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From Lineage to Sexual Mores: Examining “Jewish Eugenics“

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Noam J. Zohar
Noam J. Zohar
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Abstract

To describe the attitude of the Jewish tradition toward eugenic ideology and policies, it is necessary to examine classical sources from a contemporary perspective. In the heyday of eugenics, Rabbi Max Reichler (1916) enthusiastically endorsed its ideology, supporting his position with numerous traditional texts. Similar views of traditional teachings on “chosen people” and on the importance of lineage have a certain contemporary following as well. The paper argues, however, that these views involve a one-sided reading of the Jewish tradition and, particularly, the suppression of traditional critiques of lineage and of the notion of a “Jewish race.”

Information

Type
Historical Perspectives
Information
Science in Context , Volume 11 , Issue 3-4 , Autumn-Winter 1998 , pp. 575 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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