State or D iaspora: J ewish History as a Form of National Belonging

This study addresses the writing of J ewish history as a form of national belonging in I srael and in the D iaspora. S imon D ubnow laid the foundation for J ewish national historiography in the beginning of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1920s, Zionist historians in Palestine emphasized the centrality of the Land of I srael in J ewish history, while J ewish historians in the D iaspora preferred an elliptical model, which recognized two national centres – ‘Babylon and Jerusalem’. In the 1930s, a debate broke out between two principal J ewish historians, S alo B aron and Y itzhak B aer. While Baer stressed the Zionist conception of J ewish history, B aron emphasized the world dimensions of J ewish history. Similarly, during the 1950s a dispute arose between J ewish scholar S imon R awidowicz and D avid B en‐ G urion. For R awidowicz, a J ewish centre in the D iaspora was parallel in significance to the State of I srael. By contrast, for B en‐ G urion only a J ewish nation‐state could provide true J ewish national belonging. In this article, I analyse both arguments and draw conclusions for the current relationship between Israeli historical awareness and the use of J ewish history in the D iaspora.