Haskalah

"Maskil" redirects here. For the Hebrew literary term heading some psalms, seePsalms § Themes and execution.

TheHaskalah(Hebrew:הַשְׂכָּלָה;literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education" ), often termed theJewish Enlightenment,was an intellectual movement among theJewsofCentralandEastern Europe,with a certain influence on those inWestern Europeand theMuslim world.It arose as a defined ideological worldview during the 1770s, and its last stage ended around 1881, with the rise ofJewish emancipation.

Top row,proto-Maskilim:Raphael Levi Hannover•Solomon Dubno•Tobias Cohn•Marcus Elieser Bloch
2nd row,Berlin Haskalah:Salomon Jacob Cohen•David Friedländer•Naphtali Hirz Wessely•Moses Mendelssohn
3rd row,Austria andGalicia:Judah Löb Mieses•Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport•Joseph Perl•Baruch Jeitteles
Bottom row,Russia:Avrom Ber Gotlober•Abraham Mapu•Samuel Joseph Fuenn•Isaac Baer Levinsohn

The movement advocated against Jewish reclusiveness, encouraged the adoption of prevalent attire over traditional dress, while also working to diminish the authority of traditional community institutions such as rabbinic courts and boards of elders. It pursued a set of projects of cultural and moral renewal, including arevival of Hebrewfor use in secular life, which resulted in an increase inHebrewfound in print. Concurrently, it strove for an optimal integration in surrounding societies. Practitioners promoted the study ofexogenousculture, style, and vernacular, and the adoption of modern values. At the same time, economic production, and the taking up of new occupations was pursued. TheHaskalahpromotedrationalism,liberalism,relativism,andenquiry,and is largely perceived as the Jewish variant of the generalAge of Enlightenment.The movement encompassed a wide spectrum ranging from moderates, who hoped for maximal compromise, to radicals, who sought sweeping changes.

In its various changes, theHaskalahfulfilled an important, though limited, part in the modernization of Central and Eastern European Jews. Its activists, theMaskilim,exhorted and implemented communal, educational and cultural reforms in both the public and the private spheres. Owing to its dual policies, it collided both with the traditionalistrabbinicelite, which attempted to preserve old Jewish values and norms in their entirety, and with the radicalassimilationistswho wished to eliminate or minimize the existence of the Jews as a defined collective.

Definitions

Literary circle

The Haskalah was multifaceted, with many loci which rose and dwindled at different times and across vast territories. The nameHaskalahbecame a standard self-appellation in 1860, when it was taken as the motto of theOdessa-based newspaperHa-Melitz,but derivatives and the titleMaskilfor activists were already common in the first edition ofHa-Measseffrom 1 October 1783: its publishers described themselves asMaskilim.While Maskilic centres sometimes had loose institutions around which their members operated, the movement as a whole lacked any such.

In spite of that diversity, theMaskilimshared a sense of common identity and self-consciousness. They were anchored in the existence of a shared literary canon, which began to be formulated in the first Maskilic locus atBerlin.Its members, likeMoses Mendelssohn,Naphtali Hirz Wessely,Isaac SatanowandIsaac Euchel,authored tracts in various genres that were further disseminated and re-read among other Maskilim. Each generation, in turn, elaborated and added its own works to the growing body. The emergence of the Maskilic canon reflected the movement's central and defining enterprise, the revival of Hebrew as a literary language for secular purposes (itsrestoration as a spoken tongueoccurred only much later). The Maskilim researched and standardized grammar, minted countless neologisms and composed poetry, magazines, theatrical works and literature of all sorts in Hebrew. Historians described the movement largely as aRepublic of Letters,an intellectual community based on printing houses and reading societies.

The Maskilim's attitude toward Hebrew, as noted by Moses Pelli, was derived from Enlightenment perceptions of language as reflecting both individual and collective character. To them, a corrupt tongue mirrored the inadequate condition of the Jews which they sought to ameliorate. They turned to Hebrew as their primary creative medium. The Maskilim inherited the Medieval Grammarians' – such asJonah ibn JanahandJudah ben David Hayyuj– distaste ofMishnaic Hebrewand preference of theBiblical oneas pristine and correct. They turned to theBibleas a source and standard, emphatically advocating what they termed "Pure Hebrew Tongue" (S'fat E'ver tzacha) and lambasting the Rabbinic style of letters, which mixed it withAramaicas a single "Holy Tongue"and often employed loanwords from other languages. Some activists, however, were not averse to using Mishnaic and Rabbinic forms. They also preferred theSephardi pronunciation,considered more prestigious, to theAshkenazi one,which was linked with theJews of Poland,who were deemed backward. The movement's literary canon is defined by a grandiloquent, archaic register copying the Biblical one and often combining lengthy allusions or direct quotes from verses in the prose.

During a century of activity, the Maskilim produced a massive contribution, forming the first phase ofmodern Hebrewliterature. In 1755,Moses Mendelssohnbegan publishingQohelet Musar"The Moralist", regarded as the beginning of modern writing in Hebrew and the first journal in the language. Between 1789 and his death,Naphtali Hirz WesselycompiledShirei Tif'eret"Poems of Glory", an eighteen-part epic cycle concerningMosesthat exerted influence on all neo-Hebraic poets in the following generations.Joseph ha-Efrati Troplowitzwas the Haskalah's pioneering playwright, best known for his 1794 epic dramaMelukhat Sha'ul"Reign ofSaul",which was printed in twelve editions by 1888.Judah Leib Ben-Ze'evwas the first modern Hebrew grammarian, and beginning with his 1796 manual of the language, he authored books which explored it and were vital reading material for young Maskilim until the end of the 19th century.Solomon Löwisohnwas the first to translateShakespeareinto Hebrew, and an abridged form of the "Are at this hour asleep!" monologue inHenry IV, Part 2was included in his 1816 lyrical compilationMelitzat Yeshurun(Eloquence ofJeshurun).

Joseph Perlpioneered satirist writings in his biting, mocking critique ofHasidic Judaism,Megaleh Tmirin"Revealer of Secrets" from 1819.Avraham Dov Ber Lebensohnwas primarily a leading metricist, with his 1842Shirei S'fat haQodesh"Verses in the Holy Tongue" considered a milestone inHebrew poetry,and also authored biblical exegesis and educational handbooks.Abraham Mapuauthored the first Hebrew full-length novel,Ahavat Zion"Love of Zion", which was published in 1853 after twenty-three years of work.Judah Leib Gordonwas the most eminent poet of his generation and arguably of theHaskalahin its entirety. His most famous work was the 1876 epicQotzo shelYodh(Tittle of a Jot).Mendele Mocher Sforimwas during his youth a Maskilic writer but from his 1886Beseter ra'am(Hebrew:בסתר רעם),(Hidden in Thunder), he abandoned its strict conventions in favour of a mixed, facile and common style. His career marked the end of the Maskilic period in Hebrew literature and the beginning of theEra of Renaissance.The writers of the latter period lambasted their Maskilic predecessors for their didactic and florid style, more or less paralleling the Romantics' criticism of Enlightenment literature.

The central platforms of the Maskilic "Republic of Letters" were its great periodicals, each serving as a locus for contributors and readers during the time it was published. The first was theKönigsberg(and laterBerlin)-basedHa-Meassef,launched byIsaac Abraham Euchelin 1783 and printed with growing intervals until 1797. The magazine had several dozen writers and 272 subscribers at its zenith, fromShklowin the east toLondonin the west, making it the sounding board of the BerlinHaskalah.The movement lacked an equivalent until the appearance ofBikurei ha-I'timinViennabetween 1820 until 1831, serving theMoravianandGalicianHaskalah.That function was later fulfilled by thePrague-basedKerem Hemedfrom 1834 to 1857, and to a lesser degree byKokhvei Yizhak,published in the same city from 1845 to 1870. The RussianHaskalahwas robust enough to lack any single platform. Its members published several large magazines, including theVilnius-basedHa-Karmel(1860–1880),Ha-TsefirahinWarsawand more, though the probably most influential of them all wasHa-Melitz,launched in 1860 atOdessabyAleksander Zederbaum.

Reforming movement

While the partisans of theHaskalahwere much immersed in the study of sciences and Hebrew grammar, this was not a profoundly new phenomenon, and their creativity was a continuation of a long, centuries-old trend among educated Jews. What truly marked the movement was the challenge it laid to the monopoly of the rabbinic elite over the intellectual sphere of Jewish life, contesting its role as spiritual leadership. In his 1782 circularDivrei Shalom v'Emeth(Words of Peace and Truth),Hartwig Wessely,one of the most traditional and moderatemaskilim,quoted the passage fromLeviticus Rabbahstating that aTorah scholarwho lacked wisdom was inferior to an animal's carcass. He called upon the Jews to introduce general subjects, like science and vernacular language, into their children's curriculum; this "Teaching of Man" was necessarily linked with the "Teaching (Torah) of God ", and the latter, though superior, could not be pursued and was useless without the former.

Historian Shmuel Feiner discerned that Wessely insinuated (consciously or not) a direct challenge to the supremacy of sacred teachings, comparing them with general subjects and implying the latter had an intrinsic rather than merely instrumental value. He therefore also contested the authority of the rabbinical establishment, which stemmed from its function as interpreters of the holy teachings and their status as the only truly worthy field of study. Though secular subjects could be and were easily tolerated, their elevation to the same level as sacred ones was a severe threat, and indeed mobilized the rabbis against the nascentHaskalah.The potential of "Words of Peace and Truth" was fully realized later, by the second generation of the movement in Berlin and other radicalmaskilim,who openly and vehemently denounced the traditional authorities. The appropriate intellectual and moral leadership needed by the Jewish public in modern times was, according to themaskilim,that of their own. Feiner noted that in their usurpation of the title of spiritual elite, unprecedented in Jewish history since the dawn ofRabbinic Judaism(various contestants before the Enlightened were branded as schismatics and cast out), they very much emulated the manner in which secular intellectuals dethroned and replaced the Church from the same status among Christians. Thus themaskilimgenerated an upheaval which – though by no means alone – broke the sway held by the rabbis and the traditional values over Jewish society. Combined with many other factors, they laid the path to all modern Jewish movements and philosophies, either those critical, hostile or supportive to themselves.

Themaskilimsought to replace the framework of values held by theAshkenazimof Central and Eastern Europe with their own philosophy, which embraced the liberal, rationalistic notions of the 18th and 19th centuries and cast them in their own particular mold. This intellectual upheaval was accompanied by the desire to practically change Jewish society. Even the moderatemaskilimviewed the contemporary state of Jews as deplorable and in dire need of rejuvenation, whether in matters of morals, cultural creativity or economic productivity. They argued that such conditions were rightfully scorned by others and untenable from both practical and idealistic perspectives. It was to be remedied by the shedding of the base and corrupt elements of Jewish existence and retention of only the true, positive ones; indeed, the question what those were, exactly, loomed as the greatest challenge of Jewish modernity.

The more extreme and ideologically bent came close to theuniversalistaspirations of the radicalEnlightenment,of a world freed of superstition and backwardness in which all humans will come together under the liberating influence of reason and progress. The reconstituted Jews, these radicalmaskilimbelieved, would be able to take their place as equals in an enlightened world. But all, including the moderate and disillusioned, stated that adjustment to the changing world was both unavoidable and positive in itself.

Haskalahideals were converted into practical steps via numerous reform programs initiated locally and independently by its activists, acting in small groups or even alone at every time and area. Members of the movement sought to acquaint their people with European culture, have them adopt thevernacularlanguage of their lands, and integrate them into larger society. They opposed Jewish reclusiveness and self-segregation, called upon Jews to discardtraditional dressin favour of the prevalent one, and preached patriotism and loyalty to the new centralized governments. They acted to weaken and limit the jurisdiction of traditional community institutions – therabbinic courts,empowered to rule on numerous civic matters, and the board of elders, which served as lay leadership. The maskilim perceived those as remnants of medieval discrimination. They criticized various traits of Jewish society, such aschild marriage– traumatized memories from unions entered at the age of thirteen or fourteen are a common theme in Haskalah literature – the use ofanathemato enforce community will and the concentration on virtually only religious studies.

Maskilic reforms included educational efforts. In 1778, partisans of the movement were among the founders of the Berlin Jewish Free School, orHevrat Hinuch Ne'arim(Society for the Education of Boys), the first institution in Ashkenazi Jewry that taught general studies in addition to the reformulated and reduced traditional curriculum. This model, with different stresses, was applied elsewhere.Joseph Perlopened the first modern Jewish school inGaliciaatTarnopolin 1813, and Eastern Europeanmaskilimopened similar institutes in thePale of SettlementandCongress Poland.They all abandoned the received methods of Ashkenazi education: study of thePentateuchwith the archaicI'vri-Taitsch(medieval Yiddish) translation and an exclusive focus on theTalmudas a subject of higher learning, all presided over by old-school tutors,melamdim,who were particularly reviled in maskilic circles. Those were replaced by teachers trained in modern methods, among others in the spirit of Germanphilanthropinism,who sought to acquaint their pupils with refined Hebrew so they may understand the Pentateuch and prayers and thus better identify with their heritage; ignorance of Hebrew was often lamented bymaskilimas breeding apathy towards Judaism. Far less Talmud, considered cumbersome and ill-suited for children, was taught; elements considered superstitious, likemidrashim,were also removed. Matters of faith were taught in rationalistic spirit, and in radical circles also in a sanitized manner. On the other hand, the curriculum was augmented by general studies like math, vernacular language, and so forth.

In the linguistic field, themaskilimwished to replace the dualism which characterized the traditional Ashkenazi community, which spokeJudaeo-Germanand its formal literary language was Hebrew, with another: a refined Hebrew for internal usage and the local vernacular for external ones. They almost universally abhorred Judaeo-German, regarding it as a corrupt dialect and another symptom of Jewish destitution – the movement pioneered the negative attitude to Yiddish which persisted many years later among the educated – though often its activists had to resort to it for lack of better medium to address the masses.Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn,for example, authored the first modern Judaeo-German play,Leichtsinn und Frömmelei(Rashness and Sanctimony) in 1796. On the economic front, themaskilimpreached productivization and abandonment of traditional Jewish occupations in favour of agriculture, trades and liberal professions.

In matters of faith (which were being cordoned off into a distinct sphere of "religion" by modernization pressures) the movement's partisans, from moderates to radicals, lacked any uniform coherent agenda. The main standard through which they judged Judaism was that of rationalism. Their most important contribution was the revival ofJewish philosophy,rather dormant since theItalian Renaissance,as an alternative to mysticistKabbalahwhich served as almost the sole system of thought among Ashkenazim and an explanatory system for observance. Rather than complex allegoricalexegesis,theHaskalahsought a literal understanding of scripture and sacred literature. The rejection ofKabbalah,often accompanied with attempts to refute the ancientness of theZohar,were extremely controversial in traditional society; apart from that, themaskilimhad little in common. On the right-wing were conservative members of the rabbinic elite who merely wanted a rationalist approach, and on the extreme left some ventured far beyond the pale of orthodoxy towardsDeism.

Another aspect was the movement's attitude to gender relations. Many of themaskilimwere raised in the rabbinic elite, in which (unlike among the poor Jewish masses or the rich communal wardens) the males were immersed in traditional studies and their wives supported them financially, mostly by running business. Many of the Jewish enlightened were traumatized by their own experiences, either of assertive mothers or early marriage, often conducted at the age of thirteen. Bitter memories from those are a common theme inmaskilicautobiographies. Having imbibed the image of European bourgeoisie family values, many of them sought to challenge the semi-matriarchal order of rabbinic families – which combined a lack of Jewish education for women with granting them the status of providers – early marriage, and rigid modesty. Instead, they insisted that men become economically productive while confining their wives to the home environment but also granting them proper religious education, reversing Jewish custom and copying contemporary Christian attitudes.

Transitory phenomena

TheHaskalahwas also mainly a movement of transformation, straddling both the declining traditional Jewish society of autonomous community and cultural seclusion and the beginnings of a modern Jewish public. As noted by Feiner, everything connected with theHaskalahwas dualistic in nature. The Jewish Enlighteners pursued two parallel agendas: they exhorted the Jews to acculturate and harmonize with the modern state, and demanded that the Jews remain a distinct group with its own culture and identity. Theirs was a middle position between Jewish community and surrounding society, received mores and modernity. Sliding away from this precarious equilibrium, in any direction, signified also one's break with the Jewish Enlightenment.

Virtually allmaskilimreceived old-style, secluded education, and were young Torah scholars before they were first exposed to outside knowledge (from a gender perspective, the movement was almost totally male-dominated; women did not receive sufficient tutoring to master Hebrew). For generations, Mendelssohn's Bible translation to German was employed by such young initiates to bridge the linguistic gap and learn a foreign language, having been raised on Hebrew and Yiddish only. The experience of abandoning one's sheltered community and struggle with tradition was a ubiquitous trait ofmaskilicbiographies. The children of these activists almost never followed their parents; they rather went forward in the path of acculturation and assimilation. While their fathers learned the vernaculars late and still consumed much Hebrew literature, the little available material in the language did not attract their offspring, who often lacked a grasp of Hebrew due to not sharing their parents' traditional education.Haskalahwas, by and large, a unigenerational experience.

In the linguistic field, this transitory nature was well attested. The traditional Jewish community in Europe inhabited two separate spheres of communication: one internal, where Hebrew served as written high language and Yiddish as vernacular for the masses, and one external, where Latin and the like were used for apologetic and intercessory purposes toward the Christian world. A tiny minority of writers was concerned with the latter. TheHaskalahsought to introduce a different bilingualism: renovated, refined Hebrew for internal matters, while Yiddish was to be eliminated; and national vernaculars, to be taught to all Jews, for external ones. However, they insisted on the maintenance of both spheres. When acculturation far exceeded the movement's plans, Central European Jews turned almost solely to the vernacular.David Sorkindemonstrated this with the two great journals of German Jewry: the maskilicHa-Me'assefwas written in Hebrew and supported the study of German; the post-maskilicSulamith(published since 1806) was written almost entirely in German, befitting its editors' agenda of linguistic assimilation.Likewise, upon the demise of Jewish Enlightenment in Eastern Europe, authors abandoned themaskilicparadigm not toward assimilation but in favour of exclusive use of Hebrew and Yiddish.

The political vision of theHaskalahwas predicated on a similar approach. It opposed the reclusive community of the past but sought a maintenance of a strong Jewish framework (with themselves as leaders and intercessors with the state authorities); the Enlightened were not even fully agreeable to civic emancipation, and many of them viewed it with reserve, sometimes anxiety. In their writings, they drew a sharp line between themselves and whom they termed "pseudo-maskilim"– those who embraced the Enlightenment values and secular knowledge but did not seek to balance these with their Jewishness, but rather strove for full assimilation. Such elements, whether the radical universalists who broke off the late BerlinHaskalahor the Russified intelligentsia in Eastern Europe a century later, were castigated and derided no less than the old rabbinic authorities which the movement confronted. It was not uncommon for its partisans to become a conservative element, combating against further dilution of tradition: inVilnius,Samuel Joseph Fuennturned from a progressive into an adversary of more radical elements within a generation. In theMaghreb,the few localmaskilimwere more concerned with the rapid assimilation of local Jews into the colonial French culture than with the ills of traditional society.

Likewise, those who abandoned the optimistic, liberal vision of the Jews (albeit as a cohesive community) integrating into wider society in favour of full-blown Jewish nationalism or radical, revolutionary ideologies which strove to uproot the established order likeSocialism,also broke with theHaskalah.The Jewish national movements of Eastern Europe, founded by disillusionedmaskilim,derisively regarded it – in a manner similar to other romantic-nationalist movements' understanding of the general Enlightenment – as a naive, liberal and assimilationist ideology which induced foreign cultural influences, gnawed at the Jewish national consciousness and promised false hopes of equality in exchange for spiritual enslavement. This hostile view was promulgated by nationalist thinkers and historians, fromPeretz Smolenskin,Ahad Ha'am,Simon Dubnowand onwards. It was once common in Israeli historiography.

A major factor which always characterized the movement was its weakness and its dependence of much more powerful elements. Its partisans were mostly impoverished intellectuals, who eked out a living as private tutors and the like; few had a stable financial base, and they required patrons, whether affluent Jews or the state's institutions. This triplice – the authorities, the Jewish communal elite, and themaskilim– was united only in the ambition of thoroughly reforming Jewish society. The government had no interest in the visions of renaissance which the Enlightened so fervently cherished. It demanded the Jews to turn into productive, loyal subjects with rudimentary secular education, and no more. The rich Jews were sometimes open to the movement's agenda, but mostly practical, hoping for a betterment of their people that would result in emancipation and equal rights. Indeed, the great cultural transformation which occurred among theParnassim(affluent communal wardens) class – they were always more open to outside society, and had to tutor their children in secular subjects, thus inviting general Enlightenment influences – was a precondition ofHaskalah.The state and the elite required themaskilimas interlocutors and specialists in their efforts for reform, especially as educators, and the latter used this as leverage to benefit their ideology. However, the activists were much more dependent on the former than vice versa; frustration from one's inability to further themaskilicagenda and being surrounded by apathetic Jews, either conservative "fanatics" or parvenu "assimilationists", is a common theme in the movement's literature.

The termHaskalahbecame synonymous, among friends and foes alike and in much of earlyJewish historiography,with the sweeping changes that engulfed Jewish society (mostly in Europe) from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. It was depicted by its partisans, adversaries and historians likeHeinrich Graetzas a major factor in those; Feiner noted that "every modern Jew was identified as amaskiland every change in traditional religious patterns was dubbedHaskalah".Later research greatly narrowed the scope of the phenomenon and limited its importance: whileHaskalahundoubtedly played a part, the contemporary historical consensus portrays it as much humbler. Other transformation agents, from state-imposed schools to new economic opportunities, were demonstrated to have rivaled or overshadowed the movement completely in propelling such processes as acculturation, secularization, religious reform from moderate to extreme, adoption of native patriotism and so forth. In many regions theHaskalahhad no effect at all.

Origins

As long as the Jews lived insegregatedcommunities, and as long as all social interaction with theirgentileneighbors was limited, therabbiwas the most influential member of the Jewish community. In addition to being a religious scholar and "clergy", a rabbi also acted as a civil judge in all cases in which both parties were Jews. Rabbis sometimes had other important administrative powers, together with the community elders. The rabbinate was the highest aim of many Jewish boys, and the study of the Talmud was the means of obtaining that coveted position, or one of many other important communal distinctions. Haskalah followers advocated "coming out of theghetto",not just physically but also mentally and spiritually, in order to assimilate among gentile nations.

The example ofMoses Mendelssohn(1729–86), aPrussianJew, served to lead this movement, which was also shaped byAaron Halle-Wolfssohn(1754–1835) andJoseph Perl(1773–1839). Mendelssohn's extraordinary success as a popular philosopher andman of lettersrevealed hitherto unsuspected possibilities of integration and acceptance of Jews among non-Jews. Mendelssohn also provided methods for Jews to enter the general society of Germany. A good knowledge of the German language was necessary to secure entrance into cultured German circles, and an excellent means of acquiring it was provided by Mendelssohn in his German translation of theTorah.This work became a bridge over which ambitious young Jews could pass to the great world of secular knowledge. TheBiur,or grammatical commentary, prepared under Mendelssohn's supervision, was designed to counteract the influence of traditional rabbinical methods ofexegesis.Together with the translation, it became, as it were, the primer of Haskalah.

Language played a key role in the haskalah movement, as Mendelssohn and others called for a revival of Hebrew and a reduction in the use ofYiddish.The result was an outpouring of new, secular literature, as well as critical studies ofreligious texts.Julius Fürstalong with other German-Jewish scholars compiled Hebrew and Aramaic dictionaries and grammars. Jews also began to study and communicate in the languages of the countries in which they settled, providing another gateway for integration.

Berlinwas the city of origin for the movement. The capital city ofPrussiaand, later, theGerman Empire,Berlin became known as a secular, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic center, a fertile environment for conversations and radical movements. This move by the Maskilim away from religious study, into much more critical and worldly studies was made possible by this German city of modern and progressive thought. It was a city in which the rising middle class Jews and intellectual elites not only lived among, but were exposed to previousAge of Enlightenmentthinkers such asVoltaire,Diderot,andRousseau.The movement is often referred to as theBerlin Haskalah.Reference to Berlin in relation to the Haskalah movement is necessary because it provides context for this episode of Jewish history. Subsequently, having left Germany and spreading across Eastern Europe, theBerlin Haskalahinfluenced multiple Jewish communities who were interested in non-religious scholarly texts and insight to worlds beyond their Jewish enclaves.

Spread

Haskalah did not stay restricted to Germany, however, and the movement quickly spread throughout Europe.Poland–Lithuaniawas the heartland of Rabbinic Judaism, with its two streams ofMisnagdicTalmudism centred primarily inLithuania and Belarus,andHasidicmysticism popular in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Russia. In the 19th century, Haskalah sought dissemination and transformation of traditional education and inward pious life in Eastern Europe. It adapted its message to these different environments, working with the Russian government of thePale of Settlementto influence secular educational methods, while its writers satirised Hasidic mysticism, in favour of solelyRationalistinterpretation of Judaism.Isaac Baer Levinsohn(1788–1860) became known as the "Russian Mendelssohn".Joseph Perl's (1773–1839) satire of the Hasidic movement, "Revealer of Secrets" (Megalleh Temirim), is said to be the first modern novel in Hebrew. It was published in Vienna in 1819 under the pseudonym "Obadiah ben Pethahiah". The Haskalah's message of integration into non-Jewish society was subsequently counteracted by alternative secularJewish political movementsadvocating Folkish, Socialist or Nationalist secular Jewish identities in Eastern Europe. While Haskalah advocated Hebrew and sought to remove Yiddish, these subsequent developments advocatedYiddish Renaissanceamong Maskilim. Writers ofYiddish literaturevariously satirised or sentimentalised Hasidic mysticism.

Effects

The Haskalah also resulted in the creation of asecular Jewish culture,with an emphasis onJewish historyandJewish identity,rather than on religion. This, in turn, resulted in the political engagement of Jews in a variety of competing ways within the countries where they lived on issues that included

• the struggle forJewish emancipation
• involvement in newJewish political movements,and
• later (in the face of continued persecutions in late nineteenth-century Europe), the development ofZionism.

One commentator describes these effects as "The emancipation of the Jews brought forth two opposed movements: the cultural assimilation, begun byMoses Mendelssohn,andZionism,founded byTheodor Herzlin 1896. "

One facet of the Haskalah was a widespread cultural adaptation, as those Jews who participated in the enlightenment began, in varying degrees, to participate in the cultural practices of the surrounding gentile population. Connected with this was the birth of theReform movement,whose founders (such asIsrael JacobsonandLeopold Zunz) rejected the continuing observance of those aspects of Jewish law which they classified as ritual—as opposed to moral or ethical. Even within orthodoxy, the Haskalah was felt through the appearance, in response, of theMussar Movementin Lithuania, andTorah im Derech Eretzin Germany. "Enlightened" Jews sided with gentile governments, in plans to increase secular education and assimilation among the Jewish masses, which brought them into acute conflict with the orthodox, who believed this threatened the traditional Jewish lifestyle– which had up until that point been maintained through segregation from their gentile neighbors – and Jewish identity itself.

The spread of Haskalah affected Judaism, as a religion, because of the degree to which different sects desired to be integrated, and in turn, integrate their religious traditions. The effects of the Enlightenment were already present in Jewish religious music, and in opinion on the tension between traditionalist and modernist tendencies. Groups of Reform Jews, including theSociety of the Friends of Reformand theAssociation for the Reform of Judaismwere formed, because such groups wanted, and actively advocated for, a change in Jewish tradition, in particular, regarding rituals like circumcision.Another non-Orthodox group was the Conservative Jews, who emphasized the importance of traditions but viewed with a historical perspective. The Orthodox Jews were actively against these reformers because they viewed changing Jewish tradition as an insult to God and believed that fulfillment in life could be found in serving God and keeping his commandments.The effect of Haskalah was that it gave a voice to plurality of views, while the orthodoxy preserved the tradition, even to the point of insisting on dividing between sects.

Another important facet of the Haskalah was its interest in non-Jewish religions, and for some the desire to synchronize or appreciate Christian and Islamic traditions and history. Moses Mendelssohn criticized some aspects of Christianity, but depicted Jesus as a Torah-observant rabbi, who was loyal to traditional Judaism. Mendelssohn explicitly linked positive Jewish views of Jesus with the issues of Emancipation and Jewish-Christian reconciliation. Similar revisionist views were expressed by Rabbi Isaac Ber Levinsohn and other traditional representatives of the Haskalah movement.

List of Maskilim

See also:Category:People of the Haskalah

• Abraham Dob Bär Lebensohn(~1790–1878) was a Lithuanian Jewish Hebraist, poet, and grammarian.
• Abraham Jacob Paperna(1840–1919) was a Russian Jewish educator and author.
• Aleksander Zederbaum(1816–1893) was a Polish-Russian Jewish journalist. He was founder and editor ofHa-Meliẓ,and other periodicals published in Russian and Yiddish; he wrote in Hebrew.
• Avrom Ber Gotlober(1811–1899) was a Jewish writer, poet, playwright, historian, journalist and educator. He mostly wrote in Hebrew, but also wrote poetry and dramas in Yiddish. His first collection was published in 1835.
• David Friesenhausen(1756–1828), was a Hungarianmaskil,mathematician, and rabbi.
• Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn(1754/6 - 1835), German-Jewish writer, translator, Biblical commentator.
• Eliezer Dob Liebermann(1820–1895) was a Russian Hebrew-language writer.
• Ephraim Deinard(1846–1930) was one of the greatest Hebrew 'bookmen' of all time. He was a bookseller, bibliographer, publicist, polemicist, historian, memoirist, author, editor and publisher.
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing(1729–1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era; considered by theatre historians to have been the first dramaturg. Author of works attempting to reconcile the Abrahamic faiths, such asNathan der Weise,Nathan the Wise.
• Isaac Bär Levinsohn(1788-1860), also known as the Ribal; Jewish scholar of Hebrew, a satirist, a writer and Haskalah leader. He has been called "the Mendelssohn of Russia."
• Moses Mendelssohn(1729-1786) philosopher and theologian, one of the central founders of Haskalah (noted in Haskalah article)
• Joseph Perl(1773-1839) (noted in Haskalah article)
• Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob(1801–1863) was a Russian bibliographer, author, and publisher. His parents moved to Vilnius when he was still a child, and there he received instruction in Hebrew grammar and rabbinical lore.
• Kalman Schulman(1819–1899) was a Jewish writer who translated various volumes and novels into Hebrew.
• Leopold Zunz(1794–1886) was the German Jewish founder of academic Judaic Studies (Wissenschaft des Judentums), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual.

See also

• Immanuel Kant
• Saul Ascher

Literature

• Resources > Modern Period > Central and Western Europe (17th\18th Cent.) > Enlightenment (Haskala)The Jewish History Resource Center – Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, TheHebrew University of Jerusalem
• Rashi by Maurice LiberDiscusses Rashi's influence on Moses Mendelssohn and the Haskalah.
• Jewish Virtual Library on Haskalah
• Dauber, Jeremy (2004).Antonio's Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature.Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Litvak, Olga (2012).Haskalah. The Romantic Movement in Judaism.New Brunswick, New Jersey, London: Rutgers University Press.
• Rasplus, Valéry "Les judaïsmes à l'épreuve des Lumières. Les stratégies critiques de la Haskalah", in:ContreTemps,n° 17, septembre 2006(in French)
• Ruderman, David B. (2000).Jewish Enlightenment in an English Key: Anglo-Jewry's Construction of Modern Jewish Thought.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Schumacher-Brunhes, Marie (2012).Enlightenment Jewish Style: The Haskalah Movement in Europe.Mainz: Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG).Digital version available atEuropean History Online:[1]
• Wodzinski, Marcin (2009).Haskalah and Hasidism in the Kingdom of Poland: a History of Conflict.Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.ISBN978-1-904113-08-9.(translated fromOświecenie żydowskie w Królestwie Polskim wobec chasydyzmu)
• Brinker, Menahem (2008),The Unique Case of Jewish SecularismArchived17 November 2017 at theWayback Machine(audio archive giving history of ideas of the Haskalah movement and its later secular offshoot movements), London Jewish Book Week.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Haskalah".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

External links

• HaskalahatThe YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
• Map of the spread of Haskalah, on Boston Univ site
• The Haskalah in Eastern EuropeThinkTorah.org by Rabbi Menachem Levine
• Haskalah collection,John Rylands Library,University of Manchester