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Hegel's relationship with Judaism varied so much depending on the periods and the writings that Rosenkranz, the philosopher's first bibliographer, called it a "dark riddle". Although the riddle actually unravels when the emphasis is laid on the shift from 18th century rationalism through romanticism to dialecticism from which Hegel's interpretations are issued, there remains a tension, that probably can't be entirely left out, between a language which is often anti-Judaic on the one hand and an obviously anti-Semitic philosophical and political position on the other hand.