Yedidyah Ha-Alexandri and the Crisis of the Modern Jewish Age: Philo of Alexandria as an Exemplary Ḥasid in Naḥman Krochmal’s Thought

摘要

The present article sets out to answer the question of the extent to which Naḥman Krochmal’s reappraisal of Philo of Alexandria in the light of his Jewish faith reflects a deep spiritual crisis that was engulfing the Maskilic world: the encroaching expansion of modern Hasidism with its transformed understanding of traditional Judaism among Eastern European communities. To this end, a major component of Krochmal’s Jewish historical thought as expressed in his masterful unfinished work Guide of the Perplexed of the Modern Age can be revealed. The examination employs two methods in order to uncover the intent behind Krochmal’s fragmentary presentation of Philo: exploring his utilization of Dähne’s Geschichtliche Darstellung der jüdisch-alexandrinischen Religionsphilosophie to demonstrate the congruence of Philo’s thought with Tannaitic ethics and drawing on similar depictions of Philo found among his circles and pupils. The study claims that Krochmal’s revival of Philo as a key Jewish thinker is politically mobilized for an ideological assault on the Hasidim, with whom the Maskilim had ongoing conflicts. Reconstructing his portrayal of Philo as a paragon of Second Temple Judaism, the paper argues that Krochmal projects his own spiritual crisis from the Maskilic settings of nineteenth-century Galicia onto the Jewish reality of first-century Alexandria, thus reproducing a valiant image of Philo as the embodiment of the Maskilic consciousness that was grappling with the ancient, overly theoretical Hasideans of his days.