Haskala

& Eastern Jewry in the 18th and 19th C.

Haskala - Enlightment

• The last quarter of the 18th up to the 1880´s• Sceptical about hassidic mysticism and dismissal of the belief

in messianic liberation : NOT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT• Aim: INTEGRATION OF JEWS • Maskilim • Raising nationalism – every nation has a right on fatherland• Feudal system in Europe collapses• Ended following the pogroms in 1881-2 when it became

evident that enlightment alone was unable to provide the desired emancipation : new movements emereged from its ruins: Hibbath Zion, Zionism, Jewish socialist movement.

Moses Mendelsohn

• Schutzjude in Berlin• translated Tanakh into

German with a Hebrew commentary: Bi´ur, 1783

• Jerusalem: the state has no right to interfere with the religion of its citizens

• Philosophical treatises : "the world results from a creative act through which the divine will seeks to realize the highest good."

Moses Mendelsohn

• Plurality of truths – various nations need different constitutions – so individuals may need different religions– Lessing, Nathan the

Wise (= Mendelsohn) – spokesman for love and humanity; classic on religious tolerance

JEWISHNESS= RELIGION

Haskala1) The study of non-religious disciplines should be a part of the education of

Jewish children2) Jews should have perfect knowledge of the language of the country

(somewhere led to disappearance of yiddish) + the study of Hebrew should be encouraged

3) Jewish history and religion should be studied in depth – with scientific method4) Religion adopted to the conditions of the modern world5) The Jews should have a fatherland like every other nation in the world

• Bettering relations by lessening of the differences• New rationalistic interpretation of traditional religious values often conflicts

with ortodox Jews– Traditional pilpul succesful lawyers– Secular learning (cities, universities – law, medicine) sharply refused in the rural

traditionalist shtetleks

Zionism

• Emancipation does not work, let´s be Jewish• Discrimination continued to exist (Dreyfuss)• Emancipation did not lead to an end of

prejudice (Middle- Ages – religion; 18th/ 19th c- economy reasons; 19th c. – nation based on blood)

Eastern Jewry in the 18th and 19th C.

• Partitions of Poland 1772-1795 : lasted untill 1918– 900 000 Jews in Poland – 10% of the total population

(a relatively large number due to early marriage and lower infant mortality)

– Prussia, Russia, Austria – Jews became subject to the laws of three different powers – more complex and unhappy phase

– In Prussia and Austria Jews recquired to accept Germanic surnames

1772- 1794

Eastern Jewry in the 18th and 19th C.

– Austria: Galicia, Free Republic of Cracow– Russia: Lithuania, Belarussia, Ukraine - 60% of the

Polish territory and 45% of its population; 700 000 Jews = Polish kingdom (Congress Poland)

– Prussia – the lowest number of Jews, the poorest Jews expelled from the country („protected“ x „tolerated“ Jews – untill 1848)

– Tension between hassidim, mitnagdim and maskilim

Pale of Settlement

• 1791, Catherine the Great – 1917• Nicolas I, 1825-55 – cantonists• Alexandr II, 1855-81 – abolished cantonist system– Assasinated by revolutionaries pogroms

• 1881-1914 2,5 mio Jews leave – 2 mio to America– 1920 – immigration to US strictly limited – end

AFTER WWII

Economy

• Partitions Polish nobles start considering Jews as COMPETITION

• Ghettos in the cities – increasing pauperisation ANTISEMITISM

• Small number of Jewish millionaires – Lodz, textile industry ANTISEMITISM = ANTICAPITALISM

• Assimilation – esp. maskilim in the cities• Secularization• Emancipation of women in traditional families

Outside the Pale: Prussia

• „Protected“ Jews (Schutzjuden) – Wealthy– German-speaking– Cities, encouraged to

assimilate

• Tolerated Jews

• equal rights only in 1848

Habsburg Empire

Bohemia and Moravia

• Prague, 17th c.: European cultural center of Jewish life (10 000 Jews; 4 000 in Berlin; 3 000 in Vienna)

• 1726 Family Laws – Charles VI • 1744 Expulsion of Jews - Maria Theresa

Bohemia and Moravia

Joseph II, Edict of Tolerance and the following edicts• Jews became almost equal and were allowed to study

at public schools• Banned from using hebrew and „Jewish language“ in

their public and commercial records• Germanization: names to be chosen from a

government-prepared list• Jews are liable for military service• Abolished rabbinical juridical autonomy• Did not gain the right of citizenship

Bohemia and Moravia

• 1849– Jews can leave the Prague ghetto– Family laws abolished

• 1867 emancipation• Industrialization– Jewish high bourgeoisie – German oriented – Jewish middle class – Czech oriented

• Many conversions

Galicia and Bukovina

• Large Jewish population - before WWI 1 mio Jews

• Predominantly Hassidic Jews• Joseph II – better situation than in Russia,

difficult economic situation

Hungary

• 1910: 900 000 Jews = 5% of the population– 23% Jewish population in Budapest – neolog – Orthodox countryside

Romania

• 1829 Russian occupation of Wallachia and Moldavia; free foreign trade– Immigration of Jews from Russia and Galicia

• 1859 Wallachia and Moldavia choose a prince Cuza– Jews are not citizens – anti Jewish riots– No Jewish assimilation (yiddish)– Emigration to Hungary

Serbia and Bulgaria

• 1878 – independence of Romania and Serbia, autonomy of Bulgaria following the Russo- Turkish war – equal rights for Jews– The only countries that had not emancipated the

Jews were Russia and Romania– Bulgaria – mostly Sephardic Jews– Antisemitism limited – the Turk was hereditary

enemy, no need for a scapegoat