This Is the Hour

In 1932 Lion Feuchtwanger published the novel “The Jewish War,” in 1935 — “The Sons,” and in 1945 — “Day Will Come.” These books formed a trilogy about the life of the Roman historian and commander of Jewish origin, Josephus Flavius. The main character, Joseph ben Matthatias, faces a choice: accept death or switch sides to the Romans and betray his faith. He chooses his own path, living in Rome and enjoying the patronage of the Flavians, and becomes a preacher of the role of the Jewish people in the history of mankind. The themes of exile from one’s homeland and the place of the Jewish people in the world take on special significance in the work of Feuchtwanger, a German of Jewish origin who was forced to leave Germany because of the Nazis.