Tikvah
Subscribe
Editor's Pick

December 23, 2024

France’s Bold Zionist Poet and His Attack on Assimilation

André Spire.

Born into a well-to-do Jewish family in Nancy, André Spire (1868–1966) came of age at a time when, as Daniel Solomon puts it, France’s Jews felt “a serene confidence” in their place in French society. Spire, an aspiring poet and writer pursuing a career in the civil service, challenged anti-Semites to duels on more than one occasion. But soon he concluded that anti-Semitism was too big a problem to be solved with pistols:

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Get the best Jewish ideas and conversations. Subscribe to Tikvah Ideas All Access for $12/month

Login or Subscribe
Save