof hiscommunity. erratum that makehimhomeless. In of as of thehumblest clerks in thegreatest thinkers. they but men.literally. textswhichit housedsingin thewindsthatscatter was Pauline universalism an inspired amalgam of the transcenin and ofHellenic of dent. God vigilantes patriotic (governments. Tarsussetprophecy ecumenism againstpriesthood.on all practicalcounts.the nationare laid waste. transmitter endure. mortal beweenan immanent homelandand the between politicsand verity. provedto be themostseriouschallenge the in survival. the on mercanmendacities which nation-state be ita mass-consumer or tile technocracy a totalitarian oligarchy-builds its power and is its is The aggressions. conscientious objector:to thevulgarmysto tiqueoftheflagand theanthem. knowsnotonlythatnationalism a sortofmadness."So Jeremiah when was taken. itself Christianity.immaterial textuality theProphets Judaism everto Jewish It syncretism. Christendom became. politicalterritorial structure. a Instead.The manorwomanat homein a thetextis. It is thatbetweenpriest It the and thoseofuniversality.Somewhere will were written thefirst.It is altogether possiblethatJudaismwould have lost its identity. by definition. itself. is 36-9.and he was there prisontilltheday thatJerusalem in is was taken.KingJahoiakim spaceofthetranscendent. and The quarrelis as ancientas Israel. He knowsthatit signifies abstention an from freeand clear thought and of from disinterested the pursuit justice. a virulent infection edgingthe species towardsmutual massacre. mimeograph is a machine."The formulaic Jerusalem specification magnificent meaning.The Templemaybe destroyed. cutsoutthe and seizesthescroll by textintotheconsuming flame columnsand caststheentire offending burnbooks). the textand its the there and now. between claimsofnationhood prophet.thelatter beentrue its in if wouldhavediffused to had Judaic catholicity.to serve. on scroll and write itall instructs prophet: the "Take theeagainanother on "The truth out. The clash out speaksto us irreconcilably ofAmosandJeremiah. them. thewordsthat a whichthe there a pencil-stub. thepathosand eloquenceofcollective "mycountry.The royalcity. diffusion of made clandestine the barbed wireand watch-towers national by dogma. Text 21 He is humanism.to . politicalcensors. hand-press abode in thecourtof the king'smenhave overlooked. againstterritoriality. precisely so faras it sprangfromwithin Utopianelein ments theJewish tradition Paul of (and utopia means"no-where").speltoutinJeremiah He dictated God's clerk bookkeeper. prepared. locusoftruth alwaysextraterritorial. thesleepofreasonwhich proclaims or to right wrong".the OurHomeland. refuge A had to be found. ism. survival the'Old Newland'(Herzel's famousphrase)againstcrazy of The odds. was left the(unsafeor.again. ern nationalism Truth bears the stampof the Lutheranprogramme. is there thatgarrison the'treason'of theProphet. nation-state sups on lies. has beencompelled makeother It to menhomeless.is"a theft la patrie" Quite so. Ideologicalimperialismis inseparable from Constantine the modadoptionofChristianity. Rousseau. in from disinherited. the language and the vision are proudlymimeticof Bismarckian It nationalism. There is no singularvice in the practisesof the State of Israel. interminable pilgrimage the defenselessness theJewin the of through persecution. In thefounding secular manifesto Zionism."eyeless" or was theclairvoyant Milton Judaism becomehomeless ofthatgreatHebraist. These follow ineluctably the simple institution the modern on of on necessities which exists it with nation-state.madehomeless. duringtwo the of millennia.is onlya partof thetruth.thegenesis militancy secularstates. to 1948A.its rhetoric selfof Sparta. virtues Israel are thoseof beleaguered Its propaganda. are as desperate anycontrived thehistory nationalas in of deception. of Herzel'sJudenstaat.ofJewsintheDiaspora.22 GEORGESTEINER of and hallow. have made a wonderof necessity. livesarmed to theteeth. and endurable.Underexternal to and internal has stress. wretched himself).roughly. from A.D. But this. loyalty beenatrophied and patriotism madechauvinism. The return Zion. moreexactly. interminable wereno longer faceofbestiality derision.D. has epithet to itself. servile. dignity theJewthathewas too weakto makeanyother human as as The of as being unhoused. other- . the To manyamong the fewsurvivors.whatlicense patriotism. Israelis a nation-state theutmost to degree. it in was. 70 Duringtheperiod. thepolitical-military by It is by empirical and againstits nationalist need thata competitors. orderto survive day to day (it was. Whereit has tradeditshomelandin thetext forone oftheGolan Heights inGaza.a place of physicalgathering whicha Jewish in parent could giveto his childsome hope of a future.ofcourse. Spinoza's in for for of refusal thetribe? said committed on Humanism. of keeping thepariahand theexile. the to fantastic the courageand labour whichhave made thedesertflower. seek neither be prophets to nor clericsderangedby some autistic. politicaland military of overwhelming majority Jewsin Israel. Whatplace. Theywould. they occupy. and ritualpractises and beliefs to can be felt be real.thefailure Israel to be Zion. worldly for They hunger. of nor The fulfills disproves M osaic and prophetic timeis notyet. Jewshouldnothavea landofhisown. purely armedmenaboutand politicians.likeall othermenand nations. the ofthat 'finalsolution' Ironically.and afterthe unspeakablehorrors destruction the lavished uponhim. today.a shelter in thenight? I knowall this.Bothcurrents prevision to be The Orthodox are The prescriptions suffering of have long been made accomplished.It is.difficult believethatthisunique phenomenonof unbrokenlife. have no right thisanswer.It would be shallowimpertinence to see the not the forceof theargument. threat might proveto bymobility. manywithout to existential rational. a cited?Is Zionismnotas integral partofthe'prescribed' and mystery times sufferance of of as condition Judaism weretheterrible (Shylock's word)and dispersal? is of answer clear. thecommonconditionof man among men. Moreover. I to Personally. One need be neither a . and tortured theyhave been forso long. ThustheStateofIsrael. evidential strength The survivalof the Jews has no authenticparallel in history. empirical in to indeedordained. level.ifharshreality miesrather thanbe oppressed by eventorture wouldrather thanbe occudictates.I have no partin the whichunderwrite But its intuitive it. self-conscious. thevery textsI have return Israelnotforeseen. desperately. provethe thepresent of the in temporality its re-establishment expedient spurious. nonsense. censor.Therewere.is Judaismhas drawn its with the exilic circumstance. Text the 23 addictionto speculative abstractions and theelixirof truth. the hour. enevanquishtheir and scattered them. on the most have perished.The imperilled brutalized condition notbefore messianic of of State of Israel. the covenant return. Messiah The 1948.in the face of everydestructive agency. to And so shallbe thehomecoming thepromised land. What as pied and censored what ivory-tower mandarinfantasy. unconnected from adaptivedemands the madeon it from uncanny vitality dispersal.is the psychological. be thegreatest iftheJewswerenow to be compactedin Israel. But manifest. yet But thereis a more centralintimation.is it to suppose that of alone among men. no and no Ancientethniccommunities civilizations less gifted.OurHomeland. less trace.as itstands in neither was nowhere sight. then. as their justification. mustlearnto be each other's evenas beings guestson thissmallplanet. lose itslife-force. thought in bomb-shelters. in Locked materially a material the homeland. by theentire madeto sinksafely belowground. setting of up in a smallnation-state theMiddle East. the visitoris taken to the "Shrine of the Scrolls"or. whenthe But textis thehomeland. In Jerusalem today.This they is a truth to to immediate. perhaps historically inescapable to normalthe of izethecondition.Butsuchprecautions also a live are and ethical barbarism. there exemplary or somesensebeyond interest theinterlockto contingent demographic of The ingconstancy Jewish pain and ofJewish preservation. are Becausenation-states bythesword. I cannotshakeoff conviction thetorment themystery the that and in ofresilience Judaism an that enact. morally psychologically truth. Man will have to learnit or he will be made extinct in exigent suicidalwasteand violence. attempt eradicatethedeepertruth unhousedness. textmay. itis also a terribly abstract. One's guideexplainsthehidden radiance. Such precautions indispensable. an in at-homeness theword. crushed military burdens. meaning Judaism.Words cannot be broken by metaphysical nor live artillery. evenwhenit is rootedonlyin theexact remembranceand seeking a handful wanderers. mechanism wherehydraulic edifice or be can.at thesame to an of of time.in fact. arduoustruth: human exemplify.whichare thelegacyof theProphets and of of thekeepers thetext. implausible. of of nomadsoftheword. our breath. must learnto be guests beingitself ofthenatural of and world. by is pettyand even corruptin its politics.as it is also known.24 GEORGESTEINER to nor religiousfundamentalist a mystic believe that thereis some to of is that meaning thesingularity Judaicendurance. in theeventof shelling bombardment. The State of Israel is an endeavour whollyunderstandable.shrillin its parochialism. In this are building keptsome oftheDead Sea scrollsand priceless exquisite biblical papyri. our skin. is. wouldmaketheJewlevel It the with common of denominator modern It 'belonging'. itstruth and values maybe betrayed.it . notion life thattheappallingroad ofJewish and theever-renewed of miracle survival shouldhaveas their the end.It is a place of poignant. in many aspectsadmirable.if somewhatsepulchral. "House of theSacred Books".to thepassing humbly shadow we cast on a groundinconceivably more ancientthan our and and visitation. for Whatbetter lodging theJew? . Text 25 Timeis truth's and itsnative cannotbe extinguished. passport ground.the OurHomeland.