Currently Reading: Rome and Jerusalem

 02 Nov 2023  Less than 1 min read

Rome and Jerusalem: A Study in Jewish Nationalism, by Moses Hess

From the book jacket…

This is the book that ultimately led to the creation of Israel. European Jews had been vilified and persecuted for centuries, and Moses Hess discussed it long before the rise of Hitler and Nazism. He believed that the Jews would always be homeless, unwelcome people unless they had their own country, and was the first to introduce the concepts of Zionism, and the first to call for the foundation of a Jewish socialist commonwealth. Hess blends secular and religious philosophies, Hegelian dialectics, Spinoza’s pantheism, and Marxism into philosophical grounds for Jewish nationalism. He explains why the Jewish race is indestructible, and that the only solution of the Jewish question lies in returning to Palestine. Hess is prophetic in his writing.

Rome and Jerusalem belongs to the very few books which are written in advance of their time.