Hillel Barzel

Kafka's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view

The nature of the Jewish identity present in Kafka's writings and biography
has been interpreted from a full spectrum of positions. Max Brod, as it is
well known, presented his friend's beliefs and teachings as compatible with
the essence of Jewish traditional precepts, the belief in God and a total identi-
fication with the positive aspect of the fate of the wandering Jew. Other cri-
tics saw the relevance of Jewish mysticism and Hassidic tales in Kafka's
works. Looking for specific areas in Jewish life that shaped Kafka's literary
world brought fruitful results. For example, Goldfaden's plays in Yiddish
influenced Kafka's style with a mixture of phantasy and reality.1
There were also critics who saw in Kafka a follower of the Nietzschean
concept of "the Death of God", that we are all messengers of a ruler, a king,
whose message persists despite his own death. Nihilism was attributed to
Kafka, and such stories as "A Country Doctor" were read for indications of a
negative mysticism. Baruch Kurzweil, an Israeli authority on Hebrew and
German literature, referred to Kafka as a self-hating Jew in the same category
as Karl Kraus and Otto Weininger. Contrasting Kafka with S. J. Agnon,
Kurzweil said that Agnon drew his beliefs and the inspiration for his writings
from the true sources of Judaism, while Kafka drew his from Judaism's poor

For studies focusing on the role of Judaism as an influence on Kafka's writings, see
Brod (in Caputo-Mayr and Herz 1987:532-537); for the influence of the Yiddish
theater, see Beck (1971:519-520). A list of works related to the problem of Kafka's
Jewishness can be found in the index to Caputo-Mayr and Herz. The most encompassing
discussion of the issue is in Robertson (1985), as well as in the works of Marthe Robert.
On Halakhah, Hassidism, Kabalah, and Zionism in Kafka's works see Corngold (1988).
In contrast, for a discussion of the influence of world literature on Kafka's writing see
Nagel (1983), as well as numerous books on the relation between Kafka and specific
authors. Also, Weinberg (1963) examines the responses of Western philosophers and
writers to Kafka. On mysticism and other Jewish sources in Kafka's writings see
correspondence between Gershom Scholem and Walter Benjamin in Schweppenhäuser
(1981:63-92), and also Benjamin's notes on The Trial. Anders (1963) describes Kafka as
an agnostic philosopher who painted an atheistic theology. For a naturalistic assessment
of Kafka's views, see Hughes (1981), an anthology of Marxist criticism.

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96 Hillel Barzel

remnants. This distinction did not detract from Kurzweil*s ardent admiration
for both writers, as well as for Karl Kraus.2
Critics tried to analyze the role of Judaism in such works as The Trial,
The Castle, and America, and found within them both a cryptic acceptance
and rejection of normative Judaism. Many critics attempted to replace a reli-
gious line of interpretation with a more general approach, denying the cen-
trality of Judaism in understanding fables such as "Before the Law" along
with the entire conversation in the cathedral between Joseph K. and the
"priest of the court." Thus, Emrich saw the hero waiting on the threshold,
like someone looking for entrance to the totality of life, being judged by a
world tribunal rather than a court presided over by evil powers somehow
related to God.3 Psychological interpretations have focused on father-son
relationships, perversion, and borderline neurosis as keys to his dream-like
stories and novels.4
Kafka's biography justifies all these conflicting approaches. It reveals a
sincere identification with the Bible and Hassidic tales, although at various
times records expressions of disgust toward synagogues and Jews in general.
The letters to Milena include, perhaps because of her hated Jewish husband,
venomous pronouncements that could very well support Kurzweil's argu-
ment. However, while Kafka was living with Dora Diamant in Berlin during
the last year of his life, he devoted much of his effort to the study of
Hebrew, Jewish philosophy, and Talmud. Kafka asked Dora's father for his
permission to marry his daughter. The father was assured that his future son-
in-law was ready to become a "baal teshuva" (one who returns to faith), ful-
filling the ritual of tallit and tefillin in daily worship.5
The contradictory views all agree that Kafka's art is dominated by an
idealistic world-view, be it Jewish, Christian, or Marxist. They claim that his
art embodies a philosophy of life manifesting a set of well-grounded Western
and Jewish values.
To present a model of Kafka's art and life distinct from the ones just out-
lined, I would like to suggest a fourth type of world-view in addition to the
three described by Wilhelm Dilthey.6 Dilthey's famous typology consists of

2
On Agnon and Kafka, see Barzel (1972). A description of the book as well as an
additional list of articles can be found in Caputo-Mayr and Herz (1987:85-66, 517-518).
3
Emrich (1970).
4
For a rather thorough presentation of "The Judgment" as a reflection of the encounter
with his father, see Flores (1977).
5
Bibliographical data is based on Kafka's letters and leading biographers - Brod,
Wagenbach, and especially Hayman (1981).
6
Dilthey's typology of world-views appears in the eighth volume of his collected
writings. For a summary of the three world-views and their dependence upon personal
biography, see Rickman (1979:48-57; bibliographical information: 181-183, 187). For a
translation into English of this typology see Rickman (1976:122-54). The terms for the
three types - naturalism, idealism, and objective idealism - translated from the

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Kafka 's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view 97

three fundamental types of world-views: naturalism, idealism, and objective

idealism. The first type gives priority to nature, to positivism and deter-
minism; the second, asserts that humans are free and autonomous agents; and
the third strives for harmony between man and nature. Goethe is Dilthey's
favorite example for the harmonious approach which brings together human
freedom and Nature's decisiveness. Dilthey considers contemplation the
significant characteristic of the objective-idealistic world-view. We may
depart from Dilthey's scheme by considering contemplation as itself a type of
world-view. In this model, contemplation is not a means for obtaining a spe-
cific set of results, but rather it is a means and an end at the same time, a
process of exploration that may achieve significant results or may remain
unresolved and inconclusive in the final account.
Novels which offer diametrically opposite perspectives on the Jewish con-
dition, such as The Castle and The Trial (the Jew as Κ., an eternal wanderer,
and the Jew as the sacrificed Joseph K.), were seen as related to a Jewish-ori-
ented, biblical, idealistic world-view. Marxist elements in these novels and
especially in America linked the author with a positivist outlook. To shift
from Dilthey's categories to the contemplative world-view is to see the
heroes of these novels waiting for answers rather than exponents of a given
doctrine.7
A contemplative world-view indicates a state of learning, a fear to make
hasty decisions, and a fervent desire to obtain final answers. The contempla-
tive state can result from free choice, as in the parable "Before the Law", or
from an outside development, as in The Trial. The cause can be benign, as in
the story "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor," or tragic, as in the father-son sto-
ries ("The Metamorphosis", and "The Judgment"). It can be self-imposed
("A Hunger Artist", and "The Burrow") or the fulfillment of a mission
("Report to the Academy"). In all of Kafka's writings, contemplation is the
only way for his protagonist to express his true nature). It is contrasted with
the panther that feels free even when imprisoned in a cage ("The Hunger
Artist"), and Gregor Samsa's sister enjoying a trip from the city to the sub-
urbs after her brother's death. Kafka's contemplative world-view offers the
key to understand the complicated issue of his Jewishness.

corresponding German terms are used by Rickman (ibid.) and by Makkreel and Rodi
(1989:43). Hodges (1952:88-95), prefers Weltanschauung to world-view. He
emphasizes the role of contemplation in defining objective idealism. The term
naturalism can be replaced by materialism or positivism. The term idealism can be
phrased as subjective idealism or idealism of personality. These alternatives appear in
Dilthey's writings. Dilthey emphasizes that literature, especially poetry, unlike religion
and philosophy tends to be contemplative and thus falls within the third type of world-
view. He also includes Buddhism and meditative Far Eastern religions in the third type.
All references to the works of Kafka are based on Franz Kafka, Gesammelte Werke,
herausgegeben von Max Brod (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer).

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98 Hillel Barzel

In the story "In Our Synagogue" (included in the volume Wedding Prepa-
rations in the Country, and also in English in the volume Dearest Father), a
strange creature enters the synagogue, an animal about the size of a marten,
pale and blue-green in color. The animal is continuously present there, fre-
quenting the women's section and occasionally climbing up to the holy ark,
but it is a viewer and not a participant in prayer. It outlives all of the synago-
gue's members, yet the worshippers consider it a disgrace and try, unsuccess-
fully, to get rid of it. The animal is determined to stay put and cannot be dri-
ven away by any beadle or housekeeper. Unlike the man from the country in
"Before the Law", the animal is eternally present. In this respect, his stature
is higher than the worshippers.
There are three attempted openings to this unfinished story, all of which
mention a place called Thamühl. Indeed, there was a very small village
named Thammul (double m) located about thirty-five miles north of Prague
near a lake. The place still appears with this name on maps printed in 1928.
Since then, the village has been known as Stare Splazy. (The village is too
small to be included on ordinary maps.) By mentioning such a small detail
from the period, the three openings accentuate the realistic aspects of the tale.
The unfinished story, as we have it, emphasizes the symbolic-fantastic
dimension by omitting the name Thamühl and focuses on the animal that
dwells in the place of worship.
The story is perhaps the only one among Kafka's fictional writings that
deals directly with Jewish content. Thus, it seems like a natural starting point
for a discussion of Kafka's Jewish identity. Nevertheless, it has received
scant attention in treatments of this subject thus far. The animal has been
explained as the totality of life, a representation of God, or a symbol of tra-
dition. Instead, I would associate this tale with "Investigations of a Dog" and
"The Burrow", the two other animal stories in which the animal seems to
bear a strong resemblance to the author, summarizing a major aspect of his
life. According to this view, "In the Synagogue" depicts a world-view of pre-
sence without definite commitment, a sense of seclusion and yet a desire to
belong, to which Kafka's biography amply testifies. He was a devoted stu-
dent of Hebrew and was attracted to Zionism, Talmud, and Jewish philoso-
phy, while simultaneously he felt estranged from the common worshippers in
the synagogues of Prague.8
The four basic types of world-views are represented in the allegorical tale,
"Investigations of a Dog", with the contemplative model superseding the
other three. In his prolonged search for definite answers, the dog encounters
8
On the story "In unserer Synagogue" see also Emrich (1970: 113-114,426). The story
has not received much attention and is not mentioned, for example, in Dietz (1982), or
included in the list of Kafka's writings published in Kafka Symposion (1969), or even in
Caputo-Mayr and Herz. Emrich and Robert (who translated the story into French) are to
my knowledge the sole exceptions.

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Kafka 's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view 99

the extraordinarily beautiful and wonderful hound. It is as if God or one of

His messengers presents Himself before this creature striving for the Abso-
lute. The hound defines himself as a hunter, thus indicating the nature of the
world and the mortality of all creatures. He commands the fasting dog to
leave his post and abandon his investigations. The fasting dog has been lying
in a pool of his own blood which symbolizes his readiness to sacrifice
himself for the sake of knowledge. In effect, the end of the story is Kafka's
reworking of the Binding of Isaac in light of his own existence. The dog is
commanded by his own soul to offer himself on the altar of knowledge. The
order to give up this path leading toward death comes from above, from the
realm of doubt. After all, says the canine protagonist, the original command
might have been an illusion.
At the conclusion of the story, the dog is said to have achieved a certain
kind of freedom. This freedom is achieved in the personal sphere, but it does
not move him closer to answering the eternal questions. In seeking the ans-
wer to the question: "Where does the food come from?" (food being a meta-
phor for existence and survival), the dog finally accepts the burden and
responsibility of freedom upon himself. He cannot derive an answer to the
question of the legitimacy of fasting from the sages, his ancestors. In the
story, the sages polemically debate the issue of whether or not he should fast,
but they do not resolve the question. Again, fasting should be conceptualized
as the willingness to sacrifice everything, even one's own life, to reach the
Absolute.
As a Bildungsroman, the tale moves from childhood through maturity and
old age. The young protagonist's first revelation is of the seven musical dogs
that represent an ideal world of harmony between the individual and society.
But even these heavenly dogs need to perform their earthly functions, and
thus the story ironically suggests a flaw in their idealistic world-view. Later
the soaring dogs appear, symbolizing the accomplishments of mystics and
holy men in the service of their religion or belief. At a mature stage of his
life, the investigator of truth tries a materialistic, naturalistic path, looking
toward (and relying on) the earth for answers rather than upward toward the
heavens. However, materialism fails to explain the entirety of life, so the dog
moves on to the third point of investigation, a combination of earth (the
given universe), physicality (watering the ground), and spirituality
(incantation).
Finally, the adult investigator rejects his previous efforts and the world-
views they implied. He sets out to discover a new science, whose results can
be obtained only through contemplation, experimenting within the self, expe-
riencing the threshold of knowledge without jumping over for conclusive
answers. The appearance of the hound to the investigator comes as a reward
for his efforts, like the glimpse of radiance in the parable, "Before the Law".

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100 Hillel Barzel

However, the confrontation with the reality or illusion that comes from
beyond the threshold does not resolve the protagonist's doubts and uncertain-
ties. The investigation will have to be continued by others who seek to com-
prehend the world's mysteries.
Introducing characters in the form of animal protagonists symbolizes
human humility and ignorance. By portraying humans as dogs and other
creatures (an insect, a marten-like animal), Kafka comically depicts how
inadequate is the starting point from which people search for truth. Moses
spoke to God face-to-face, but the dog starts from a position that suggests
that his longing will never be fulfilled. The dog does receive his own form of
revelation, but it does not come close to satisfying his quest for assurance and
certainty, a quest for which he is willing to make any sacrifice to pursue.
Contemplation, waiting, experimentation with oneself are not ends in
themselves. But the limited, contradictory nature of man (freedom and death,
spiritual longings and earthly needs) converts them into ends. Certain truth
can never be attained by one person in one lifetime. World-views based on
revelation or on science are replaced by a world-view that stresses human
ignorance, the quest for knowledge, and unwillingness to settle upon fixed
formulations.9
The contemplative world-view results from a quest that can never be
finished. If the protagonist ever made a significant discovery, his quest would
end and one of the other world-views would be triumphant. But if the dog is
told at the height of his search to leave his position and give up his aspira-
tions, then the only possible solutions will be either nihilism or the belief in
the freedom to carry on a regular life. In all of Kafka's fictional writings, a
struggling hero pursues unattainable goals until he is exhausted and utterly
defeated.
Kafka makes original use of Biblical motifs in his stories to emphasize his
protagonist's tragic development. He appropriates motifs charged with a
miraculous, transcendent quality and stands them on their head, giving them
a pessimistic cast. Although in the Bible, the gate of heaven is open to the
righteous, in The Tnal, "The Metamorphosis", and "The Judgment" there is
no such opening. In "A Country Doctor", the fiery horses that brought Elijah
to heaven are changed into devilish horses. The child who was miraculously

The essence of "Investigations of a Dog" as a confrontation of the real and the intellect,
represented in the opposition between the individual and the community, is explored in
Politzer (1968:452). The notion that the flying dogs correspond to the definition of Jews
are Luftmenschen was mentioned by critics, but it does not tally with the narrator's
admiration for them. For detailed interpretations of the story see Barzel (1973), Jayne
(1983).

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Kafka's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view 101

saved by the prophet dies in Kafka's retelling, the healer lies in bed with the
stricken child whose wound is crawling with worms.10
The hunger artist fasts in the story for forty days and nights, just as Moses
did when he received God's covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai (Exodus,
34:28). Moses's message, however, was successfully received and delivered
(although, admittedly, he had to go through the process twice). The hunger
artist continues to fast after the forty days have elapsed, but he is neglected
and ignored, and he has no one to receive his message. He can only wait and
contemplate how his inexorable destiny will unfold. All of Kafka's heros are
in a similar position. It is the fate of a dog to be massacred in the binding of
Joseph K. Gregor Samsa's fate is progressively degraded from a human being
to a beetle, to the sphere of vegetation (the apple thrown by his father that
sticks to his body), and finally to dust and extinction. For Georg Bendemann,
his vengeful father decrees a death sentence upon his only son, whose free-
dom is confined to selecting the medium (water rather than fire) for his own
sacrifice. Karl Rossmann searches for freedom through his personal exodus
from Europe to America. Instead of the promised land, however, Karl con-
fronts modern pharaohs, such as his uncle Jacob who arbitrarily expels him
from his house. Ironically, the city of Raamses proclaims that it has solved
the problem of unemployment. Thus, the reversal of the Biblical story of the
Israelites in Egypt is an important symbolic layer of the novel.
For Kafka, the Tower of Babel serves as a metaphor for unattainable
goals. The metaphor appears as a reminder of human failure to reach the
heavens. But Kafka also twists the story into its opposite: the pit of Babel.
Biblical tales of punishment, such as the Tower of Babel and the expulsion
from Eden (which appear frequently in his aphorisms), are reworked by
Kafka into formulations of paradox and doubt. These stories do not impart
certainty but rather demonstrate the impossibility of ever finding it. The
notion of ancient wisdom (using the past as a model for the present) appears
repeatedly in Kafka's work; however, instead of guiding the protagonists to a
sense of security and knowledge, this wisdom can only offer them a respite
from their inescapable impasse.11
The protagonists of Kafka's three novels as well as Samsa are portrayed as
Christians in order to present a universal image of the tortured individual.
The religious affiliation of all the other heros is unidentified. In some stories,
the image of an animal serves to depict the character as a messenger to all of
mankind (e. g., "Report to the Academy"). This generic aspect of his cha-
racters was not a repudiation of Judaism. Rather, Kafka was trying to
10
The biblical layer in Kafka's works, especially in America, the aphorisms, and "A
Country Doctor", is elaborated in Barzel (1972), (1987). Also, on Moses in Kafka's
writings, see Barzel in Gros Louis (1974:120-40). For a full discussion of the biblical
layer in "A Country Doctor" see Barzel in Bartel (1975:89-102).
1
' For a discussion of many of the topics in this section, see Dietzfelbinger (1987).

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102 HUM Barzel

promote his own universal world-view as applicable not merely to any parti-
cular group but to the human condition in general. The anthropomorphized
image of an animal emphasizes the common fate of all people.
When Kafka cites in his aphorisms the commandment "Thou shall not
make unto thee a graven image", he states a commandment that guided his
own life and writing: certainty is equivalent to idolatry. It is forbidden to rest
comfortably with what one knows or whom one is because we are partial
creatures and must constantly search for wholeness. Despite Kafka's
monothematic plots, endless waiting and reflecting, his characters change
dramatically over the course of all his stories. The metamorphoses from
human to animal characters can be seen in this light as an additional attempt
not to yield to any stable image of human character. Kafka's animals are
people with all of their limitations. All of his human portraits, whether drawn
from the Bible, from Chinese history, from folklore, or from his personal
imagination, stand on the threshold of sacrifice, punishment, and death.
Kafka distinguished between body and soul. He did not deny the impor-
tance of the naturalistic world-view, as can be seen in the great, doomed
efforts he took to preserve his own deteriorating body. Walking, gardening,
carpentry, and swimming became part of his daily routine. He stood in front
of a window with a wet chest to try to restore his health. He perceived his
tuberculosis as the result of an inner conflict, but he thought that its cure lay
in physical therapy. He abandoned his vegetarianism for the period of his
treatment, and he adopted the technique of chewing food thirty times for each
bite to try to cure his perpetual digestive problems. Even his Zionism and
wish to emigrate to Israel had a naturalistic aspect, the wish to lead a normal
life. When his body became too weak, this wish to be a pioneer in Palestine
was transformed into the desire to work there as a waiter. But there is a diffe-
rence between the preservation of the body and the searching soul.
Kafka's story "The Burrow" centers on the bodily aspect of human exi-
stence. The burrow lives in total seclusion beneath the earth's surface, and all
its efforts go to secure its existence. The fear of being hunted and devoured
determines its actions and sharpens its senses. The burrow camouflages the
two holes in the earth, one for entry and one for escape, and his living space
below the ground becomes a center for his obsessive listening for suspected
enemies. Instead of fasting, an action that gives priority to the soul at the
expense of the body, the burrow accumulates food. In the innermost quarters
lies the "castle keep", a reversal of the Biblical motif of the Holy of Holies,
where the burrow keeps his stores of food. The endless underground passages
in "The Burrow" thus are a symbol of the labyrinth of thought, a labyrinth
both necessary and inescapable for human consciousness.
The story's ending, which Kafka told to Dora Diamant, again demon-
strates the unattainable goal. All of the burrow's strategies are in vain: it will

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Kafka's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view 103

be hunted down by its fierce neighbor. This story seems to contradict an

observation that Max Brod was fond of repeating: that Kafka believed in and
cherished the indestructible element of the human being. The indestructible
element mentioned in Kafka's aphorisms is a wish, not a belief. It appears
among a series of reflections warning against any impatient conclusions. The
question of the relationship between body and soul is not resolved as viewed
through the lens of normative Judaism which separates the two. Rather, he
views them alternately as divided and undivided entities, separated and united
by a reflective process that never reaches a conclusion.12
The three people who had the greatest impact on Kafka's relationship to
Judaism were his father, the Yiddish actor Isaac Löwy, and his lifetime
friend and admirer Max Brod. Kafka was stigmatized by his relation with his
father his whole life. The fear and inferiority complex which he felt in the
presence of his father led him to reject normative Judaism for most of his
life. The synagogue, the place of holiness, became secular and repulsive in
the presence of his father. The Yiddish actor, who was rejected by Kafka's
autocratic father, opened up for Kafka the possibility of an escape from life
through the world of play and disguise. Max Brod helped Kafka (despite a
period of painful separation) to find his way to Zionism, creative writing,
and a sense of belonging.
Kafka's encounters with these three figures may be considered as encoun-
ters with the three dominating world-views in his cultural environment. He
saw his father as a man proud of his body and successful in business (running
a store and a small factory), a man of earthly interests and earthly
achievement, and a routine adherent to Judaism. In the eyes of his son, he
was a tyrant who falsified the true nature of belief. Kafka's alienation from
his father alienated him as well from the commandments and traditions of
Jewish religious conduct. Until his meeting with Dora Diamant, Kafka was a
non-observant Jew. The actor Isaac Löwy represented to Kafka the idealistic
world-view in its purest and most realizable form. He presented to Kafka a
world of freedom in which the real world could be replaced by the changing
forms of the imagination. Max Brod, in his writings and his love of music,
represented objective idealism. He considered Zionism as a movement and
philosophy that achieved harmony between the spiritual and the physical,
between lofty ideals and cultivation of the land.13
In his letter to his father Kafka fully rejected his father's tyrannical domi-
nance over him and his materialistic view of life. Only when Kafka stayed in
12
Thus also the problem of finalizing and bringing to closure a tale or even a portion of it,
as expressed in his diaries, December 29, 1911. See also his pronouncements on writing
assembled by Heller and Berg (1969:107-160); and on writing letters, ibid.: 161-174.
13
On Brod as a religious thinker and Utopian, see Pazi (1987) (articles by Barsch,
Schoeps, Strelka, Hadomi, and Ben Chorin). For a full bibliography of Brod's writings,
and some informative articles on Brod's humanism, see Kayser and Gronemeyer (1972).

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104 HUM Barzel

Steglitz did he fully realize the liberation that came from his full devotion to
art. This period was a time of summary and reflection (in Dudley's termino-
logy, the totality of experienced-life and the totality of a world-view). The
study of Hebrew, Talmud, and Jewish philosophy in Berlin was a continua-
tion of his spiritual and linguistic attachment to Yiddish.
Kafka's attitude toward Brod is reflected somewhat in the description of
the fasting dog's only friend. The story implies that even a close partner can-
not lead someone to share his own world-view or sense of certainty. The
individual must separate himself even from his best friend for the sake of his
own investigations. The lonely dog in the story finds himself in the role of a
teacher for himself if not for the community. Brod depicted his friend as a
prophet, a modern Messiah, who expressed in his works a clear message of
hope and a belief in God and in the spark of eternity in human life. However,
Brod's own world-view inhibited him from seeing what was distinctive and
original in the work of his friend. Brod liked to write about exalted historic
figures with a touch of romanticism and sentimentality. Kafka drew charac-
ters engaged in unending struggles, protagonists shorn of distinctive philoso-
phies of life, "transparent figures", as Robbe-Grillet says in his discussion of
the Nouveau Roman. These characters wander and wait in search of solutions
that were clear, in different ways, to a patriarchal family, to a troupe of
Jewish actors, and to a circle of distinguished Jewish writers such as Brod
and Franz Werfel in Prague. Kafka did not reject the ethical, national, and
religious identification of his time and culture. Yet a different world-view
based on the fear of making a hasty reply, as the closing lines of "A Country
Doctor" express, was the guiding principle of Kafka's artistry.14
Kafka was raised in a world of dogma and commandments, ritual and
manners in a semi-assimilated Jewish family. His Jewishness was not directed
toward the spheres of doctrine or observance. In his reflections on suffering,
sin, and human nature, Kafka was drawn toward the narrative rather than the
legal passages of the Bible. In "A Country Doctor", the fiery horses of
Elijah, and his miraculous robe are transformed into means of deception. The
chariot of the prophet was united ironically with the wagon that led the Baal
Shem Τον to his followers in "A Country Doctor" as well as in "The Bucket
Rider". The binding of Isaac is reinvented in The Trial and in "The Penal
Colony", although these stories shift the focus from divine intervention to
earthly cruelty. The mydiological Tower of Babel symbolizes for Kafka a
world in which human aspirations are unattainable. Kafka's imagination also
borrowed elements from Hassidic folklore. In his diaries, die mysterious

14
The growing bond of appreciation between Kafka and Werfel did not bring together
their world-views nor their basic outlook on life: pessimism versus optimism. On their
relationship see Jungk (1987); also Malcolm Pasley's "Werfel and Kafka" in Huber
(1989).

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Kafka 's Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view 105

figure of the Zaddik Ha-dor (the most righteous person in a generation)

appears.
Kafka, himself a doctor of jurisprudence, was interested less in the clear-
cut verdicts and the sentences of law courts than in the metaphysical trial that
each person must face before the unknown. His characters are accused,
exiled, or hunted, and spend their lives in quest of the truth behind their
situations; but they are also blessed with patience, and "waiting on the thres-
hold" becomes their routine. Kafka drew observations from different reli-
gions and cultures to pursue his own world-view. Jesus is mentioned in his
aphorisms as a kind of paradigm "who suffered for mankind". From China,
he took the Great Wall as a horizontal metaphor of deceptive security parallel
to the vertical metaphor of the Tower of Babel. The world of Kafka is not
shaped by any religion or dogmas, but they serve as material to be reflected
upon, through paradox and dialectics. Kafka perfected a style of meta-realism
that brought together the real and the unreal, the naturalistic and the
idealistic, into an enigma. The purpose of his art was to assemble material
for a ladder to the unknown.
Kafka's complex Jewish identity can be seen as a significant element in his
writings, providing motifs and archetypes but not commandments. In terms
of the fable, "Before the Law", religious and secular world-views provide a
secure gate to their followers. This story's universalized version of belief
admits the existence of a personal gate in each individual's quest for the
absolute truth. But Kafka's personal gate is made of enigma instead of
dogma. The only conviction evident in his writing is the will to find the truth
behind the mysterious and cruel ways of a world filled with agony, persecu-
tion, exile, and torture. Waiting and suffering, feelings of guilt and the
search for freedom, which are deeply rooted in Kafka's biography, appear in
their full hypnotic magnitude in his stories and novels, diaries and letters, as
well as in his unfinished drama, "The Grave Keeper". Biography as well as
dogma are transferred to the realm of an eternal search for truth.
Dilthey's typology, therefore, can be conceived in metaphorical and
spatial terms. The naturalistic world-view is "horizontal" looking for answers
in nature or for a promised Utopian land. The idealistic world-view is
"vertical" believing in the loftiness of human ideals and in the free spirit of
mankind. Thirdly, the objective-idealistic type is "circular" bringing the other
two together in harmony. Kafka negates the secure positions implied by these
metaphors and replaces them with images of fruitless wandering, the vain
attempt to reach the music of heaven, and the misleading safety of towers,
great walls, and burrows. The positive alternative to the three choices is not a
labyrinthine escape, but rather an endless search.
Kafka uses the Bible as well as elements from other religions and cultures
in forming his "reversed world-view", describing the vanity of the

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106 Hillel Barzel

horizontal, vertical, and circular solutions. Instead, the crossroads, the

threshold, and presence without obedience are relatively positive alternatives.
A contemplative world-view, which lacks harmony and the promise of solu-
tions but allows room for learning and waiting for more information, enables
Kafka to create an artistic universe and to find a personal path to Jewish
scripture. It even presents him with a certain way to live within the
boundaries of an old synagogue with its diminishing community.

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