Should 'Muscular Judaism' make a comeback?

"Muscular Judaism" is a term coined by Max Nordau, one of the founders of modern Zionism, as an answer to "Jewish distress."

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“Muscular Judaism” is a term coined by Max Nordau in his speech at the Second Zionist Congress held in Basel in 1898.¹

Born in 1849 in the Kingdom of Hungary, Nordau was one of the founders of the modern Zionist movement, as well as a philosopher, author, physician, and journalist.

In his 1898 speech, he spoke about the need to design the “new Jew” and reject the “old Jew.” Nordau saw Muscular Judaism as an answer to Judennot (“Jewish distress”).²

Specifically, he outlined three aspects of “Muscular Judaism” — some of which are very much a strength in today’s Jewish world, and others of which we still have serious work to do.

These three aspects are:

1) Physical and Mental Strength

“Muscular Judaism” refers to the cultivation of mental and physical properties, such as strength, agility, and discipline, which Max Nordau believed were all necessary for the national revival of the Jewish People.

It seems that he was onto something, as evidenced by the kibbutz movement, in which Jews immigrated to Israel starting in the 1800s to build physically intensive agricultural communes, cultivate barren lands, and work the fields themselves.

We also saw “Muscular Judaism” in the formation of the Israel Defense Forces — today the world’s greatest military pound-for-pound — as well as in the pre-IDF paramilitary organizations (such as Bar-Giora, the New Yishuv, Hashomer, and the Haganah) which preceded the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

But way before the State’s establishment, European Jewish leaders heeded Nordau’s philosophy; between 1896 and 1936, Jewish athletes won a disproportional amount of medals for Austria at the Olympics (relative to their proportion of the total Austrian population).³

In 1928, Bratislava-born Imre Lichtenfeld — founder of the Israeli martial art, Krav Maga — won the Slovak Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929, the adult championship in the light and middleweight divisions. That year, he also won the national boxing championship and an international gymnastics championship.⁴

Nordau’s idea of “Muscular Judaism” also inspired the founders of Hakoach Vienna, a Viennese sports club especially well-known for its football team. Players decorated their uniforms with Jewish symbols, like the Star of David, and adopted nicknames of historical Jewish military leaders, such as Bar Kochba.⁵

At its height in the mid-1920s, one journalist wrote that Hakoach (Hebrew for “the strength”) was “one of the best teams on the planet.”⁶

The Maccabiah Games (“the Jewish Olympics”) might have been a result of “Muscular Judaism” as well, since the initial proposal was put forward in 1929. Three years later, the first Games opened in Tel Aviv, featuring roughly 400 Jewish athletes from 18 countries who competed in swimming, football, handball, and other athletics.⁷

Nowadays, there are a variety of Jewish and Israeli athletes competing professionally around the world in virtually every sport, such as American football, baseball, basketball, judo, gymnastics, tennis, pickleball, hockey, wrestling, and MMA.

It would do a lot for the Jewish cause to have more Jewish and Israeli athletes competing at all levels, since sports’ intrinsic elements of teamwork and camaraderie create important social bonds between Jewish and non-Jewish players.

For example, when Israeli small forward Omri Casspi played in the NBA, he regularly hosted his (non-Jewish) teammates in Israel during the offseason, which gave them an opportunity to experience Israel firsthand and left an indelible mark, something that probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

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2) Rehabilitating the Image of Diaspora Jews

Max Nordau perceived the characteristics of “Muscular Judaism” as the exact opposite, an antithesis, of the Diaspora Jew, especially in Eastern Europe, as shown in the antisemitic literature and in the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) movement’s literature.

At the time of Nordau’s speech, the Diaspora Jew was often the rabbinic or Haskalah Jew — the man of letters, the intellectual — who was said to be busy all his life engaging with esoteric subjects. His body, and his will, grew weak. Nordau saw the promotion of muscular, athletic Jews as a counterpoint to such depictions of Jews as a weak people.⁸

Don’t forget: Nordau was promoting this mindset in the late 1800s, when Jews were not who they are today, both in Israel and across the Diaspora. Much has changed since then, the so-called good (the founding of the State of Israel), bad (two major populations of Jews that seem to be growing apart), and ugly (the Holocaust).

Regardless, the “old Jew” is still prominent in today’s Jewish world, particularly in the Diaspora. And many hardcore “old Jews” run the thousands of Jewish organizations across the world, financed with billions of dollars in large part by “old Jew” philanthropists, obviously with the aim of influencing as many Jewish communities and Jews as possible.

Unfortunately, many of these organizations use “old Jew” tactics to fundraise and run their organizations, ultimately propagating “old Jew” paradigms like victimhood, anxiety, and fear.

Perhaps an “old Jew” can never fully become a “new Jew” — and I’m not sure they need to. I actually believe that the “muscular” Jew and the rabbinic or Haskalah Jew are not mutually exclusive. Nowadays, I think they are what makes a complete Jew: one who is both intellectually driven and physically and mentally fit.

Currently, we are seeing this “old Jew-new Jew” phenomenon develop in Israel — with the growing religious nationalist population. I don’t agree with everything these Israeli religious nationalists do and say, but I don’t disagree with everything either. There’s something to be said about combining the best of “old Jew” and “new Jew” attributes.

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3) Helping to Prevent Antisemitic Phenomena

You might’ve heard the joke:

Two Jews walk into a bar…

One of them, citing Haaretz, is in despair, lamenting the latest onslaught of attacks on Israel, and a consequential spike in anti-Jewish violence across European and U.S. cities.

The other Jew, referencing the Iranian press, is delighted by tales of Jewish power, as he reads aloud that the Zionists control Washington, Wall Street, Hollywood, the global financial markets, and the media.

Hah! If only we were that powerful.

This joke, in some ways, in the difference between the “old Jew” (who cites Haaretz) and the “new Jew” (who references the Iranian press). The latter is typically the Israeli Jew: proud, forthright, brash, optimistic, teetering between confident and cocky, sometimes even obnoxious.

Of course, it’s easy for a Jew to be proud, forthright, brash, optimistic, confident, et cetera when you live in a Jewish country, thanks to its intensely secured borders and world-class defense (military, intelligence, et cetera). But that’s exactly the point: the State of Israel is the most effective way to prevent antisemitic phenomena.

Heck, even the Mossad has departments whose job is to look after Jews across the world, even if these Jews don’t live in Israel, and even if they aren’t Israeli citizens. Think about that for a second.

Yet, more and more Jews across the world are becoming increasingly picky and choosy about their relationship with Israel (or lack thereof). To me, a Jew who doesn’t support the State of Israel is just as bad as a person who’s antisemitic. (Notice how I wrote the State of Israel and not the government of Israel, or the politicians of Israel.)

I’m not saying that Jews should unconditionally support the State of Israel no matter what the government or certain politicians do or say. But don’t forget: The government is run by everyday citizens, and the politicians are elected democratically.

This means that any Jew can move to Israel, immediately become an Israeli citizen according to the Law of Return, and engage in government and politics if they so choose. So, if Diaspora Jews are so disheveled by the government of Israel or its politicians, they can literally be the change they want to see. How many other countries offer that opportunity?

Of course, I’m being extreme here. Most Diaspora Jews won’t do what I described in the paragraph above, nor should we expect them to.

Realistically speaking, there’s a much more balanced and grounded approach: Diaspora Jews ought to be continuously improving and enhancing their relationship with Israel, and Israel ought to be doing the same with them. It’s a two-way street, and the more that Diaspora Jews engage with Israel, the more Israel (both the government and everyday Israelis) will engage with them.

This relationship is essential, because the stronger and more unified that Israeli and Diaspora Jews collectively are, the more antisemitism becomes powerless, and the more the Jewish People of today and of future generations will thrive.

The end.

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1. “Muscular Judaism.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_Judaism.

2. Foer, Franklin. “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.” New York: HarperCollins. p. 68. 2004.

3. Foer, Franklin. “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.” New York: HarperCollins. p. 70. 2004.

4. “Bio Imi Lichtenfeld | Fédération Européenne de Krav-maga.” www.krav-maga.net.

5. Foer, Franklin. “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.” New York: HarperCollins. p. 68. 2004.

6. Foer, Franklin. “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.” New York: HarperCollins. p. 66. 2004.

7. Mendelsohn, Ezra. “Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII.” Oxford University Press. March 31, 2009.

8. Zimmermann, Moshe. “Muscle Jews versus Nervous Jews.” In Brenner, Michael; Reuveni, Gideon (eds.). Emancipation through muscules: Jews and sports in Europe. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. p. 13. 2006.