What does it mean to have ahavat yisrael, love of the Jewish people? Does it require unity or loyalty among Jews, or some kind of responsibility to critique? This discussion will look at a classic exchange about ahavat yisrael between Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem in response to Arendt’s writings about Jewish actions during the Holocaust. How might their argument, in the wake of horror, help us think about arguments among Jews today, in the midst of further horrors?
We are excited to host Fannie Bialek to discuss these important questions. Dr. Bialek is an assistant professor at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work focuses on contemporary religious and philosophical approaches to interpersonal relationships marked by love, justice, and care, or their absence.