Podróże i podróżnicy żydowscy

Abstract

Jewish tradition in the context of the cultural symbol of travel is extremely creative, and can be described in various orders and discourses. Historically, the first figures of travel appeared in Jewish culture thanks to the Torah and the Talmud. The aura of a statement inspired by God, in which the believer finds spiritual and existential meanings, meant that stories about Adam and Eve or Moses became the basis for analyses by interpreters and further narratives. However, travel can be discussed with a certain distance from the meanings, sacred or religious. Representatives of the Jewish tradition were perfectly aware of this, having been engaged in trade for centuries, living in the diaspora, constantly moving around Europe and the world in search of not only a spiritual but also a material homeland. Jews have repeatedly formulated records of this type of experience, at different moments in history and in different places on Earth. Another dimension of the journey is revealed when we consider the processes of self-reflection and self-knowledge. In such a situation, the external world is not the most important cognitive category, but internal experiences, discoveries and intuitions that lead to the breakdown of the previous perception of one’s own “self ” and the creation of a new sense of Jewish identity. Such internal journeys, re-evaluating the inherited tradition, were recorded by, among others: Salomon Maimon, Heinrich Heine, Szalom Asz, Brunon Schulz and Saul Bellow. Finally, one more factor should be noted, the journey to the end of humanity, to the experience of the Shoah. This is not only about the record of deportation or transport to a concentration or extermination camp, but also about the characteristics of the trauma experienced not only by those who survived, but also by those who are their descendants. The memory of the Shoah passed on to the next generations, present in the texts, creates post-memory, another act of traveling.