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Childhood and Education

Robert Liberles

in Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618-1945

This chapter shows how knowledge of the German language among Jews increased during the course of the 18th century. By the latter part of the century, governments increasingly mandated rudimentary ... More

This chapter shows how knowledge of the German language among Jews increased during the course of the 18th century. By the latter part of the century, governments increasingly mandated rudimentary education in the German language and basic math skills, but the greater focus on commerce had already paved the way for more attention to these subjects among Jews even prior to government intervention. Wealthier Jews could hire private instructors for themselves or for their children. Some Jews who could not afford a tutor taught themselves basic German skills. Dissatisfaction with Jewish education in Germany did not originate with the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Across the spectrum of Jewish life, by the late 18th century a strong sense had developed that an extensive reform of Jewish education was badly needed.Less

Yiddish Narrative

Jean Baumgarten

Jerold C. Frakes (ed.)

in Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature

Prose narrative forms an important component of Old Yiddish literature. These narratives are primarily maasious, a term which designates a variety of narrative forms, from exempla (hagiographical ... More

Prose narrative forms an important component of Old Yiddish literature. These narratives are primarily maasious, a term which designates a variety of narrative forms, from exempla (hagiographical stories) to parables and allegories (mesholim) drawn from the aggadic materials of the Talmud or midroshim. From the appearance of printed books in the sixteenth century up to the period of the Haskalah, so many narrative texts were published that this genre constitutes a substantial part of the original literature in the vernacular. These stories were quite popular with the Jewish reading audience during the Renaissance period. Some of the basic principles of Judaism could be inculcated in a pleasant and instructive form, bringing together humour, comedy, and a casual manner. Furthermore, these vernacular stories make explicit their positioning at the cultural crossroads where the Jewish tradition and world literature meet.Less

Ex-Jew, Eternal Jew: Early Representations of the Jewish Spinoza

Daniel B. Schwartz

in The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image

This chapter analyzes the “prehistory” of the Jewish rehabilitation of Spinoza, exploring how his Jewish origins figured in fashioning him into a cultural symbol among non-Jews first. It traces his ... More

This chapter analyzes the “prehistory” of the Jewish rehabilitation of Spinoza, exploring how his Jewish origins figured in fashioning him into a cultural symbol among non-Jews first. It traces his shifting image across a spectrum of modern Jewish movements and milieus, from the Berlin Haskalah to early religious Reform and Wissenschaft des Judentums (the Science of Judaism) in Germany to the East European Haskalah, Zionism, and Yiddish culture. The chapter discusses the relevance of Spinoza's Jewishness to this early mythmaking. The shapers of Spinoza's early image typically assigned his Jewishness a significant role, albeit not a positive one. Two basic plotlines relevant to this particularity developed in the late seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century: one emphasized contrast, the other continuity.Less

The Crisis of Modernity and Jewish Responses

Reuven Firestone

in Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea

Modernity represented a crisis for Jewish continuity since it effectively challenged the authority of the tradition that had served as the glue holding most of the Jewish people together for nearly ... More

Modernity represented a crisis for Jewish continuity since it effectively challenged the authority of the tradition that had served as the glue holding most of the Jewish people together for nearly two millennia. Traditional Jewish identities in the European milieu were replaced in the religious spectrum by Reform, Conservative, neo-Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judaism, and in the secular spectrum by the Jewish “enlightenment” (haskalah), various political movements, and Jewish nationalisms including Zionism. For most Jews the old paradigms were re-evaluated and often rejected, and emerging Zionism began to challenge the rabbinic instruments that had hitherto prevented mass immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel. Thus erupted a conflict among religious Jews as to whether or not Zionism was an acceptable Jewish movement. Most religious (or Orthodox) Jews rejected Zionism, while a stalwart few were active in what was becoming a largely secular Jewish national movement to return Jews to the Land of Israel and develop it.Less

The Origins of Jewish Political Economy, 1648–1848

Derek J. Penslar

in Shylock's Children: Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe

This chapter discusses premodern Jewish thinking, religion, and economics, which are inextricably linked. During the heyday of rabbinic Judaism, the economic life of the Jewish community was no less ... More

This chapter discusses premodern Jewish thinking, religion, and economics, which are inextricably linked. During the heyday of rabbinic Judaism, the economic life of the Jewish community was no less subject to halakhic authority than any other aspect of Jewish life. From the mid-seventeenth century, economic life in western Europe began to remove itself from the sphere of Jewish religious authority. This separation of the religious and economic spheres was an important harbinger of Jewish modernity, because it marked the diminution of communal authority and a secularization of Jewish consciousness. The period from the radical German Haskalah of the late 1700s to the Revolution of 1848 witnessed the forging among certain influential Jewish intellectuals of an identity that fused the religious and economic spheres. This fusion no longer took place, as in previous centuries, within the framework of the autonomous community, which regulated all aspects of its member's lives.Less

Introduction

Immanuel Etkes

in The Gaon of Vilna: The Man and His Image

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Rabbi Eliyahu, the son of Shlomo Zalman, known as the Gaon of Vilna. This book provides descriptions of the Gaon written ... More

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Rabbi Eliyahu, the son of Shlomo Zalman, known as the Gaon of Vilna. This book provides descriptions of the Gaon written by his sons and several of his disciples and examines the works of Gaon in relation to the Haskalah, Hasidism, and Mitnagdim. It also discusses Talmudic scholarship and the rabbinate in Lithuanian Jewry during the nineteenth century and explains the thought and practice of the Vilna Gaon.Less

The Vilna Gaon and Haskalah

Immanuel Etkes

in The Gaon of Vilna: The Man and His Image

This chapter deals with the myth of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil among both proponents and opponents of Haskalah. It traces this myth as reflected in the historiography of the Haskalah movement and ... More

This chapter deals with the myth of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil among both proponents and opponents of Haskalah. It traces this myth as reflected in the historiography of the Haskalah movement and shows that the matter of the Gaon and Haskalah is an instructive example of the continuity between Haskalah literature of the nineteenth century and Jewish historiography of the end of that century and the first half of the next. It discusses the image of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil as a weapon in the hands of Orthodox Judaism and evaluates the influence of the Vilna Gaon on the growth of the Haskalah movement in Lithuania.Less

The Organ as a Jewish Religious Response to Modernity

Tina Frühauf

in The Organ and its Music in German-Jewish Culture

During the early nineteenth century, many reform-minded Jews in Germany began developing ideas about a modernized worship service in line with the Jewish Enlightenment movement, called the Haskalah. ... More

During the early nineteenth century, many reform-minded Jews in Germany began developing ideas about a modernized worship service in line with the Jewish Enlightenment movement, called the Haskalah. The reforms applied not only to the aesthetic but also to the musical aspects of the service to appeal more to a public that was increasingly educated in Western art music. These changes brought about a new branch of Jewish music and marked the beginning of a new era of Judaism that eventually would divide the community into Orthodox and Reform. Throughout the next decades, several debates within the Jewish community erupted over whether the organ should be allowed in synagogues. Among the most notable ones happened during the Second Rabbinical Conference in Frankfurt in 1845 and the First Jewish Synod in Leipzig in 1869, as well as during the proposed construction of an organ in Berlin's New Synagogue in Oranienburger Straβe in 1861. The debates ended after the Jewish community in Cologne allowed the introduction of an organ in Roonstraβe synagogue in 1906. However, almost all of central Europe's synagogue organs would be destroyed during Kristallnacht in 1938 and during the war. Many of the organs were built between 1848 and 1871 when Jewish congregations were enjoying the rewards of liberal German economic policies. This period saw much innovation in organ building as the organ transformed into a synagogue instrument. Later in the nineteenth century, instruments with larger dispositions and many more stops began to appear as the organ gradually took on a solo role in Jewish observances until it eventually became a concert instrument. The placement of the organ in synagogues varied from congregation to congregation, indicating that the instrument was not bound by tradition and had become an expression of the social, cultural, and religious assimilation of Germany's Jewish population.Less

Conclusion Enlightenment and Emancipation:Privilege and Its Discontents

Francesca Bregoli

in Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform

This chapter draws comparative conclusions about the significance of the Livornese example. While the specificity of Enlightenment Tuscany and the system of the port of Livorno account for its ... More

This chapter draws comparative conclusions about the significance of the Livornese example. While the specificity of Enlightenment Tuscany and the system of the port of Livorno account for its distinctiveness, this case study has larger implications for Sephardi and Italian Jewish history. First, the chapter recapitulates the ways in which the Livornese model of intellectual engagement with eighteenth-century culture offers an alternative to the Anglo-Jewish Enlightenment and to the Haskalah in its early and later phases, comparing Livornese scholars to further Italian and Sephardi examples. It then offers final remarks on the ways in which the confrontation with the reforming absolutism that defined eighteenth-century Tuscan policies provided another crucial venue for Livornese Jewry's encounter with Enlightenment ideas. In particular, the continued importance of the corporate nazione ebrea is significant when comparing Livorno with contemporary Italian examples, as well as with the cases of Bordeaux, Amsterdam, and London.Less

Jewish Anticlericalism and the Making of Modern Citizenship in the Late Enlightenment

Ari Joskowicz

in The Modernity of Others: Jewish Anti-Catholicism in Germany and France

In the late Enlightenment, Jews in Germany and France first started to engage publicly with politics in German and French. This chapter shows that from this early moment, anticlericalism and ... More

In the late Enlightenment, Jews in Germany and France first started to engage publicly with politics in German and French. This chapter shows that from this early moment, anticlericalism and anti-Catholicism emerged as important themes for Jewish enlighteners, who found that anticlerical polemics offered them the chance to become part of Enlightenment intellectual circles. After the French Revolution, anticlericalism also allowed French Jews to demonstrate their patriotism to a newly anticlerical state. Examples drawn from the works of eight Jewish enlighteners—including Moses Mendelssohn and Abraham Furtado—highlight the similar anticlerical strategies of Jewish authors from Bordeaux to Metz and Berlin to Breslau. Unlike late nineteenth-century antisemites, who denounced Jews for dividing the nation with their anti-Catholicism, in the late eighteenth century, Enlightenment thinkers accepted the anticlericalism of Jewish enlighteners because they considered it proof of Jews’ ability to transcend parochial Jewish concerns.Less

Ideological Foundations

Matthias B. Lehmann

in Emissaries from the Holy Land: The Sephardic Diaspora and the Practice of Pan-Judaism in the Eighteenth Century

This chapter discusses the ideological foundations for their philanthropic operation developed by the emissaries and their supporters in printed pamphlets, sermons, and other texts. The main ... More

This chapter discusses the ideological foundations for their philanthropic operation developed by the emissaries and their supporters in printed pamphlets, sermons, and other texts. The main challenges that they addressed were competing claims to the munificence of Jewish donors, for example local charitable causes in the diaspora, and the question of the enduring centrality of the Holy Land. The chapter looks at instances of resistance to the emissaries, which were tied to a broader early modern phenomenon of defying rabbinic authority, especially among Western Sephardic Jews. It explores the responses formulated by emissaries and their allies, which contributed to the rise of rabbinic orthodoxy in the early modern period.Less

Introduction

Francesca Bregoli

in Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform

This chapter introduces the implications of the Livornese case for three broad fields of Jewish historiographical inquiry: the nature of Jewish acculturation; the history of the Jewish Enlightenment; ... More

This chapter introduces the implications of the Livornese case for three broad fields of Jewish historiographical inquiry: the nature of Jewish acculturation; the history of the Jewish Enlightenment; and processes of Jewish emancipation. Livornese Jewry complicates the supposedly linear connection between acculturation and modernization. While privileged Jews consumed and participated in outside culture, they did so without rejecting Judaism and the corporate community. The chapter additionally introduces the notion that the Livornese Jewish encounter with the Enlightenment provides an alternative to both the Haskalah and the Anglo-Jewish model, because of its focus and its development in Tuscan cultural sites and through European languages. Finally, an examination of the relationship between the Tuscan state and Livornese Jewry shows that the process toward emancipation in merchant enclaves was neither linear nor simple as previously believed.Less

From the Russian Annexation of Pinsk until Tsar Alexander III and the Bilu Movement (1793–1880)

in The Jews of Pinsk, 1506 to 1880

This chapter traces the history of the growth and development of the Jewish community in Pinsk from 1793–1880. Topics discussed include Rabbi Avigdor's battle with the Hasidim of Pinsk and Lithuania; ... More

This chapter traces the history of the growth and development of the Jewish community in Pinsk from 1793–1880. Topics discussed include Rabbi Avigdor's battle with the Hasidim of Pinsk and Lithuania; Rabbi Avigdor's renewed battle with the Hasidim and the kahal; Saul Levin Karliner and the history of Pinsk-Karlin Jewry (1793–1834); growth of the Jewish population; the Haskalah; educational institutions; secondary education; societies and benevolent institutions; hospitals; synagogues and study houses; and Hasidism in the second third of the nineteenth century.Less

The Jewish Encyclopedias

Jeremy Brown

in New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought

Towards the end of the eighteenth century two encyclopedias written in Hebrew appeared in Europe, and each contained an analysis of the Copernican model. Reshit Limmudim was written by Barukh Lindau ... More

Towards the end of the eighteenth century two encyclopedias written in Hebrew appeared in Europe, and each contained an analysis of the Copernican model. Reshit Limmudim was written by Barukh Lindau as an introductory textbook for schoolchildren – although it reached a far wider audience. Lindau’s book accepted the heliocentric model, and was widely praised by members of the Berlin Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment). The second encyclopedia was called Sefer Haberit, and was an attempt to categorize and explain natural phenomena and geography. It remains in print to this day. Written by Pinhas Hurwtiz, it rejected the Copernican model while stating that it was still possible to be a righteous Jew if it was accepted. For historical perspective, we review the position taken by Solomon Maimon in his 1791, pro?Copernican Hebrew language work Givat Hamoreh.Less

The First Wave: Jewish Enlightenment Bibles in Yiddish and German

Abigail Gillman

in A History of German Jewish Bible Translation

The Haskalah was a period of intense linguistic transition, and new translations of the Bible—German and Yiddish; Christian and Jewish—played a central role, above all, by rendering scripture in ... More

The Haskalah was a period of intense linguistic transition, and new translations of the Bible—German and Yiddish; Christian and Jewish—played a central role, above all, by rendering scripture in language that was “clear, correct, and beautiful.” Two Yiddish Bible translations printed in Amsterdam in 1678 and 1679, though not commercially successful, must be counted as the first modern Jewish translations in Ashkenaz and precursors of the monumental Mendelssohn translation of 1780-83. Amsterdam publishers Phoebus and Athias were likely inspired by the popularity of the much-admired Dutch States Bible and the Luther Bible; their translators, Yekuthiel Blitz and Joseph Witzenhausen, also borrowed from those Christian Bibles. Phoebus and Athias used fine paper, engraved title pages, and Rabbinic approbations. One century later, Moses Mendelssohn reinvented the modern Jewish vernacular Bible, producing a multifaceted work, known as the Be’ur, that exerted enormous influence. Like his Yiddish forerunners, and like his Christian contemporaries (Michaelis; Schmidt), Mendelssohn domesticated biblical Hebrew and syntax, but he also foregrounded the literary and poetic qualities of biblical Hebrew, as he had done years earlier when translating Hebrew poetry. Comparisons of the Prefaces, paratextual elements, and individual verses show how these first three modern Jewish translators balanced innovation with traditionalism.Less

My Mother’s Family

Lee Shai Weissbach

in A Jewish Life on Three Continents: The Memoir of Menachem Mendel Frieden

In the second chapter of his memoir, Menachem Mendel Frieden con- tinues telling about his background, this time focusing on his mother’s family. This chapter, like the preceding one, again provides ... More

In the second chapter of his memoir, Menachem Mendel Frieden con- tinues telling about his background, this time focusing on his mother’s family. This chapter, like the preceding one, again provides insights into matters of East European Jewish life more generally. Here, for example, there is further reference to the world of Hasidism, with a long reflection on the use of the word hasid early in the chapter and with much discussion of the way Hasidism faced opposition in Eastern Europe, especially from mainstream Orthodox Jews. In this chapter Frieden also illuminates the nature of traditional Jewish education, he writes of the attempts of Jews to avoid military service in the tsar’s army, and he provides an indication of the dispersion of Lithuanian Jews to various corners of the world.Less

More Yeshiva Studies

Lee Shai Weissbach

in A Jewish Life on Three Continents: The Memoir of Menachem Mendel Frieden

In this section, Frieden recounts his study in a yeshiva in the town of Lyady. Here he provides insights into the life of late nineteenth-century yeshiva students in Eastern Europe, offering a ... More

In this section, Frieden recounts his study in a yeshiva in the town of Lyady. Here he provides insights into the life of late nineteenth-century yeshiva students in Eastern Europe, offering a glimpse into the workings of Hasidic courts. Frieden’s reference to the letter of introduction he brought with him to the rebbe of Lyady suggests the importance of networking within the world of Hasidism, and his description of the time he spent at the rebbe’s court offers evidence of the openness of the court to newcomers. At the same time, Frieden’s description of his encounter with the court serves as a reminder that not all those who came in contact with Hasidism became completely enamored with the Hasidic lifestyle. Frieden critiques the materialism of the rebbes and expresses disgust with one common Hasidic practice, even as he comes to admire the Hasidic style of prayer.Less