Jewish learning The Sacred and the Secular: Tamid Course and Trip Explore Jewish Life in Central Europe
Central Europe was the cradle and center of Ashkenazi Jewish civilization until the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, as Jews grappled with the new challenges presented by emancipation and freedom, the German speaking Jewish communities evolved new models of Jewish living, laying the groundwork for the development of the Reform, Conservative and Modern Orthodox movements. The Nazis and their allies destroyed the Jewish communities of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, but their legacies are still alive and relevant in contemporary Jewish life.
I look forward to exploring and tracing the story of Ashkenazi Jewry on Tamid of Hebrew College’s (formerly Adult Learning) next travel learning experience, where we will use the major centers of Prague, Vienna and Budapest to remember and learn about the past and to better understand the complex nature of our own contemporary Jewish identity, belief and practice. Like last May’s exploration of Jewish Spain (Sefarad), our Central Europe trip, May 5-15, 2025, will be facilitated by Keshet Educational Tours. (Explore the full tour details including the itinerary and Spring course information here.)
Together, we will explore the great flourishing of secular Jewish culture in Europe after the French Revolution, with a particular focus on the German speaking Jewry of Central Europe. These post-Enlightenment Czech-, Austrian-, and Hungarian-Jewish communities made incredible contributions to the art, literature, academia, and design of the era, facilitated by a burgeoning cosmopolitanism opening Europe to new voices and perspectives. At the same time, these cultural contributions created a new sort of antisemitic panic about Jews exercising undue influence in secular culture.
We will contextualize this secular flourishing by learning about the traditional Jewish communities of the era in each city. In other words, our time in Prague will include a visit to the castle that likely inspired Kafka’s novel, The Castle, while also visiting the historic shul where the clay of the legendary Golem of Prague is said to rest to this day. And we will, of course, examine how American Jewish life today has been shaped by the expansive Jewish life of Central Europe — the secular culture, the religious practices, and the inevitable antisemitism. Along with local guides, we will be accompanied by Keshet educator Danny Ehrlich. Our trip will include guided tours of major cultural sites in each city and a unique Shabbat experience in Vienna.
In advance of the trip, I am excited to teach Tamid of Hebrew College’s adult learning course ‘THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE IN CENTRAL EUROPE’ (February-March, 2025). We will delve deeper into the roots of modern secular Judaism in these three cities. In Prague, Franz Kafka wrote about characters whose futile attempts to enter “the Law” and “the Castle” expresses the impossibility of the quest for God in modern times. In Vienna, Sigmund Freud saw religion as “the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity,” even as he affirmed his own Jewish identity. And in Budapest, Theodor Herzl proposed a radically secular solution to “the Jewish Problem” — the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.
Central Europe stands on a number of boundaries, and we will also learn about how Jews lived under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and at the edges of the Nazi and Soviet Empires. We will learn about anti-semitism during the 19th and 20th centuries as a way of understanding the world we live in today. Students will be asked to watch films that give this history more personal contours including, “Sunshine,” “The Woman in Gold,” “Everything is Illuminated,” and “Killing Kasztner.”
Contextualizing our present moment by learning about the past is a central value for Tamid of Hebrew College and part of the reason behind our name, which can be translated as “continuous”. On Zoom this winter, and in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest next spring, Tamid learners will enact this value with this deep dive into the legacy of Ashkenazic Central Europe.
Dr. Rabbi Leonard Gordon is the chair of the National Synagogue Council (NCS) and a frequent teacher for Tamid of Hebrew College’s Me’ah program. Gordon received rabbinic ordination and an MA from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He also holds a BA and M Phil from Columbia University, and an MA in Religious Studies from Brown University. In 2018, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in Interfaith Studies at the Andover Newton Theological School.
Course details will be posted later in the year. There are no prerequisites to participate in either the trip or course. Register for one or both!