Publications

Publication details [#35802]

Asscher, Omri. 2020. Exporting political theology to the diaspora: translating Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook for modern Orthodox consumption. Meta 65 (2) : 292–311.
Publication type
Article in jnl/bk
Publication language
English
Person as a subject

Abstract

The recent boost in English translations of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook may be considered a revealing juncture between Israeli and American Modern Orthodox Jewish communities. Upon establishing the features of theological translation in this homeland-diaspora framework, this paper offers a discussion of a dominant translation trend of Kook’s thought in the 1990s, an ideologically motivated “export” of texts which has been largely determined by the transnational movement of people. The translators were American rabbis who emigrated and settled in Israel and the main target audience for the translations was the growing number of young American Jews. It is argued that the translations were framed as a political polemic on the part of right-wing religious Zionism, aimed at promoting a highly nationalist, topical political interpretation of Kook’s suggestive Hebrew works among English-speaking Modern Orthodox Jews.
Source : Based on abstract in journal