New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking: Critical Theory After Adorno as Applied to Jewish Thought

225 Pages·2011·0.77 MB·English

by  Aubrey L. Glazer

A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking
Continuum Studies in Jewish Thought
Continuum Studies in Jewish Thought presents scholarly monographs offering
traditional and contemporary refl ection on Jewish intellectual history,
philosophy, and thought. Books in the series will seek to address a range of
concepts central to Jewish modern thought, evaluate the contributions of
Jewish thinkers, and demonstrate a critical understanding of the relationship
between Jewish thought and history.
Exile and Restoration in Jewish Thought, Ralph Keen
Lubavitcher Messianism, Simon Dein
A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking, Aubrey L. Glazer
A New Physiognomy of
Jewish Thinking
Critical Theory After Adorno as Applied
to Jewish Thought
Aubrey L. Glazer
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
© Aubrey L. Glazer, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
EISBN: 978-0-8264-3897-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Glazer, Aubrey L.
A new physiognomy of Jewish thinking : critical theory after Adorno as applied to
Jewish thought / Aubrey L. Glazer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-1-4411-3398-4
1. Critical thinking. 2. Jewish philosophy. 3. Philosophy, Modern–21st century.
4. Adorno, Theodor W., 1903–1969–Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
B809.2.G53 2011
181'.06–dc22 2010041957
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
To Elliot R. Wolfson
in gratitude and friendship
Gedichtzu, Gedichtauf: poem-to, poem-fro:
hier fahren die farben here come colors
zum schutzfremden to another foxholed
freistirnigen free-headed
Juden . . . Jew . . .
Niemand knetet uns wieder aus Erde No One again kneads us of earth
und Lehm, and soil,
niemand bespricht unsern Staub. No One invokes our pollen.
Niemand. No One.
Gelobst seist du, Niemand. Blessed are You, No One
Dir zulieb wollen In Your sight
wir bluhn we’d fl ower.
dir In spite of
entegen. You.
Ein Nichts A No Thing
waren wir, sind wir, werden we were, are, becoming
wir bleiben, bluhen: to be, fl owering:
die Nichts-, die, the No Thing, the
Niemandsrose. No-One-Rose.
Mit With
dem Griffel seelenhell, soulpure pistil,
dem Staubfaden himmelswust, wildsky stamen,
der Krone rot red corona
vom Purpurwort, das wir sangen we sang from the purpleword
uber, o uber over, O over
dem Dorn. to the thorn.

Contents
Abbreviations ix
Preface : Adorno’s “Dialectic of Enlightenment”—a Theological
Exploration xi
Acknowledgments xv
Prelude: Criterion for Attuning to a New Physiognomy of
Jewish Thinking 1
Part I Construction
Chapter 1 New Imaginal Thinking: Origin and Future of Machshevet
Yisrael after Negative Dialectics 15
Chapter 2 From Thinking the Last God of Thought to the Limitless
Poetic: Metaphysical Atheism between Thinking Poetry
and Poetics of Alterity 27
Chapter 3 Redemption/Redemption of Thinking: Toward a
Metaphysics of Musical Temporality 45
Part II Reconstruction
Chapter 4 Exile on Ben Yehudah Street: How Reifi cation of Israel Forgets
to Re-Member Zion 75
Chapter 5 Returning to Authenticity: From Jargon to Praxis of Critical
Judaism 87
Chapter 6 From Jewish Radicals to Radical Jews: Truth of Testimony
as Model for Community 97
Part III Genealogical Proviso
Chapter 7 Awakening to the Transpoetics of Physics and Metaphysics:
Correlations in the Poetics of Science and Art 113
viii Contents
Chapter 8 Aesthetic Theory of Halakhah: How a Poethics of Theory
and Praxis Enhances Existence 117
Chapter 9 Sprachspiel and Halakhah: Necessary Incompleteness in
Ethics 122
Chapter 10 Listening as Redemption, Suspicions of Utopia: Can
Musical Thinking Redeem Religion’s Imago Templi? 135
Afterword Liberation Through Reason: Retracing Residuals of
Childhood in Revisioning the Future 147
Notes 154
Bibliography 196
Index 205
Abbreviations
Adorno’s Primary Sources
AR
2000 The Adorno Reader, ed. Brian O’Connor, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.
AT
1997 Aesthetic Theory [1970], trans. R. Hullot-Kentor, University of Minnesota,
Minnesota.
BTPM
1998 Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music, ed. R. Tiedemann, trans. E. Jephcott,
Stanford University Press, Stanford.
EM
2002 Essays on Music: Theodor W. Adorno, trans. S. H. Gillespie, comm.
R. Leppert, University of California Press, Berkeley.
ISW
1981 In Search of Wagner, trans. R. Livingstone, NLB, Great Britain.
JA
1973 Jargon of Authenticity, trans. K. Tarnowski and F. Will, Northwestern
University Press, Chicago.
MAMP
1992 Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy, trans. E. Jephcott, University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.
MM
1951 Minima Moralia: Refl exionen aus dem beschädigten Leben, Suhrkamp,
Frankfurt.
1974 Minima Moralia: Refl ections from Damaged Life, trans. E. F. N. Jephcott,
Verso, London.
ND
1966 Negative Dialektik, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt.