Present hope

Discusses the philosophical problem of how that which is different is to be understood. Thinking the "incomplete" outside the oscillation between the complete and its opposite demands the introduction of another conceptual apparatus. Differing conceptual moments can be clarified by allowing them to be conceptually present; what becomes essential is tracing the effect of their work. Relating to the Shoah, contends that while there is an imperative to know it, it can never really be known. Ch. 3 (pp. 56-74), "Shoah, Remembrance and the Abeyance of Fate: Walter Benjamin's 'Fate and Character'", discusses how the themes in Benjamin's work (e.g. hope, remembrance), written in 1919, can be applied to the Shoah. Ch. 5 (pp. 103-118), "The Architecture of Hope: Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum" (part of the Berlin Museum), relates to the question of how Christian Europe has inscribed its Jews in art and architecture, giving two examples: the medieval sculpture of the Synagogue on the Strasbourg Cathedral and Libeskind's museum. Discusses how these two works raise the question of the distinction between the identity of Jewish being and of being a Jew. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)