Sam: "...the new Prussian king Wilhelm I, proclaimed an amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles." Me: "Wait, then why did Karl Marx stay in London?" Sam: "Except for Karl Marx." Me: "Thanks!"
I almost didn't catch that; "except for Karl Marx" was a VO insert. That said, London was definitely the place to be in the 1860s. To quote John Lennon, "If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome."
Great video! I knew that Hess was an early Zionist thinker but hearing his words on antisemitism in Germany and the future state of Israel was quite eerie
In my opinion this is up to this point the most important video in the series. The way it visualizes Hess's works shows that by using everything discussed in the previous videos he managed to predict the two biggest events in Jewish history since the Roman era, being the most negative one and the most positive one. Basically, this is the part where it's all starting to come together.
For anyone interested on the Bauer and Marx response to the former, David Leopold's book on the young Marx has a chapter dedicated to it. Also, as a brief aside, the interpretation of Marx as an economic determinism (in the sense defined in the video) is generally criticized by most academic historical and philosophical interpreters. On the Young Hegelians as a whole, there are quite a few books available, so for everyone interested in Hess I definitely recommend then as to have a fuller picture of the common influences that shaped the various figures. (One I've read recently and can recommend is Warren Breckman's, though its focus is definitely on building up to his discussion of Marx, so keep it in mind if you get it). Anyway, looking forward to the next video.
I can also second Breckman's "Marx, the Young Hegelians, and the Origins of Radical Social Theory", I also agree that Marx is presented as overly reductionist.
I've watched last 10 minutes like 8 times in this one week. This is by far my fav episode. "It doesn't have to be this way...It wasn't always this way"... This was a very beatiful transition that my words are failing to describe its smoothiness, drama and finalization. It reached the terminal station for both the train of thought you have built within this video but also for the 6 months of material you have been building up in a Hitchockian way that sent the viewer (me) back to years ago, to the Constiution of Judea during that black screen even before you explained it. We knew this was coming, but when and how. It had been hinted with Spinoza, tensions started with Mendelson, rose with Helek Tov, Italy and Cavour set a climax on their own terms but it wasn't the one we sought. Then you relieved the tension with Rome Jerusalem. Also your musical choices are PHENOMENAL.
Hey Sam! I love your videos! as an Israeli secular Jew who's been interested in our History for years, It's been amazing to learn so much about it, especially about things that are not covered in the education system or not talked about. I have heard of Moses Hess but never knew anything about him, and this video was so well made! I wanted to ask if you ever considered making a discord server for your subscribers, it could be an excellent way to get to know the people who follow you and interact with them, and may also be an excellent place for updates on videos (and possibly have added benefits to patrons) :)
I keep forgetting to "like" episodes of this fantastic series because I tend to binge-watch them but I need to say that it is such an educational joy! Time to say thanks again!
Wow! I never knew the story of Moses Hess! It's weird we were not taught about him in History class. Tonight I'm meeting my history-teacher mother-in-law. I'll have to ask her what she tells pupils about him. His second book literally predicted WWII!
hess went from freshman philosophy student making manifestos which sound like they could of been written by one today to predicting the shoah and that's gotta be an intellectual transformation if i've ever seen one
I clicked on this video expecting some more explanation of the revolutions of mid 19th century and not only I found that but also a well detailed history of pre-Herzl Zionism. Excellent work, Sam!
I really like the way you ended the video, there was something very satisfying about the cut from the standard video format to peaceful modern footage with ambient noise that I can't quite explain.
..It's fascinating to see how much right he was about his predictions of Germany and Israel. Though I wonder what was his idea of building a state with Arabs in Palestine in more detail
I looked st the source material, it’s very yada yada. Hesse focuses mostly on Jewry position within Christian Europe. Here in the relevant passage. “A great calling is reserved for you : to be a living channel of communication between three continents. *You should be the bearers of civilization to the primitive people of Asia, and the teachers of the European sciences to which your race has contributed so much. You should be the mediators between Europe and far Asia, open the roads that lead to India and China - those unknown regions which must ultimately be thrown open to civilization.* You will come to the land of your fathers crowned with the crown of agelong martyrdom, and there, finally, you will be completely healed from all your ills ! Your capital will again bring the wide stretches of barren land under cultivation; your labor and industry will once more turn the ancient soil into fruitful valleys, reclaim the flat lands from the encroaching sands of the desert, and the world will again pay its homage to the oldest of peoples. The time has arrived for you to reclaim, either by way of compensation or by other means, your ancient fatherland from Turkey, which has devastated it for ages. You have contributed enough to the cause of civilization and have helped Europe on the path of progress, to make revolutions and carry them out successfully. You must henceforth think of yourselves, of the valleys of Lebanon and the plains of Gennesareth. … March forward, Jews of all lands ! … How quickly, under the influence of labor and industry, will the enervation of the people vanish, in the land where voluptuousness, idleness and robbery have held sway for thousands of years. You will become the moral stay of the East. You have written the Book of books. *Become, then, the educators of the wild Arabian hordes and the African peoples.* Let the ancient wisdom of the East, the revelations of the Zend, the Vedas, as well as the more modern Koran and the Gospels, group themselves around your Bible. *They will all become purified from every superstition and all will proclaim alike the principles of freedom, humanity, peace and unity.* You are the triumphal arch of the future historical epoch, under which the great covenant of humanity will be written and sealed in your presence as the witnesses of the past and future. The Biblical traditions which you will revive, will also sanctify anew our Occidental society and destroy the weed of materialism together with its roots.”
To clarify something for those who are unaware. The surname Hess denotes someone with an ancestor who came from the state of Hesse. Moritz is not related to Rudolph of Spandau fame
גרמניה!!! Really looked forward to this video. Nationalism is taught in Israeli schools through Germany and since beginning watching your channel I wanted to see you covering it.
Oh, we're not done with the Age of Nationalism yet. True, most western-style education stops with Germany and Italy, but we've still got three more countries to deal with...
@@SamAronow what will you Call The period After the age of nationalism This and between it And WW1 , The birth of Zionism or prewar or as the french call it Belle epoque, . Or are you going to divied. Into smaller periods of is your new period (video group together with the correction plus qna video You do) going to be different?
That is why moses Hess is considered one of "the bringers of Zionism" מבשרי הציונות along with rabbi Yehuda elkalai, rabbi zvi Hirsch kalisher, rabbi eliyahu gutmacher and Moses montifiore
You could even point out a precedent with Maimonides, Nahmanides, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Daher Omar. It would seem that as soon as the First Crusade rendered the Holy Land almost entirely free of Jews, it took on a much more important place in Jewish society.
basically karl marx is an example of how a jew can be antisemite. and to put a stop for people saying: "if he a jew, he can't be antisemite." in fact, he CAN.
At least in the realpolitik realm things are getting better. The Abraham Accords have been groundbreaking, but there's so much more progress that needs to be made and it's unlikely it will ever happen.
It was literally impossible to happen since his conception of Israel would still be a settler-colonial state where Jews would have their own nation-state where they would be the majority. Just don't ask what would happen to all the Palestinian Arabs who already live there. I mean this was a guy who believed in nationalism and nation-states (even if it was its more liberal, early interpretations).
Brilliant video, Sam. I learn more from these tutorials than an entire college semester. Crazy to think that Moses Hess was making his predictions on the course Germany would take only months before Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Sam the Man. You keep illuminating things I thought I had some familiarity with. lol.. Fascinating information. And setting things in the context of the times....the current influences the current and developing. Much different than looking back with a summary mindset. Thanks for sharing and reminding that people live in the here and now. It's only history in hindsight.
Just finished this, the second of your videos I've watched. It's was dawning on me in the last few minutes that I am about to watch all of your fucking videos. Thanks in advance :D
So Hess predicted WW1 (and possibly the Holocaust, 30 odd years later) and the fall of the Ottoman Empire? But he didn't predict the reason for its fall or the role the British Empire would have in it and the part it would play, however imperfectly, in the realisation of his dream of a new Judea.
He thought France would be the main mover- they had after all been the main western player in the Ottoman Empire since Napoleon. The British were surprisingly inactive in the Levant- Prussia, Austria, Russia, and the US all had more interests there at the time.
Nationalism, the ultimate double edged sword of history. On one hand, the drive for national independence often brings with it calls for democracy, for rights that all people no matter their race and religion might share, it has toppled tyrants, it has given people with no place to go a place where they can feel safe and wanted. But then you see the ugly sides of nationalism. You see the state of freedom for the Jewish people become a state of oppression for the Arabs who have equally called that land home for centuries, you see one people attempting to elevate itself on a national high in Germany, in Japan, even here in my own America. It is a sharp blade, one pointed at its enemies, one pointed at its user.
cue "San Francisco" or "Go West" by the Village People LOL! Another fantastic vid, Sam! Consider a special vid in honour of Olivia Newton-John whose mother's family had fled Knotsie Germany. Her grandfather was Nobel Prize physicist Max Born. They went very far West, or was it East? Shabbat Shalom!
Excellent video, really, really good. I have to say that I wouldn't have seen it if not for you tweeting about it. It did not look particularly appealing to me. Such have happened to me with most of the videos about the history in Europe.
I somehow surprised you didn't described Hess as a "founder" in the ideas of Europe, showing his European ideas... And the reason of his come back and form of "Rome and Jerusalem" as letters to his new sister in law...
Thanks for the nice episode. Made me very sad. Not just because Heine or Hess knew what was coming, but also because it was actually a reasonable prediction based on what people at the time thought and said. The video focusses very much on political debates, but you also had this in many small cultural details such as widespread "spa antisemitism", the subtle, persistent antisemitism of the Prussian bureaucracy, or simply the Antisemitenpetition as one of many examples in academia.
Great video. You mentioned Bakunin and the beginnings of the anarchist movement. Jewish people had a huge hand in anarchist history and praxis (to the extent that some anarchist scholars learn to read Yiddish so that they can read some of their output today). Will you be touching on Jewish figures (as well as Jewish-descended figures) on the political fringes in a video of its own? I'd love to hear you talk about Emma Goldman, for example, to pick out an anarchist, or Trotsky to pick out a Marxist. In any case, looking forward to more. Sorry if the English here is bad, it is not my first language.
5:30 funny how this narrative fits with Muslim conceptions of themselves... like they would be the third part where they bring back the legal aspect so that law need not be in the hands of the imperfect, or something to that effect.
@@SamAronow Will you ever make a video on Muslim opinion on Jews? (pre Israel of course). It would be interesting to know what kinds of discourse would have been popular in the Muslim World surrounding the Jewish question. It would also be really interesting to see if there any similarities between Muslim antisemitism and other forms of anti semitism. I mean I know there are always similarities but some of the more flagrantly bigoted and discriminatory beliefs tend to be very context dependent, like the blood life and host wafer kidnapping on the parts of Christians, and race mixing with the scientific racists. I'd be curious to know if there were Muslim specific ways that Jews were hated by the anti Semites of that part of the world. (again, obviously pre Israel since now most anti semites just cite real life war experiences to hate the jews)
@@jhonjacson798 I may be wrong but the impression I get from the history I have read is that there just isn't much to work with regarding Muslim antisemitism prior to the creation of Israel, while there were leaders who were bigoted and instigated riots or forced people to move such episodes were not the norm and compared to Europe rare. The middle east at the time and today had many religious minorities while Europe had only one.
I have a question for @Sam ! Do we have recordings of connection between Hess ans Yehuda Alkalay and/or Kalisher, as they were sharing geographic proximity, relations and ideas... ?
Hess was partially correct in his predictions of the future as Hitler of course eventually rose to power in Germany and started WW2 and then ordered the holocaust which killed over 6 million Jewish people the vast majority of Jewish people in Europe and Hitler was eventually defeated and Germany was made more democratic and the Ottoman Empire eventually collapsed and Israel was made as a country. The only thing that he got wrong was that over 3 million Jewish people survived the holocaust and some of them stayed in Europe while many others fled to Israel or America. Hopefully his prediction of Muslim countries getting along with Israel will eventually come true.
He came to power, because of the treaty of Versailles and the great depression. All the emporers of Germany after he died protected jews and many jews fought for Germany in WW1. The problem was that germany lost WW1 and the stab in the back myth was spread, it didn't helped that Matthias Erzberger a jew, signed the treaty of Versailles.
You are correct that Jewish Germans fought alongside Germany during ww1. They like other Germans were proud German citizens who were proud of Germany. One German Jewish person who fought in the German army during ww1 was Otto Frank Anne Frank's father who loved Germany and had been born and raised there. Sadly Hitler did not recognize that Jewish people in Germany were proud and loyal citizens and remained an anti Semite and coin tuned to oppress Jewish people in Germany and other countries and killed hundreds of thousands of German Jewish people even those who had proudly fought for Germany during ww1.
"Yet [Hess's] writing activity never diminished, though towards the end of his life he attempted, and not very successfully, to compose an ambitious work, *Die dynamische Stofflehre* (The Dynamic Theory of Matter), in which he tried to present an overall dialectical philosophy of matter and movement, aiming to combine Spinoza's pantheism, Hegelian dialectics, and modern evolutionary science." This sound like the very niche sort of shit I would love to read, if anyone knows of any translations lemme know! (not expecting any)
Great Video! I never realized how important Moses Hess Was (I blame this on Marx rubbishing all his former friends throughout his ouvre [Holy family, German Ideology and bits of the Manifesto]. However, I Have one minor critique and a question. The minor critique is that Bakunin did not found anarchism (though by the 1860s was unsuccessfully [and ironically] jockeying for leadership within it), Pierre Joesph Prodhoun (who was yet another victim of Marx's unfair critiques, and was another foundational influence upon him and Bakunin as well) founded anarchism and was the first declared "anarchist." Is too far out the scope of Jewish history to discuss how Social Democracy accepted imperialism (as the German SPD did under Bernstien). Hess' quotes at the end of this video seem vaguely reminiscent of Herzl's colonial attitude in his vision of Zionism (as opposed to other trends, like Labour Zionism). I hope this comment make sense with all the parenthesis and brackets. Thanks again for another wonderful video!
One more note, Marx and Engles were not "Marxists." mMax actually despised that label because it was what his rivals the Social Democrats were calling themselves by the 1860s and 1870s. If Hess pioneered the beliefs the SPD, the Marx's other frenemy Ferdinand Lasalle was the father of Social democratic organization (he put the SPD together in the first place). Marx even wrote A Hot take of a critique called "the Critique of the Gotha Progamme (the first platform of the SPD)" to explicitly seperate his views form those of the 'Marxists."
Well, that would be incorrect. The First Aliyah began just sixteen years after _Rome and Jerusalem._ I am endlessly fascinated (and frustrated) by the way Israeli history has almost totally left out those who came before Herzl, whose own ideas for what a Jewish state should look like were unpopular with the existing Zionist movement and largely ignored.
@@SamAronow thanks for replying Sam, As someone in the mileu of the America far left, the far left certainly generates lots of anti-zionist literature. Curiously even the the material that isn't anti-semitic (tragically, there is a frightening amount of it that is and passes without comment) only refers to Herzl. My theory is that western leftists get introduced to Herzl before they ever hear about Hess - I'm not really sure why. Even more, those who have heard of Hess may erroneously believe that Marx "dunked" on Hess so effectively that Hess is an irrelevant figure. As your video proves that belief, if present, couldn't be more wrong and unhelpful to understanding the development of the state of Israel and Socialist theory in general.
I can’t quite figure out Sam’s accent. It seems very American except for some almost British sounding pronunciation of words with an “a” sound like past. I’m new to this channel so I don’t know Sam’s background. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be appreciated
Sam would obviously know better than I would, but IIRC he’s split significant time b/w the US and Israel and I believe he mentioned that his mom grew up in Boston, which might explain the a sound (even though he is rhotic AFAICT)
Non-native speaker here. He definitely exhibits something like ɔ maybe that sound only itself or a diphtong with it, I cant really distinguish it well enough its not neither phonemic nor phonetic in my native langauge. This is very consistent in all of his videos from first to last. Like that brought in 4.15... I am very unaware of the characteristics of American dialects though it reminds me the speech of Bernie Sanders (referring to Vox channels video about his accent)
I lament that this extraordinary quote from Heine did not make it into the video: "Christianity - and that is its greatest merit - has somewhat mitigated that brutal Germanic love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then the ancient stony gods will rise from the forgotten debris and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and finally Thor with his giant hammer will jump up and smash the Gothic cathedrals. ... Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder is of true Germanic character; it is not very nimble, but rumbles along ponderously. Yet, it will come and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world's history, then you know that the German thunderbolt has fallen at last. At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in the remotest deserts of Africa will hide in their royal dens. A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."
From herzl to jabotinsky and kook, zionism took many different forms and was defined by very different visions, even kafka had a hand in it. yet (arguably) none of them got it right like hess did, and he did it earlier, basing his reasoning on the frankly fresh and flawed philosophies of his time, how he did it is beyond me
הי שמואל! הסרטונים שלך הם כרגיל, מקיפים ויוצאים מן הכלל. אין לי ספק שבני עמנו זקוקים לעוד אנשים חדים ושורשיים כמוך. ישר כוח על העבודה הזו! יש לי שאלה אליך בנוגע לסדרת הספרים "דברי ימי ישראל" מאת צבי גרץ. הבנתי שישנה מקבילה לסדרת הספרים הזו: "דברי ימי עם עולם" מאת שמעון דובנוב. אילו מבין שתי הסדרות מדויקת יותר? האם גם בסדרות הללו אברהם מוצג בשוגג כדמות היסטורית של ממש? או שהן תומכות בנרטיב שהצגת בסדרה הזו? שבני עמנו התפתחו מתוך התרבות המקומית. הייתי שמח לקבל המלצה על איזו מהן לרכוש אם אני רוצה שיהיה לי את כל (או לפחות רוב) החומר שהוצג בעמוד הזה. אם לדעתך הסדרות הללו לא עונות על הרצון שלי, על אילו ספרים אתה ממליץ? אשמח לשמוע את דעתך, ים.
אני לא יודע, לא קראתי אותם. בדרך כלל אני קורא רק מה שצריך כדי לכתוב הסרטונים. בגלל זו לא אמרתי דברים רבים על הפרושים או שומעון הצדיק בסרטונים המוקדימים שלי. סליחה.
@@SamAronow הו אין דבר, תודה על המענה המהיר! לצערי אין ממש הסבר על התוכן של הסדרה הזו כך שכנראה פשוט אצטרך להיתקל בה יום אחד כדי לבחון אותה מקרוב. כך או כך המשך את העבודה הטובה!
Hess waz so prophetic in what the future of both Jews and Germany would be. Although raised Catholic and proudly atheist today I find your videos absolutely fascinating. I'm off to watch another video by a secular Jew on Esoterica
I relate so much with that sentiment that you did not ReDiscover his faith in God he rediscovered his faith and his people.... That's kind of the journey I have been on over the last few months and especially watching these videos. My mother would like me to believe in God and I tell her that I do believe I just define God differently because to me God isn't some separate entity, God isn't a benevolent ruler or creator, God is just a word to describe the divinity that exists in all creation in all life. I think especially learning about the humanistic and ethical grounding of Judaism in a way I don't think was ever taught to me growing up has really inspired me to reground myself in the cultural tradition of Judaism even if it's not the religious belief. I used to hide my Judaism on request for my grandfather who asked that I not put a Target on my back the way he always had growing up. For years I never wore a yamaka, I never kept the Sabbath or the high holy days, I never put my mezuzah on my door.... I suppose I took my grandfather's message to heart that if I didn't look Jewish why advertise that I was.... I realize now the reason why it's important to be a public Jew is to show that we are not afraid and we are not a monolith. There is a diversity of thought and experience across the Jewish world and mine is but one thread in a tapestry yet it's important to do my part. I am still really discovering my identity as it relates to my Judaism and I feel like that work is only just beginning but with the help of informative and empowering people like you I know it will be worth it. Also I almost caught up and I'm looking forward to being a regular viewer for your new content
I need to read hess, i am just like him in loving my culture n proud of my identity as a Jew in absence from Israel but a staunch atheist who loves identities so long as it doesn't harm. I always grew up and read Marx and the others you spoke of but never Hess, how unfortunate
I would caution against reading the _Holy History of Mankind_ however; he is very clearly imitating Hegel's writing style and to modern eyes it's almost deliberately obtuse.
Never heard before of François de Hell, but his name is very telling now ! It's interesting that the French monarchy justice condemned his jewish hate schemings, and that he was, years later, blocked by his Revolutionary collegues.
It's chilling just how prescient Hess' predictions on the trajectory of history proved to be.
Aside from the whole "hand in hand with their Arab neighbors" part, yeah
From Moshe to Moshe there was none like Moshe
@@ommy7672well, except for Moshe of course
@@slamwall9057 they originally said it about Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon
He predicted every single part of the next 100 years and didn't miss even once
Sam: "...the new Prussian king Wilhelm I, proclaimed an amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles."
Me: "Wait, then why did Karl Marx stay in London?"
Sam: "Except for Karl Marx."
Me: "Thanks!"
I almost didn't catch that; "except for Karl Marx" was a VO insert. That said, London was definitely the place to be in the 1860s. To quote John Lennon, "If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome."
@@SamAronow Lennon certainly followed that diction. He moved to New York City.
@@Rickyrab dictum
We often call Herzl the "Visionary of the Jewish State", but apparently someone was a few years ahead of him by a few decades.
Well, in that case we had a ton of visionaries, actually...
Unfortunately, his vision of a state, in which Jews and Arabs share the land as brothers, is still waiting to be materialised.
@@chimera9818
It was "after then Messiah will come and there will be a world war that will destroy earth". Not a Jewish state established by the Jews.
As a non-Jew who found this channel because I enjoy learning about the Bronze and Iron Ages, this has undoubtedly been your best video yet!
Same!! This exploration into modern Judaism has been intellectually revolutionary for me.
Great video! I knew that Hess was an early Zionist thinker but hearing his words on antisemitism in Germany and the future state of Israel was quite eerie
That part literary gave me chills.
In my opinion this is up to this point the most important video in the series. The way it visualizes Hess's works shows that by using everything discussed in the previous videos he managed to predict the two biggest events in Jewish history since the Roman era, being the most negative one and the most positive one.
Basically, this is the part where it's all starting to come together.
Wow, that was an eventful episode. Things are going to get real interesting soon.
Keep up the good work, Sam!
I don't recall an episode that was not interesting.
For anyone interested on the Bauer and Marx response to the former, David Leopold's book on the young Marx has a chapter dedicated to it. Also, as a brief aside, the interpretation of Marx as an economic determinism (in the sense defined in the video) is generally criticized by most academic historical and philosophical interpreters.
On the Young Hegelians as a whole, there are quite a few books available, so for everyone interested in Hess I definitely recommend then as to have a fuller picture of the common influences that shaped the various figures. (One I've read recently and can recommend is Warren Breckman's, though its focus is definitely on building up to his discussion of Marx, so keep it in mind if you get it).
Anyway, looking forward to the next video.
Correcting some typos: "...on Bauer's text and Marx's response to it..." / "...recommend them so as..."
I can also second Breckman's "Marx, the Young Hegelians, and the Origins of Radical Social Theory", I also agree that Marx is presented as overly reductionist.
Thanks for this, had the same thoughts on the economic determinism comment presented here.
When the Trauersmarch by Wagner was played, I knew something wasgonna go wrong.
Success!
I've watched last 10 minutes like 8 times in this one week. This is by far my fav episode. "It doesn't have to be this way...It wasn't always this way"... This was a very beatiful transition that my words are failing to describe its smoothiness, drama and finalization. It reached the terminal station for both the train of thought you have built within this video but also for the 6 months of material you have been building up in a Hitchockian way that sent the viewer (me) back to years ago, to the Constiution of Judea during that black screen even before you explained it. We knew this was coming, but when and how. It had been hinted with Spinoza, tensions started with Mendelson, rose with Helek Tov, Italy and Cavour set a climax on their own terms but it wasn't the one we sought. Then you relieved the tension with Rome Jerusalem. Also your musical choices are PHENOMENAL.
Oh my God that final prophetic part was so insane, it's so insane I've never heard of this guy.
Hey Sam! I love your videos! as an Israeli secular Jew who's been interested in our History for years, It's been amazing to learn so much about it, especially about things that are not covered in the education system or not talked about. I have heard of Moses Hess but never knew anything about him, and this video was so well made! I wanted to ask if you ever considered making a discord server for your subscribers, it could be an excellent way to get to know the people who follow you and interact with them, and may also be an excellent place for updates on videos (and possibly have added benefits to patrons) :)
I keep forgetting to "like" episodes of this fantastic series because I tend to binge-watch them but I need to say that it is such an educational joy! Time to say thanks again!
Wow! I never knew the story of Moses Hess! It's weird we were not taught about him in History class. Tonight I'm meeting my history-teacher mother-in-law. I'll have to ask her what she tells pupils about him. His second book literally predicted WWII!
He predicted not just the war (trusting this video without checking for the moment), but also its outcome and aftermath, 80 years in advance!
hess went from freshman philosophy student making manifestos which sound like they could of been written by one today to predicting the shoah and that's gotta be an intellectual transformation if i've ever seen one
I clicked on this video expecting some more explanation of the revolutions of mid 19th century and not only I found that but also a well detailed history of pre-Herzl Zionism. Excellent work, Sam!
I really like the way you ended the video, there was something very satisfying about the cut from the standard video format to peaceful modern footage with ambient noise that I can't quite explain.
TBH I was inspired by Mark Cousins doing the same thing to depict the arrival of sound in _The Story of Film: An Odyssey._
..It's fascinating to see how much right he was about his predictions of Germany and Israel. Though I wonder what was his idea of building a state with Arabs in Palestine in more detail
I looked st the source material, it’s very yada yada. Hesse focuses mostly on Jewry position within Christian Europe. Here in the relevant passage.
“A great calling is reserved for you : to be a living channel of communication between three continents. *You should be the bearers of civilization to the primitive people of Asia, and the teachers of the European sciences to which your race has contributed so much. You should be the mediators between Europe and far Asia, open the roads that lead to India and China - those unknown regions which must ultimately be thrown open to civilization.* You will come to the land of your fathers crowned with the crown of agelong martyrdom, and there, finally, you will be completely healed from all your ills ! Your capital will again bring the wide stretches of barren land under cultivation; your labor and industry will once more turn the ancient soil into fruitful valleys, reclaim the flat lands from the encroaching sands of the desert, and the world will again pay its homage to the oldest of peoples.
The time has arrived for you to reclaim, either by way of compensation or by other means, your ancient fatherland from Turkey, which has devastated it for ages. You have contributed enough to the cause of civilization and have helped Europe on the path of progress, to make revolutions and carry them out successfully. You must henceforth think of yourselves, of the valleys of Lebanon and the plains of Gennesareth.
… March forward, Jews of all lands ! …
How quickly, under the influence of labor and industry, will the enervation of the people vanish, in the land where voluptuousness, idleness and robbery have held sway for thousands of years.
You will become the moral stay of the East. You have written the Book of books. *Become, then, the educators of the wild Arabian hordes and the African peoples.* Let the ancient wisdom of the East, the revelations of the Zend, the Vedas, as well as the more modern Koran and the Gospels, group themselves around your Bible. *They will all become purified from every superstition and all will proclaim alike the principles of freedom, humanity, peace and unity.* You are the triumphal arch of the future historical epoch, under which the great covenant of humanity will be written and sealed in your presence as the witnesses of the past and future. The Biblical traditions which you will revive, will also sanctify anew our Occidental society and destroy the weed of materialism together with its roots.”
A very sober overview of the period, thank you!
Holy f*** this is an amazing video. Incredible storytelling, and an impactful structure to tell it in.
To clarify something for those who are unaware. The surname Hess denotes someone with an ancestor who came from the state of Hesse. Moritz is not related to Rudolph of Spandau fame
Hi I’m a fan from Mauritius do you think you can cover the history of jews in my country?
the only thing I know about maurius and Jews is that Mauritius took in Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust
Il faut lire le roman "Le dernier frère" de Nathacha Appanah sur ce sujet!
I don't know how you are doing it but your videos just keep getting better.
Beautiful video, as always, thank you Sam
גרמניה!!!
Really looked forward to this video. Nationalism is taught in Israeli schools through Germany and since beginning watching your channel I wanted to see you covering it.
Oh, we're not done with the Age of Nationalism yet. True, most western-style education stops with Germany and Italy, but we've still got three more countries to deal with...
@@SamAronow what will you Call The period After the age of nationalism This and between it And WW1 , The birth of Zionism or prewar or as the french call it Belle epoque, . Or are you going to divied. Into smaller periods of is your new period (video group together with the correction plus qna video You do) going to be different?
@@SamAronow Greece Romania and the rest of the Balkans?
@@SamAronow obviously America next time but I'm going to guess Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans?
@kenshin891 Wrong on both counts, but you're in the right area!
O wow, you really know how to tie the threads of history together into a story. I am always looking forward to the next episode.
Special thanks to sam aronow for his useful contribution and the calming ending .
Great video. Thank you for introducing me to Hess. Also, good to see you working with Zevi from Seekers of Unity.
Thank you, Sam, for all your history videos, I really appreciate them.
I learned a ton from this video. As someone who has had very little exposure to jewish history, this series is amazing
Every video gets better! The hits keep coming
Good reminder that Zionism was not invented by Herzl out of nothing.
This episode: heavy thinkers and philosophers. Next episode: Levi Strauss. 😆
That is why moses Hess is considered one of "the bringers of Zionism" מבשרי הציונות along with rabbi Yehuda elkalai, rabbi zvi Hirsch kalisher, rabbi eliyahu gutmacher and Moses montifiore
You could even point out a precedent with Maimonides, Nahmanides, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Daher Omar. It would seem that as soon as the First Crusade rendered the Holy Land almost entirely free of Jews, it took on a much more important place in Jewish society.
That was an eerie amount of foreshadowing
I was looking forward to this! I'm wondering if you'll cover Oceania and the British colonies soon. Love your videos!!!!
basically karl marx is an example of how a jew can be antisemite.
and to put a stop for people saying: "if he a jew, he can't be antisemite."
in fact, he CAN.
It's so sad how Hess' last prediction about a Jewish - Arab brotherhood would not come to pass
At least in the realpolitik realm things are getting better. The Abraham Accords have been groundbreaking, but there's so much more progress that needs to be made and it's unlikely it will ever happen.
It was literally impossible to happen since his conception of Israel would still be a settler-colonial state where Jews would have their own nation-state where they would be the majority. Just don't ask what would happen to all the Palestinian Arabs who already live there. I mean this was a guy who believed in nationalism and nation-states (even if it was its more liberal, early interpretations).
@@froze525 Anarchist profile picture detected opinion rejected.
@oaktree__ Well, this comment aged well... As an Israeli, I wish you were right, but it doesn't seem very likely.
I mean history is very random so you never know
Brilliant video, Sam. I learn more from these tutorials than an entire college semester. Crazy to think that Moses Hess was making his predictions on the course Germany would take only months before Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Not me having listened to several hours of Seekers of Unity yesterday and thinking I went insane at the start of the video
Great Video sam
Love this video
Ive watched all ur videos and they are so good they teach me so much u inspired me to learn more history even tho im a history geek :)
Sam the Man. You keep illuminating things I thought I had some familiarity with. lol.. Fascinating information. And setting things in the context of the times....the current influences the current and developing. Much different than looking back with a summary mindset. Thanks for sharing and reminding that people live in the here and now. It's only history in hindsight.
This is a great video!
Marx's life is basically one friendship-turned-rivalry after another
Except for Engels!
@@michaelmcintyre4690 Engels ride or die
@@mullac1992 even if that meant funding the publication of his works off of the backs of the laborers in the factory Engels owned.
needs an anime adaptation
Just finished this, the second of your videos I've watched. It's was dawning on me in the last few minutes that I am about to watch all of your fucking videos.
Thanks in advance :D
Fantastic episode!
16:48 the fact that it'd be Wagner who complained about Jewishness in music is... not that much of a surprise honestly
Wow! What a prophet he was.
I'm yearning for the day in which his last prophecy will come be.
What a great story and video!
Another cracking episode.
21:30 Hess straight up has a Lovecraftian epiphany, dang
So Hess predicted WW1 (and possibly the Holocaust, 30 odd years later) and the fall of the Ottoman Empire? But he didn't predict the reason for its fall or the role the British Empire would have in it and the part it would play, however imperfectly, in the realisation of his dream of a new Judea.
He thought France would be the main mover- they had after all been the main western player in the Ottoman Empire since Napoleon. The British were surprisingly inactive in the Levant- Prussia, Austria, Russia, and the US all had more interests there at the time.
Nationalism, the ultimate double edged sword of history. On one hand, the drive for national independence often brings with it calls for democracy, for rights that all people no matter their race and religion might share, it has toppled tyrants, it has given people with no place to go a place where they can feel safe and wanted.
But then you see the ugly sides of nationalism. You see the state of freedom for the Jewish people become a state of oppression for the Arabs who have equally called that land home for centuries, you see one people attempting to elevate itself on a national high in Germany, in Japan, even here in my own America.
It is a sharp blade, one pointed at its enemies, one pointed at its user.
forced displacement of a native population isn’t nationalism, it’s colonialism.
@@LordJagd This is true, I think my point stands either way
cue "San Francisco" or "Go West" by the Village People LOL! Another fantastic vid, Sam! Consider a special vid in honour of Olivia Newton-John whose mother's family had fled Knotsie Germany. Her grandfather was Nobel Prize physicist Max Born. They went very far West, or was it East? Shabbat Shalom!
23:45 shivers down my spine
"My Communist Rabbi" sounds like a skit on SNL...
Nah, that's a _TGS with Tracy Jordan_ sketch for sure.
@@SamAronow or an Oscar bait biopic on Moses Hess.
But it's an international submission and that's the literal translation of the title.
22:10 I absolutely expected Knowing Better to say something after his All that changed series
Does he have a list of music that he uses? There is a specific song I am wondering about
Excellent video, really, really good.
I have to say that I wouldn't have seen it if not for you tweeting about it. It did not look particularly appealing to me. Such have happened to me with most of the videos about the history in Europe.
I somehow surprised you didn't described Hess as a "founder" in the ideas of Europe, showing his European ideas...
And the reason of his come back and form of "Rome and Jerusalem" as letters to his new sister in law...
איזה יופי!
Thanks for the nice episode. Made me very sad. Not just because Heine or Hess knew what was coming, but also because it was actually a reasonable prediction based on what people at the time thought and said. The video focusses very much on political debates, but you also had this in many small cultural details such as widespread "spa antisemitism", the subtle, persistent antisemitism of the Prussian bureaucracy, or simply the Antisemitenpetition as one of many examples in academia.
Hey Sam, would you be Able to list your sources for your earliest videos. I would like to delve deeper into the subject of early judaisim.
Great video. You mentioned Bakunin and the beginnings of the anarchist movement. Jewish people had a huge hand in anarchist history and praxis (to the extent that some anarchist scholars learn to read Yiddish so that they can read some of their output today). Will you be touching on Jewish figures (as well as Jewish-descended figures) on the political fringes in a video of its own? I'd love to hear you talk about Emma Goldman, for example, to pick out an anarchist, or Trotsky to pick out a Marxist.
In any case, looking forward to more. Sorry if the English here is bad, it is not my first language.
If you're going to cover the Jews of 19th-century San Francisco, I hope you have a chance to slip in Emperor Norton.
It was not "by a Young Spinozist", but "by a Disciple of Spinoza". I simply adore the ironical quadripartite division of the episode!
Moses Hess's rather scary prediction of WW2, and Holocaust.
"from Moses to Moses, there arose none like Moses"
5:30 funny how this narrative fits with Muslim conceptions of themselves... like they would be the third part where they bring back the legal aspect so that law need not be in the hands of the imperfect, or something to that effect.
Good observation, that's true. It perfectly fits the Muslim narrative.
And that's certainly something that those early pioneers in Jewish studies would have recognized around that time, though Hess comments little on it.
@@SamAronow Will you ever make a video on Muslim opinion on Jews? (pre Israel of course). It would be interesting to know what kinds of discourse would have been popular in the Muslim World surrounding the Jewish question.
It would also be really interesting to see if there any similarities between Muslim antisemitism and other forms of anti semitism. I mean I know there are always similarities but some of the more flagrantly bigoted and discriminatory beliefs tend to be very context dependent, like the blood life and host wafer kidnapping on the parts of Christians, and race mixing with the scientific racists. I'd be curious to know if there were Muslim specific ways that Jews were hated by the anti Semites of that part of the world. (again, obviously pre Israel since now most anti semites just cite real life war experiences to hate the jews)
@@---wp3oc ooooh that would make sense... I mean it doesn't. But I can imagine how anti semites could use that to call jews monkeys.
@@jhonjacson798 I may be wrong but the impression I get from the history I have read is that there just isn't much to work with regarding Muslim antisemitism prior to the creation of Israel, while there were leaders who were bigoted and instigated riots or forced people to move such episodes were not the norm and compared to Europe rare. The middle east at the time and today had many religious minorities while Europe had only one.
I have a question for @Sam !
Do we have recordings of connection between Hess ans Yehuda Alkalay and/or Kalisher, as they were sharing geographic proximity, relations and ideas... ?
Hess completely nailed it!
What's the music at the start of the final section? Also great video!
Was that Zevi's voice from Seekers of Unity?
Hess was partially correct in his predictions of the future as Hitler of course eventually rose to power in Germany and started WW2 and then ordered the holocaust which killed over 6 million Jewish people the vast majority of Jewish people in Europe and Hitler was eventually defeated and Germany was made more democratic and the Ottoman Empire eventually collapsed and Israel was made as a country. The only thing that he got wrong was that over 3 million Jewish people survived the holocaust and some of them stayed in Europe while many others fled to Israel or America. Hopefully his prediction of Muslim countries getting along with Israel will eventually come true.
He came to power, because of the treaty of Versailles and the great depression.
All the emporers of Germany after he died protected jews and many jews fought for Germany in WW1.
The problem was that germany lost WW1 and the stab in the back myth was spread, it didn't helped that Matthias Erzberger a jew, signed the treaty of Versailles.
You are correct that Jewish Germans fought alongside Germany during ww1. They like other Germans were proud German citizens who were proud of Germany. One German Jewish person who fought in the German army during ww1 was Otto Frank Anne Frank's father who loved Germany and had been born and raised there. Sadly Hitler did not recognize that Jewish people in Germany were proud and loyal citizens and remained an anti Semite and coin tuned to oppress Jewish people in Germany and other countries and killed hundreds of thousands of German Jewish people even those who had proudly fought for Germany during ww1.
@@jessicafournerat3804 It's a tragedy
The video starts just short off where I live... 10/10
Can you do a video about skanderbeg?
"Yet [Hess's] writing activity never diminished, though towards the end of his life he attempted, and not very successfully, to compose an ambitious work, *Die dynamische Stofflehre* (The Dynamic Theory of Matter), in which he tried to present an overall dialectical philosophy of matter and movement, aiming to combine Spinoza's pantheism, Hegelian dialectics, and modern evolutionary science."
This sound like the very niche sort of shit I would love to read, if anyone knows of any translations lemme know! (not expecting any)
Great Video! I never realized how important Moses Hess Was (I blame this on Marx rubbishing all his former friends throughout his ouvre [Holy family, German Ideology and bits of the Manifesto]. However, I Have one minor critique and a question. The minor critique is that Bakunin did not found anarchism (though by the 1860s was unsuccessfully [and ironically] jockeying for leadership within it), Pierre Joesph Prodhoun (who was yet another victim of Marx's unfair critiques, and was another foundational influence upon him and Bakunin as well) founded anarchism and was the first declared "anarchist." Is too far out the scope of Jewish history to discuss how Social Democracy accepted imperialism (as the German SPD did under Bernstien). Hess' quotes at the end of this video seem vaguely reminiscent of Herzl's colonial attitude in his vision of Zionism (as opposed to other trends, like Labour Zionism). I hope this comment make sense with all the parenthesis and brackets. Thanks again for another wonderful video!
Hess is in fact considered the originator of Labor Zionism.
One more note, Marx and Engles were not "Marxists." mMax actually despised that label because it was what his rivals the Social Democrats were calling themselves by the 1860s and 1870s. If Hess pioneered the beliefs the SPD, the Marx's other frenemy Ferdinand Lasalle was the father of Social democratic organization (he put the SPD together in the first place). Marx even wrote A Hot take of a critique called "the Critique of the Gotha Progamme (the first platform of the SPD)" to explicitly seperate his views form those of the 'Marxists."
Well, that would be incorrect. The First Aliyah began just sixteen years after _Rome and Jerusalem._ I am endlessly fascinated (and frustrated) by the way Israeli history has almost totally left out those who came before Herzl, whose own ideas for what a Jewish state should look like were unpopular with the existing Zionist movement and largely ignored.
marx’s critiques were fair and true
@@SamAronow thanks for replying Sam,
As someone in the mileu of the America far left, the far left certainly generates lots of anti-zionist literature. Curiously even the the material that isn't anti-semitic (tragically, there is a frightening amount of it that is and passes without comment) only refers to Herzl. My theory is that western leftists get introduced to Herzl before they ever hear about Hess - I'm not really sure why. Even more, those who have heard of Hess may erroneously believe that Marx "dunked" on Hess so effectively that Hess is an irrelevant figure. As your video proves that belief, if present, couldn't be more wrong and unhelpful to understanding the development of the state of Israel and Socialist theory in general.
Your best.
Jew here of German descent, from California. Very interesting video indeed.
A whole movie. Incredible. I hear my guy from seekers of unity on there too. I love seeing Jewish content creators working together.
I can’t quite figure out Sam’s accent. It seems very American except for some almost British sounding pronunciation of words with an “a” sound like past. I’m new to this channel so I don’t know Sam’s background. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be appreciated
Sam would obviously know better than I would, but IIRC he’s split significant time b/w the US and Israel and I believe he mentioned that his mom grew up in Boston, which might explain the a sound (even though he is rhotic AFAICT)
Non-native speaker here. He definitely exhibits something like ɔ maybe that sound only itself or a diphtong with it, I cant really distinguish it well enough its not neither phonemic nor phonetic in my native langauge. This is very consistent in all of his videos from first to last. Like that brought in 4.15... I am very unaware of the characteristics of American dialects though it reminds me the speech of Bernie Sanders (referring to Vox channels video about his accent)
I lament that this extraordinary quote from Heine did not make it into the video:
"Christianity - and that is its greatest merit - has somewhat mitigated that brutal Germanic love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then the ancient stony gods will rise from the forgotten debris and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and finally Thor with his giant hammer will jump up and smash the Gothic cathedrals. ... Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder is of true Germanic character; it is not very nimble, but rumbles along ponderously. Yet, it will come and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world's history, then you know that the German thunderbolt has fallen at last. At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in the remotest deserts of Africa will hide in their royal dens. A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."
From herzl to jabotinsky and kook, zionism took many different forms and was defined by very different visions, even kafka had a hand in it.
yet (arguably) none of them got it right like hess did, and he did it earlier, basing his reasoning on the frankly fresh and flawed philosophies of his time, how he did it is beyond me
הי שמואל!
הסרטונים שלך הם כרגיל, מקיפים ויוצאים מן הכלל. אין לי ספק שבני עמנו זקוקים לעוד אנשים חדים ושורשיים כמוך. ישר כוח על העבודה הזו!
יש לי שאלה אליך בנוגע לסדרת הספרים "דברי ימי ישראל" מאת צבי גרץ.
הבנתי שישנה מקבילה לסדרת הספרים הזו: "דברי ימי עם עולם" מאת שמעון דובנוב.
אילו מבין שתי הסדרות מדויקת יותר? האם גם בסדרות הללו אברהם מוצג בשוגג כדמות היסטורית של ממש? או שהן תומכות בנרטיב שהצגת בסדרה הזו? שבני עמנו התפתחו מתוך התרבות המקומית.
הייתי שמח לקבל המלצה על איזו מהן לרכוש אם אני רוצה שיהיה לי את כל (או לפחות רוב) החומר שהוצג בעמוד הזה. אם לדעתך הסדרות הללו לא עונות על הרצון שלי, על אילו ספרים אתה ממליץ?
אשמח לשמוע את דעתך,
ים.
אני לא יודע, לא קראתי אותם. בדרך כלל אני קורא רק מה שצריך כדי לכתוב הסרטונים. בגלל זו לא אמרתי דברים רבים על הפרושים או שומעון הצדיק בסרטונים המוקדימים שלי. סליחה.
@@SamAronow הו אין דבר, תודה על המענה המהיר! לצערי אין ממש הסבר על התוכן של הסדרה הזו כך שכנראה פשוט אצטרך להיתקל בה יום אחד כדי לבחון אותה מקרוב.
כך או כך המשך את העבודה הטובה!
Hess predicted WW2… Insane
28:47 scary his predictions
My G-d am I now looking forward to the next installment!
Hess waz so prophetic in what the future of both Jews and Germany would be. Although raised Catholic and proudly atheist today I find your videos absolutely fascinating. I'm off to watch another video by a secular Jew on Esoterica
Please do videos on the Karaite and on Mordecai Kaplan! Your vids are great btw :)
Esoteric has a video or two on Hegel.
Hey dude great work but ouch I actually am a month away from getting my masters
You have an amazingly climatic way of ending your videos
That guy Moritz was doing some heavy drugs.
15:25 in Jacobin magazine, it says a century later the two sides of the cold war. Communism and social democracy at war
I relate so much with that sentiment that you did not ReDiscover his faith in God he rediscovered his faith and his people.... That's kind of the journey I have been on over the last few months and especially watching these videos. My mother would like me to believe in God and I tell her that I do believe I just define God differently because to me God isn't some separate entity, God isn't a benevolent ruler or creator, God is just a word to describe the divinity that exists in all creation in all life. I think especially learning about the humanistic and ethical grounding of Judaism in a way I don't think was ever taught to me growing up has really inspired me to reground myself in the cultural tradition of Judaism even if it's not the religious belief. I used to hide my Judaism on request for my grandfather who asked that I not put a Target on my back the way he always had growing up. For years I never wore a yamaka, I never kept the Sabbath or the high holy days, I never put my mezuzah on my door.... I suppose I took my grandfather's message to heart that if I didn't look Jewish why advertise that I was.... I realize now the reason why it's important to be a public Jew is to show that we are not afraid and we are not a monolith. There is a diversity of thought and experience across the Jewish world and mine is but one thread in a tapestry yet it's important to do my part. I am still really discovering my identity as it relates to my Judaism and I feel like that work is only just beginning but with the help of informative and empowering people like you I know it will be worth it. Also I almost caught up and I'm looking forward to being a regular viewer for your new content
I need to read hess, i am just like him in loving my culture n proud of my identity as a Jew in absence from Israel but a staunch atheist who loves identities so long as it doesn't harm. I always grew up and read Marx and the others you spoke of but never Hess, how unfortunate
I would caution against reading the _Holy History of Mankind_ however; he is very clearly imitating Hegel's writing style and to modern eyes it's almost deliberately obtuse.
oh boy, the start of Zionism
Never heard before of François de Hell, but his name is very telling now ! It's interesting that the French monarchy justice condemned his jewish hate schemings, and that he was, years later, blocked by his Revolutionary collegues.
18:45 I’m literally three of those ethnicities, guess they don’t like me much