Heinrich Heine

Leo Löwenthal

Late 1920s

[ . . . ] The Judaism into which Heine was born and with which he had to come to terms as a maturing man was the Judaism of the German reform. This was, to be sure, no longer the reform, creative in its way, of the generation of Moses Mendelssohn, but already in part the reform of the Sunday Jews. Heine hated these abuses growing out of the reform…

Please login or register for free access to Posen Library
Register
Already have an account?
Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Leo Löwenthal

1900–1993

The German-born sociologist of literature and mass culture Leo Löwenthal was associated with the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt from 1926. With the rise of Nazism, he and its other members transferred the institute to New York. After the war he remained in the United States, where he taught at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1956. As a young man in Frankfurt, he was strongly influenced by Rabbi Nehemiah Anton Nobel and was active in the Freies Jüdisches Lehrhaus in its early years, but by the time he joined the Institute for Social Research he had drifted away from any serious engagement with Jewish themes.

You may also like

The Assembly

 A lion drew his final breath, And animals were bereft by his death. There was no one to rule the realm, So everyone wanted to take the helm. When the animals realized their quandary, They discussed…
View Source

Mikhtav Aḥuz (Letter of Aḥuz)

In sum, many rabbis in these times understand nothing about the spheres and their workings, just as oxen and donkeys lack understanding [see Isaiah 1:3]. They have violated laws, broken statutes…
View Source

Her Life and Her Memories

But was it surprising, when in the midst of such social circumstances or actually disarray, an intellectual sociability was offered, despite the prejudices that prevailed against the Jews at that time…
View Source