BRAVE NEW WORLD: THE MODERNISATION OF JUDAISM
THE JEWISH ENLIGHTENMENT- THE HASKALAH- IN GERMANY AND IN RUSSIA
THE MODERN AGE
- THE REFORMATION ( Europe no longer monolithic)
- Nationalism
- Secularism
- Individualism
- Rationalism
- Scientific methodology
THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT: VOLTAIRE AND THE PHILOSOPHES; IMMANUEL KANT......
HOW ARE JEWS TO ADAPT TO THIS CHANGING REALITY?
Background: Germany
Some Jews emigrated in a Westerly direction from Eastern Europe to Germany. Prussia absorbed Western part of Poland when Poland was divided in the 18th century- and these Polish Jews now part of German lands.
Background: The Jews in Russia
Late Nineteenth century, 75 % of Jews in Eastern Europe.
1795-2.5 million Jews. 800 000 of these in Tsarist Russia including Russian Poland. (Poland disappered from the map.)
By 1900 10.5 million Jews of whom 5.1 million in Russia.
Jews lived in Pale of Settlement- 25 provinces in Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine, Bessarabia, Crimea, mostly in Poland. In these areas, Jews often formed the majority. Suffered discrimination under the Czars.
(Example: The dreaded Cantonist system of forced enlistment in the army from age 12.)
Enlightenment ideas slower to arrive in Eastern Europe-there was greater resistance to ideas of democracy and liberty, than in the West. Jews were also living in the pale of settlement, where they were often a majority, as opposed to the smaller, more widespread Jewish settlement patterns in the West. Emancipation also only achieved in Russia after the Russian Revolution.
Maskilim falsely believed that the authorities identified with the European Enlightenment, and that they were interested in improving the situation of the Jews. Example: 1840- Uvarov established modern Jewish schools. Traditional institutions of Jewish education under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Very few Jewish children attended the new schools. 1870s- Russian government declared that it had no intention of granting Jews equal rights. A rising wave of antisemitism, leading to pogroms and ultimately, mass emigration.
THE HASKALAH IN GERMANY
Text 1 - From Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem. (Analysis of Judaism, scientific, analytical)
Mendelssohn=among first Jews accepted into German academic/ philosophical communities
Religion and reason- Mendelssohn strives to demonstrate that Jewish faith is compatible with good citizenship, and that traditional Judaism is a rational religion, consonant with the values of the Enlightenment Laws of Torah all based on reason, and are therefore applicable to all mankind. Judaism has laws particular to Jews as well as universal laws, programmed into man, and common to all.
Texts 2 and 3 : The Science of Judaism (1819) and Leopold Zunz, On Rabbinic Literature. (Wissenchaft)
Saw Jewish culture as being on a par with European culture. Premised on critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, using scientific methods to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions.
Jews are a people, independent of their religious beliefs
Sees Judaism as having come to an end and Zunz predicts that we should study Hebrew texts now, while they still exist.
THE HASKALAH IN RUSSIA
Text 4: The Need for Enlightenment, Shmuel Fuenn (b. 1818)
Letter written by Fuenn (in Vilna) to Bezalel Stern in Odessa in response to questions posed about the future of Russian Jewry. He argues that Jews have created barriers to integration, for example, their distinctive dress. Therefore Jews need to change, especially now that the Tsar has graced them with his beneficence. (!!!!)
Text 5: The Autobiography of Moses Leib [Moses Leib Lilienblum, born 1843]
Though an observant Jew, he was drawn to Enlightenment ideas. This caused him to be ostracised from his community, Marshalov in Marshalov, until finally he finds his way to Odessa, a centre of the Haskalah.
Text 6: A Response to Integration, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1848)
Against Haskalah and integration. Best to separate oneself from the non Jewish world.
THE JEWISH ENLIGHTENMENT- THE HASKALAH- IN GERMANY AND IN RUSSIA
THE MODERN AGE
- THE REFORMATION ( Europe no longer monolithic)
- Nationalism
- Secularism
- Individualism
- Rationalism
- Scientific methodology
THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT: VOLTAIRE AND THE PHILOSOPHES; IMMANUEL KANT......
HOW ARE JEWS TO ADAPT TO THIS CHANGING REALITY?
Background: Germany
Some Jews emigrated in a Westerly direction from Eastern Europe to Germany. Prussia absorbed Western part of Poland when Poland was divided in the 18th century- and these Polish Jews now part of German lands.
Background: The Jews in Russia
Late Nineteenth century, 75 % of Jews in Eastern Europe.
1795-2.5 million Jews. 800 000 of these in Tsarist Russia including Russian Poland. (Poland disappered from the map.)
By 1900 10.5 million Jews of whom 5.1 million in Russia.
Jews lived in Pale of Settlement- 25 provinces in Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine, Bessarabia, Crimea, mostly in Poland. In these areas, Jews often formed the majority. Suffered discrimination under the Czars.
(Example: The dreaded Cantonist system of forced enlistment in the army from age 12.)
Enlightenment ideas slower to arrive in Eastern Europe-there was greater resistance to ideas of democracy and liberty, than in the West. Jews were also living in the pale of settlement, where they were often a majority, as opposed to the smaller, more widespread Jewish settlement patterns in the West. Emancipation also only achieved in Russia after the Russian Revolution.
Maskilim falsely believed that the authorities identified with the European Enlightenment, and that they were interested in improving the situation of the Jews. Example: 1840- Uvarov established modern Jewish schools. Traditional institutions of Jewish education under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Very few Jewish children attended the new schools. 1870s- Russian government declared that it had no intention of granting Jews equal rights. A rising wave of antisemitism, leading to pogroms and ultimately, mass emigration.
THE HASKALAH IN GERMANY
Text 1 - From Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem. (Analysis of Judaism, scientific, analytical)
Mendelssohn=among first Jews accepted into German academic/ philosophical communities
Religion and reason- Mendelssohn strives to demonstrate that Jewish faith is compatible with good citizenship, and that traditional Judaism is a rational religion, consonant with the values of the Enlightenment Laws of Torah all based on reason, and are therefore applicable to all mankind. Judaism has laws particular to Jews as well as universal laws, programmed into man, and common to all.
Texts 2 and 3 : The Science of Judaism (1819) and Leopold Zunz, On Rabbinic Literature. (Wissenchaft)
Saw Jewish culture as being on a par with European culture. Premised on critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, using scientific methods to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions.
Jews are a people, independent of their religious beliefs
Sees Judaism as having come to an end and Zunz predicts that we should study Hebrew texts now, while they still exist.
THE HASKALAH IN RUSSIA
Text 4: The Need for Enlightenment, Shmuel Fuenn (b. 1818)
Letter written by Fuenn (in Vilna) to Bezalel Stern in Odessa in response to questions posed about the future of Russian Jewry. He argues that Jews have created barriers to integration, for example, their distinctive dress. Therefore Jews need to change, especially now that the Tsar has graced them with his beneficence. (!!!!)
Text 5: The Autobiography of Moses Leib [Moses Leib Lilienblum, born 1843]
Though an observant Jew, he was drawn to Enlightenment ideas. This caused him to be ostracised from his community, Marshalov in Marshalov, until finally he finds his way to Odessa, a centre of the Haskalah.
Text 6: A Response to Integration, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1848)
Against Haskalah and integration. Best to separate oneself from the non Jewish world.