Jakob Klatzkin

Belarusian born German Jewish philosopher and author

Jakob Klatzkin, Yakov/Jakub Klaczkin (; Яков Клачкин; October 3, 1882, in Biaroza, Grodno Governorate, now Belarus – March 26, 1948, in Vevey, Switzerland) was a Jewish philosopher, publicist, author, and publisher.

Klatzkin was born in Byaroza Kartuskaya, a son of the local Rabbi Eliyahu Klatzkin. He received his early schooling from his father and yeshivas in Lithuania. Later he traveled to Germany to study with philosopher Hermann Cohen. Klatzkin received his doctorate from the University of Berne in Switzerland, then returned to Germany to write for Hebrew periodicals and establish Jewish publishing firms. He also served as director of the Jewish National Fund in Cologne. He wrote widely on the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, translating the latter's Ethics to Hebrew. He also compiled 10 of 15 anticipated volumes of the German Encyclopaedia Judaica with Nahum Goldmann. Klatzkin had a close relationship with Arnold Schoenberg, a Jewish musician who was also active in advancing the need to establish a place of refuge for the Jews in the 1930s. After the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, Klatzkin fled to Switzerland and earned a living giving lectures on various Jewish subjects. He moved to the United States in 1941 and continued to teach in Chicago at the College of Jewish Studies. He returned to Switzerland in 1947 and died there at the age of 66.

He rejected the notion of chosenness for the Jewish people, either religious or secular. He argued that the only meaningful goal for Zionism was regaining the land of Israel and normalizing the conditions of Jewish existence. He believed that assimilationists were "traitors to their Judaism". He criticized Ahad Ha Am for the notion that morality was the key to Israel's uniqueness. He believed that ethics are universal, not the possession of a particular people. He maintained that the spiritual definition of Judaism denied freedom of thought and led to national chauvinism. Klatzkin proposed a Jewish covenant that is based on secular nationalist terms. Here, the Jewish state does not pursue any messianic or colonialist mission and instead a territorial Zionism that is normal, national state and culture. The conflict, according to Klatzkin, is the reason why man live in constant alienation from the world.