The Judaist and rabbi Shaul Magid will give the fourth lecture in the Mosse Lectures series on the topic of »Zionismus. History, Projects, Objections«.

Introduction: Michael Kämper-van den Boogaart
Response and discussion: Stefanie Schüler-Springorum

Abstract
Whereas Jews have often disagreed on almost all matters of their history and identity, one of the things they all seemed to agree about is antisemitism.
Yet in our time there has been a robust debate among Jews about what constitutes antisemitism. Various documents have been written trying to define antisemitism, and various organizations have sparred about implementing those definitions.
In this lecture I will discuss this problem in three parts. First, I will discuss the concept of "eternal antisemitism" that is, the claim that antisemitism is not conditional, contextual, or historical, but somehow "eternal." Second, I will discuss the debate about the uniqueness of the Holocaust in Jewish scholarship as part of the antisemitism debate. Third, I will discuss questions around the exceptionalism of the state of Israel and how that plays into discussions about antisemitism. I argue that these three issues contribute to why antisemitism is so difficult to define and to discern.

Shaul Magid is a Judaic Scholar and Rabbi; Teaches Modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard University and Rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue. He is a member of the American Academy for Jewish Research and the American Society for the Study of Religion. His research interests include Jewish thought, Kabbalah, Hasidism and American Jewish Culture, and Zionism. In 2023 »The Necessity of Exile«, a collection of essays on the Jewish relationship to Zionism and exile, was published by Ayin Press.

Stefanie Schüler-Springorum is a historian, head of the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism at TU Berlin, co-director of the Selma Stern Centre for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg and has been part of the Leo Baeck Institute in various functions for 30 years. Since 2023, she has been a member of the advisory board of the New Israel Fund Germany, which supports Israelis and Palestinians who work together for a democratic, equal and peaceful future. Her research focuses on German-Jewish history, the history of National Socialism, historiography and memory after 1945 and research into anti-Semitism.