Nationalism and Judaism in the Conservative Thought of Friedrich Julius Stahl / לאומיות ויהדות בהגותו השמרנית של פרידריך יוליוס שטהל

Friedrich Julius Stahl (1802—1861), a converted German Jew, was a professor of law at the University of Berlin, and the leading ideologist of Prussian conservatism of the mid-nineteenth century. Unlike many conservatives during the first decades of the century who opposed nationalism because of its supposed revolutionary implications, Stahl introduced a different perception of national identity. It was based on the idea of a 'Christian State' designed to exist according to religious and moral principles. Yet Stahl's 'Christian State' was not a mere universal ideal, since the Volk living within its borders acquired particular features as it evolved through the years in specific circumstances, and was constituted of specific social divisions and relations. Stahl seems to have conceptualized Judaism in a similar manner. He conceived the Jews' religious adherence and distinct moral system as characteristics of their national peculiarities. Judaism constituted a 'religious' as well as a 'national community' that continuously struggled to preserve its own life and separation from other people. The real Jew, following Stahl, had to consider his current existence among the nations as a temporary solution, while his heart should crave for a 'Jewish national community.' And unlike the Christians who awaited the establishment of the Kingdom of 'heavenly Jerusalem,' the Jews hoped to reinstate the 'temple state' in Jerusalem in its earthly, rather political, sense. Stahl was not the first German thinker to emphasize the national nature of Judaism. Earlier thinkers, with clear liberal orientation, wrote about the Jewish nation but in more secular terms. They also regarded Judaism as a culture with peculiar social conduct, and in some cases it was even considered as designating a unique race. For Stahl and the conservatives who followed his ideas, the national nature of Judaism lay first and foremost in religion. Since the Jews were a nation with exclusive characteristics and orientation to a certain territory, as well as possessing supposed national aspirations, the solution for the 'Jewish Question,' accordingly, could be the separate existence of Jews in their own state.