Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whit man and John Dewey have exerted a powerful influence on the course of contemporary Hebrew philosophy all over the world, according to Dr. Z. Diesendruck, Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at the Jewish Institute of Religion, New York.
Dr. Diesendruck, who is a visiting lecturer from Vienna, submitted a report to Dr. Lee K. Frankel, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Institute of Religion, in which Dr. Diesendruck traced the influence of America and American thinkers on Hebrew literature and philosophy.
“Walt Whitman is an American philosopher who is known to every Hebraist throughout the world,” says Dr. Diesendruck. “He has had a tremendous influence over the younger Hebraists, which is evident in their philosophy and their literature. It is probable that Walt Whitman has had a greater influence over Hebrew thinkers than even over Americans. Throughout the world, wherever there is a Hebrew philosopher or writer who reacts to modern life, one hears of Whitman. ‘Leaves of Grass’ is particularly known, and its style has affected the styles of dozens of the younger Hebrew writers, whether it be in Poland, Palestine or Germany.”
Dr. Diesendruck devotes a large section of his report to the influence of Prof. John Dewey of Columbia University, whose works Dr. Diesendruck plans to translate into Hebrew.
“Although John Dewey is well known in the Hebrew philosophical world, it is to be regretted that his ideas have not been given wider circulation. However, the ideas of Dewey are quite akin to the traditional thinking of Hebrew scholars. For example, his idea of ‘democratic education’ is one that has been noted again and again in Hebrew thought. In general, the tendency of Hebrew Philosophy is toward the systems of the German and French thinkers. John Dewey, however, should be made an exception. For he brings new light on many an obscure problem. I have agitated for some time that a course on John Dewey should be instituted in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.”
Writing of the present renaissance of Hebrew literature in the United States, Dr. Diesendruck cites the sales of one of his volumes to show the renewed interest in Hebrew. A volume of Plato, which Dr. Diesendruck translated into Hebrew, has sold more than two thousand copies in one year in this country, which is an unprecedented sales record for Hebrew books of that type.
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