Jews uniquely contrasted civilization both downward to nature and upward to spirit.

Evidence

There was, however, one characteristic which distinguished the Jews from other minorities, precisely in relation to the process of civilization. As distinct from women, blacks, aboriginals, gypsies, and so on, the Jews contrasted with civilization not only downwards, towards undominated nature, but also upwards, towards the mind or spirit raising itself above nature. The God of Judaism had, indeed, not completely lost all the features of the nature-spirit in his transition from the henotheistic to the universal form. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1431

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Adorno’s earlier reading of the Jews as the universal proletariat of the enlightenment process (chapter 41). — connects to: Jews have been simultaneously seen as Western and Eastern peoples.; Jews neutralized magic through ritualized duty, making them both ahead and behind civilization — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 146; Jews existed between social classes rather than within any one of them. (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Jews have been simultaneously seen as Western and Eastern peoples. #expands (0.85)
• Jews neutralized magic through ritualized duty, making them both ahead and behind civilization #exemplifies (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 146
• Biblical Jew depiction was a primary early arena for orientalist Othering #expands (0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 157
• Jews existed between social classes rather than within any one of them. #corroborates (0.75)
• European thinkers valued Jews as a unifying inter-national link #expands (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 111
• Secular Jews face a different, milder double than visibly Hasidic Jews #exemplifies (0.72) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 926