Jews, then, were seeking to preserve their identity while continuing their efforts to be integrated into Germany's social life and embrace its culture. Much has been written about the process of integration, its relative success, and the frustrations associated with it. Much less has been written about the project of preserving tradition or, better yet, of inventing one, which equally preoccupied German Jewry at that time. “Tradition” is such a common concept that it seems self-explanatory. Nevertheless, it has become the focus of much research and controversy in a wide range of academic disciplines during the last two or three decades. The momentum was given by anthropology and folklore studies, but nowadays we can likewise use a host of other approaches to tradition as well as to its conceptual opposites, such as modernity or innovation. These are major themes in the fields of art history, literary research, and history. From a prevalent term in everyday discourse, “tradition” has become a focus of scholarly attention; it requires analysis and definition now, because it has become an object for deconstruction and reconstruction – a promising subject matter in contemporary historiography.

Let us define tradition in terms that are as close as possible to its conventional, everyday meaning. Thus considered, it is the complex of textual, symbolic, and institutional tools by which a certain society seeks to preserve the memory of its past, its values, ethos, and particular genius.