Die Geburt der Literatur aus der Aggada

During the process of the modernization of German Jewry, an extensive transformation of the Jewish tradition took place. At the heart of this process were two basic elements of the rabbinic tradition: law and story, Halakhah and Aggadah. The discussion on these two Talmudic categories shaped the 19th century academic study of Judaism in its self-conception and in its key concepts. It was not only the emergence of a modern Jewish philology which was closely connected with the two rabbinic categories, but also the discussions on a modern Jewish literature. Between the beginning of the period of examination with Leopold Zunz and its end in the discussion of Gershom Scholem and Walter Benjamin on Franz Kafka's texts, the history of the emergence of modern Jewish scholarship and modern German-Jewish literature becomes apparent. Jewish modernity has invented a new tradition on the basis of the rabbinic lore.