Cultural Judaism: A Facet Of Rabbi Doctor Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s Theology, Philosophy And Religious Ideology
Cultural Judaism: A Facet Of Rabbi Doctor Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s Theology, Philosophy And Religious Ideology

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to answer some questions concerning “Cultural Judaism” and “Cultural Zionism” in the theological, philosophical and ideological thought of Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower (1872-1939), a moderate Reform Rabbi and doctor of philosophy, who was Chief Rabbi of Romanian Jewry (1921-1939). We attempt to explain how Niemirower’s ideas fit into the general framework of Jewish thought. Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower was influenced in his ideas by the religious Jewish reform in Germany – the country in which he studied –, by the thesis of Achad Haam (“Cultural Zionism”), and by Simon Dubnov (“Spiritual Nation”). He tried to unite the idea of the political nation with that of the Jewish spiritual nation, proposing a middle way, Jabneism, that is, Jabnean Pan-Judaism, and the foundation of a Jabnean Academy in Jerusalem as a central Israelite Academy. Rabbi Niemirower’s thesis is interesting for the research of the history of Judaism and Zionism in East-Central Europe in the first three decades of the 20th century.

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