Rabbi Max Joseph: Between Reform and Zionism

The essay analyses the exceptional life and thought of the German Rabbi Max Joseph (1868-1950), who was at the same time an ardent Zionist and the follower of a non-orthodox, academic approach to Judaism. It shows that Joseph anticipated most formative elements of Jewish thought during the twentieth century and that his claim about the Jewish religion, depending on Zionism for its very survival in modernity, is a powerful and original statement until this day. Joseph was convinced that striving for Jewish national interests would actually create religiosity and not suppress it, and that, reversely, modern secular culture is absolutely essential for a Jewish national renaissance.