The first Italian introduction to the works of Leopold Zunz, the founder of the Wissenschaft des Judentums. The volume contains also the first Italian translations of Etwas über die rabbinische Literatur and other essays, in which the innovative purpose of Zunz’s contribution clearly emerges. He turned Judaism into a scientific object, worthy of being examined under a philological, historical and political perspectives. Through a rigorous study of tradition, a meticulous search for sources and a careful bibliographic analysis, Zunz has highlighted the interdisciplinary relationships and historical contaminations that have made Judaism a dynamic and heterogeneous field and a constituent element of the history of Europe. It was precisely this interweaving that assumed a decisive political role for the emancipation of the Jews: only an adequate understanding of Judaism could lead - according to Zunz - to a conscious reform of society, which would protect the Jews from all present and future discrimination
