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

2. 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 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.

3. 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."

4. 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

5. Haskala
The study of non-religious disciplines should be a part of the education of Jewish children
Jews should have perfect knowledge of the language of the country (somewhere led to disappearance of yiddish) + the study of Hebrew should be encouraged
Jewish history and religion should be studied in depth – with scientific method
Jewish religion should be adapted to the conditions of the modern world
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
Secular learning (cities, universities – law, medicine) sharply refused in the rural traditionalist shtetleks

6. 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)

7. Eastern Jewry in the 18th and 19th C.
Partitions of Poland : lasted untill 1918
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

9. 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; Jews = Polish kingdom (Congress Poland)
Prussia – the lowest number of Jews, the poorest Jews expelled from the country („protected“ x „tolerated“ Jews – untill 1848)

10. Pale of Settlement 1791, Catherine the Great – 1917
Alexandr I. - assimilation
Nicolas I, – cantonists
Alexandr II,
abolished cantonist system
Assasinated by revolutionaries  pogroms
,5 mio Jews leave – 2 mio to America
1920 – immigration to US strictly limited – end AFTER WWII

11. Economic and Social Life
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 or acculturation – esp. maskilim in the cities
Secularization
Emancipation of women in traditional families

12. Outside the Pale: Prussia
„Protected“ Jews (Schutzjuden)
Wealthy
German-speaking
Cities, encouraged to assimilate
Tolerated Jews
equal rights only in 1848

13. Habsburg Empire

14. Bohemia and Moravia
Prague, 17th c.: European cultural center of Jewish life ( Jews; in Berlin; in Vienna)
1726 Family Laws – Charles VI
1744 Expulsion of Jews - Maria Theresa

15. 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

16. Bohemia and Moravia 1849 1867 emancipation Industrialization
Jews can leave the Prague ghetto
Family laws abolished
1867 emancipation
Industrialization
Jewish high bourgeoisie – German oriented
Jewish middle class – Czech oriented
Many conversions

17. Galicia and Bukovina
Large Jewish population - before WWI 1 mio Jews in Galicia
Predominantly Hasidic Jews
Joseph II – better situation than in Russia, difficult economic situation

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