Remaking Identities: God, Nation, and Race in World History

Remaking Identities

Very few of them in fact survived. Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out. For the tomb of Solomon, which the Jews regard as an object of veneration, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed, and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their cities.

Therefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors, 'If you and our children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health'" para. Israel Studies 10 1: Diaspora [galut] connoted deracination, legal disabilities, oppression, and an often painful adjustment to a hostland whose hospitality was unreliable and ephemeral.

It also connoted the existence on foreign soil of an expatriate community that considered its presence to be transitory. These included the language, religion, values, social norms, and narratives of the homeland. Gradually, this community adjusted to the hostland environment and became itself a center of cultural creation.

All the while, however, it continued to cultivate the idea of return to the homeland. Is the Jewish Diaspora Unique? Reflections on the Diaspora's Current Situation. This attitude has further been buttressed by the equally traditional view, which is held not only by the Jews themselves, about the exceptional historical age of this diaspora, its singular traumatic experiences its singular ability to survive pogroms, exiles, and Holocaust, as well as its "special relations" with its ancient homeland, culminating in with the nation-state that the Jewish nation has established there First, like many other members of established diasporas, the vast majority of Jews no longer regard themselves as being in Galut [exile] in their host countries.

It means that the basic perception of many Jews about their existential situation in their hostlands has changed. Consequently, there is both a much greater self- and collective-legitimatization to refrain from making serious plans concerning "return" or actually "making Aliyah" [to emigrate, or "go up"] to Israel. This is one of the results of their wider, yet still rather problematic and sometimes painful acceptance by the societies and political systems in their host countries.

It means that they, and to an extent their hosts, do not regard Jewish life within the framework of diasporic formations in these hostlands as something that they should be ashamed of, hide from others, or alter by returning to the old homeland" p. The Cambridge History of Judaism: Although Dio's figure of as the number of villages destroyed during the war seems hyperbolic, all Judaean villages, without exception, excavated thus far were razed following the Bar Kochba Revolt.

This evidence supports the impression of total regional destruction following the war. Historical sources note the vast number of captives sold into slavery in Palestine and shipped abroad. The Judaean Jewish community never recovered from the Bar Kochba war. In its wake, Jews no longer formed the majority in Palestine, and the Jewish center moved to the Galilee. Jews were also subjected to a series of religious edicts promulgated by Hadrian that were designed to uproot the nationalistic elements with the Judaean Jewish community, these proclamations remained in effect until Hadrian's death in An additional, more lasting punitive measure taken by the Romans involved expunging Judaea from the provincial name, changing it from Provincia Judaea to Provincia Syria Palestina.

Although such name changes occurred elsewhere, never before or after was a nation's name expunged as the result of rebellion. Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Exclusive Inclusivity: We find no expressions of sympathy to the deported community for its dislocation, no empathic expressions towards the People Who Remained under Babylonian subjugation in Judah. The opposite is apparent: Retrieved 30 June Retrieved 10 November Archived from the original on 19 March Retrieved 24 January Retrieved 26 August The Rise of Western Power: A Comparative History of Western Civilization.

To these civilizations, the Jews added a leaven of astonishing creativity in business, medicine, letters, science, the arts, and a variety of other leadership roles. Accessed 16 August Doctors to Princes and Paupers: Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society. U of California, Dimont 1 June Jews, God, and History. Paterson 21 May An Analysis and Brief History. The dietary and legal codes of Islam are based on those of Judaism. The basic design of the mosque, the Islamic house of worship, comes from that of the early synagogues.

The communal prayer services of Islam and their devotional routines resembles those of Judaism. Hebraism, like Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of Western Civilization; Judaism, as the precursor of Christianity, has indirectly had had much to do with shaping the ideals and morality of western nations since the christian era.

Johannes ; Ringgren, Helmer , eds. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Translated by Green, David E. A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 11th ed. Archived from the original on August 5, How To Solve It". University of Louisville School of Law. A History of the Jewish Nation: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Retrieved 5 April University Press of America. Themes and Issues in Judaism. Although culture - and Judaism is a culture or cultures as well as religion - can be subdivided into different analytical categories Jewish Intellectuals and the Experience of Modernity.

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Retrieved 2 October Retrieved 6 October An Introduction for Students. Archived from the original on 18 October Retrieved 9 January Archived from the original on 24 December The Struggle for Identity Today.

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Birth, Death, and Femininity: The Beginnings of Jewishness. Oxford University Press published 8 May Killebrew, Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity. The Story of the Jews: A Short History of the Jews. The History of the Jews: From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time. Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls. Retrieved 1 April After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [ Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view.

The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period c. The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period.

New Insights and Scholarship. Western civilization 8th ed. What is generally agreed, however, is that between and B. Yoder 1 May Power and Politics in the Book of Judges: Men and Women of Valor. The Book of Judges. Thompson 1 January Early History of the Israelite People: In Search of "Ancient Israel": A Study in Biblical Origins. The Jewish Study Bible 2nd ed. The Ancient Near East. The Bible and Interpretation. The Israelites in History and Tradition. Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Handy, Continuum, 1 May Quote: Retrieved 15 March Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return".

In Lipschitz, Oded; Oeming, Manfred. Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period. Archived from the original PDF on 21 July Retrieved 8 November Retrieved 11 October Explicit use of et al. The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October Retrieved 4 October Moving Beyond the Nature Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1. Mordechai Vermebrand and Betzalel S. London and New york. The Hidden Heritage of Diaspora Judaism: Volume 20 of Contributions to biblical exegesis and theology. Judaism And Hellenism Reconsidered. The Times Literary Supplement.

Jewish Life and American Culture. State University of New York Press. The Israeli State and Society: The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions. Journal of Biblical Literature. The Society of Biblical Literature. Journal of Semitic Studies. Embassy of Israel in Washington, D. Archived from the original PDF on 13 October International Handbook of Jewish Education. In contrast to other peoples who are masters of their national languages, Hebrew is not the 'common possession' of all Jewish people, and it mainly—if not exclusively—lives and breathes in Israel Although there are oases of Hebrew in certain schools, it has not become the Jewish lingua franca and English is rapidly taking its place as the Jewish people's language of communication.

Even Hebrew-speaking Israeli representatives tend to use English in their public appearances at international Jewish conventions. It is English rather than Hebrew that emerged as the lingua franca of the Jews towards the late 20th century Negotiating Language Policy in Schools: This priority given to English is related to the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and the current status of English as a lingua franca for Jews worldwide.

Contemporary Jewish Collective Identities. Archived from the original on 7 March Only a minority of the Jewish people today can actually speak Hebrew. In order for a Jew from one country to talk to another who speaks a different language, it is more common to use English than Hebrew. Retrieved 12 March Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: Jewish Languages Research Website. A History, 4th Edition. Multicultural Perspectives in Working with Families. Muslim Attitudes towards Jews and Israel. Like many immigrant communities of the Czarist and Soviet eras in Azerbaijan, Ashkenazi Jews appear to be linguistically Russified.

Most Ashkenazi Jews speak Russian as their first language with Azeri being spoken as the second. The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews. The community is divided between 'native' Georgian Jews and Russian-speaking Ashkenazim who began migrating there at the beginning of the 19th century, and especially during World War II. Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages.

Jewish history

Jews in Tadzhikistan have adopted Tadzhik as their first language. The number of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews in that region is comparatively low cf. Both Ashkenazic and Oriental Jews have assimilated to Russian, the number of Jews speaking Russian as their first language amounting to a total of 6, It is reasonable to assume that the percentage of assimilated Ashkenazim is much higher than the portion of Oriental Jews. A View of Basic Ecological Relations. Transnational Spaces and Identities in the Francophone World. Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa. Archived from the original on 16 October Explorations in Jewish Historical Experience: From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership.

The American Journal of Human Genetics. New York Review of Books. Major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". Lessons of population substructure in a closed group". European Journal of Human Genetics.

Retrieved April 1, Archived from the original PDF on 3 December Archived from the original on 16 November Genetic Studies Spark Identity Debate". Williams, Scott M, ed. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 3 April Retrieved 20 July Retrieved 8 August Freedom in the World. Archived from the original on 30 September Retrieved 7 August Israel's population nears 8M mark". Retrieved 7 July East European Jews in America, — Retrieved March 28, Moscow Urban News Agency.

Retrieved 28 October Retrieved 3 July Jewish Community of Berlin. Rosenberg, Hamilton Books, , p. Archived from the original on 3 October Defining and Calculating Intermarriage". Archived from the original on 12 August La lente progression des mariages mixtes" PDF in French. Archived from the original on 21 May American Society of Human Genetics. Retrieved 12 November Retrieved 13 November In Singer, Isidore ; et al. Smith-Christopher, The Religion of the Landless: Eerdmans Publishing, p.

Judaism and Global Survival. Throughout the 20th century, Jews, more so than any other minority, ethnic or cultural group, have been recipients of the Nobel Prize — perhaps the most distinguished award for human endeavor in the six fields for which it is given. Remarkably, Jews constitute almost one-fifth of all Nobel laureates. This, in a world in which Jews number just a fraction of 1 percent of the population. Retrieved 25 November Similarly, because Jews make up less than a quarter of one percent of the world's population, it's surprising that over 20 percent of Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jews or people of Jewish descent.

The Central Liberal Truth: That achievement is symbolized by the fact that 15 to 20 percent of Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews, who represent two tenths of one percent of the world's population. The History of the Jewish People: Ancient Israel to 's America. These accomplishments account for 20 percent of the Nobel Prizes awarded since What a feat for a people who make up only. Baron, Salo Wittmayer Jewish Publication Society of America. The Blackwell Companion to Judaism.

Introduction to World Religions. Patterns of Political Leadership: An Introduction to Judaism. Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered. History of the Jews in Modern Times. The Origins of Judaism: From Canaan to the Rise of Islam.

Jewish History in Modern Times. What did they think of the Jews? A History of the Jews. Kaplan, Dana Evan []. Fact and Fantasy in Palestine. The Jews of Islam. An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. The Case Of Persia". The Wiener Library Bulletin. The History of Anti-semitism. In Endelman, Todd M. University of Michigan Press. The Jews of Arab Lands: It was official Christian policy to convert Jews to Christianity , and the Christian leadership used the official power of Rome in their attempts. Gallus put down the revolt and destroyed the major cities in the Galilee area where the revolt had started.

Tzippori and Lydda site of two of the major legal academies never recovered. In this period, the Nasi in Tiberias, Hillel II, created an official calendar, which needed no monthly sightings of the moon. The months were set, and the calendar needed no further authority from Judea. At about the same time, the Jewish academy at Tiberius began to collate the combined Mishnah, braitot , explanations, and interpretations developed by generations of scholars who studied after the death of Judah HaNasi.

The text was organized according to the order of the Mishna: This text is called the Jerusalem Talmud. The Jews of Judea received a brief respite from official persecution during the rule of the Emperor Julian the Apostate. Julian's policy was to return the kingdom to Hellenism and he encouraged the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem.

As Julian's rule lasted briefly from to , the Jews could not rebuild sufficiently before Roman Christian rule was restored over the Empire. Beginning in with the consecration of St. John Chrysostom as Patriarch , the Christian rhetoric against Jews continued to rise; he preached sermons with titles such as "Against the Jews" and "On the Statues, Homily 17," in which John preaches against "the Jewish sickness". In the beginning of the 5th century, the Emperor Theodosius issued a set of decrees establishing official persecution against Jews.

Jews were not allowed to own slaves, build new synagogues, hold public office or try cases between a Jew and a non-Jew. Intermarriage between Jew and non-Jew was made a capital offense, as was a Christian converting to Judaism. Theodosius did away with the Sanhedrin and abolished the post of Nasi.

Under the Emperor Justinian , the authorities further restricted the civil rights of Jews, [28] and threatened their religious privileges. Those who disobeyed the restrictions were threatened with corporal penalties, exile, and loss of property. The Jews at Borium, not far from Syrtis Major, who resisted the Byzantine General Belisarius in his campaign against the Vandals , were forced to embrace Christianity, and their synagogue was converted to a church. Justinian and his successors had concerns outside the province of Judea, and he had insufficient troops to enforce these regulations.

As a result, the 5th century was a period when a wave of new synagogues were built, many with beautiful mosaic floors. Jews adopted the rich art forms of the Byzantine culture. Jewish mosaics of the period portray people, animals, menorahs, zodiacs, and Biblical characters.

Excellent examples of these synagogue floors have been found at Beit Alpha which includes the scene of Abraham sacrificing a ram instead of his son Isaac along with a zodiac , Tiberius, Beit Shean, and Tzippori. The precarious existence of Jews under Byzantine rule did not long endure, largely for the explosion of the Muslim religion out of the remote Arabian peninsula where large populations of Jews resided, see History of the Jews under Muslim Rule for more. Numerous Jews fled the remaining Byzantine territories in favour of residence in the Caliphate over the subsequent centuries.

The size of the Jewish community in the Byzantine Empire was not affected by attempts by some emperors most notably Justinian to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity, as these attempts met with very little success. Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium ; R.

No systematic persecution of the type endemic at that time in Western Europe pogroms, the stake, mass expulsions, etc. Perhaps in the 4th century, the Kingdom of Semien , a Jewish nation in modern Ethiopia was established, lasting until the 17th century [ citation needed ]. Mosaic of Menorah with Lulav and Ethrog , 6th century C.

Mosaic pavement of a synagogue at Beit Alpha 5th century. Mosaic in the Tzippori Synagogue 5th century. Mosaic pavement recovered from the Hamat Gader synagogue 5th or 6th century. As a political system, Islam created radically new conditions for Jewish economic, social, and intellectual development. According to the Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi , the Jews worked as "the assayers of coins, the dyers, the tanners and the bankers in the community". During this time Jews lived in thriving communities all across ancient Babylonia. In the Geonic period — CE , the Babylonian Yeshiva Academies were the chief centers of Jewish learning; the Geonim meaning either "Splendor" or "Geniuses" , who were the heads of these schools, were recognized as the highest authorities in Jewish law.

A period of tolerance thus dawned for the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula , whose number was considerably augmented by immigration from Africa in the wake of the Muslim conquest. Especially after , during the reign of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his son, Al-Hakam II , the Jews prospered, devoting themselves to the service of the Caliphate of Cordoba , to the study of the sciences, and to commerce and industry, especially to trading in silk and slaves, in this way promoting the prosperity of the country.

Jewish economic expansion was unparalleled. In Toledo , Jews were involved in translating Arabic texts to the Romance languages , as well as translating Greek and Hebrew texts into Arabic. Jews also contributed to botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy. Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community.

Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population. The Golden Age ended with the invasion of al-Andalus by the Almohades , a conservative dynasty originating in North Africa, who were highly intolerant of religious minorities. Sermonical messages to avenge the death of Jesus encouraged Christians to participate in the Crusades. The twelfth century Jewish narration from R.

Solomon ben Samson records that crusaders en route to the Holy Land decided that before combating the Ishmaelites they would massacre the Jews residing in their midst to avenge the crucifixion of Christ. The massacres began at Rouen and Jewish communities in Rhine Valley were seriously affected.

Crusading attacks were made upon Jews in the territory around Heidelberg. A huge loss of Jewish life took place. Many were forcibly converted to Christianity and many committed suicide to avoid baptism. A major driving factor behind the choice to commit suicide was the Jewish realisation that upon being slain their children could be taken to be raised as Christians. The Jews were living in the middle of Christian lands and felt this danger acutely.

Many Jews chose self-defence. But their means of self-defence were limited and their casualties only increased. Most of the forced conversions proved ineffective. Many Jews reverted to their original faith later. The pope protested this but Emperor Henry IV agreed to permitting these reversions. The Jews had preserved their faith from social pressure, now they had to preserve it at sword point. The massacres during the crusades strengthened the Jewry from within spiritually. The Jewish perspective was that their struggle was Israel's struggle to hallow the name of God. In , Jews helped the Arabs to defend Jerusalem against the Crusaders.

When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered many Jews in a synagogue and set it on fire. As Jews were not allowed to hold land during the Crusader period, they worked at trades and commerce in the coastal towns during times of quiescence. During this period, the Masoretes of Tiberias established the niqqud , a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Numerous piyutim and midrashim were recorded in Palestine at this time. Maimonides wrote that in he visited Jerusalem and went to the Temple Mount, where he prayed in the "great, holy house".

In Yehuda Halevi issued a call to Jews to emigrate to the land of Israel and took on the long journey himself. He started on the rough route overland. He was met along the way by Jews in Tyre and Damascus. Jewish legend relates that as he came near Jerusalem, overpowered by the sight of the Holy City, he sang his most beautiful elegy, the celebrated "Zionide" Zion ha-lo Tish'ali.

At that instant, an Arab had galloped out of a gate and rode him down; he was killed in the accident. In the years —, the land of Israel was part of the Empire of the Mamluks , who ruled first from Turkey , then from Egypt. The period was characterized by war, uprisings, bloodshed and destruction.

Jews suffered persecution and humiliation, but the surviving records note at least 30 Jewish urban and rural communities at the opening of the 16th century. Nahmanides is recorded as settling in the Old City of Jerusalem in He moved to Acre , where he was active in spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time neglected in the Holy Land.

He gathered a circle of pupils around him, and people came in crowds, even from the district of the Euphrates, to hear him. Karaites were said to have attended his lectures, among them Aaron ben Joseph the Elder. He later became one of the greatest Karaite authorities. Shortly after Nahmanides' arrival in Jerusalem, he addressed a letter to his son Nahman, in which he described the desolation of the Holy City.

At the time, it had only two Jewish inhabitants—two brothers, dyers by trade. In a later letter from Acre, Nahmanides counsels his son to cultivate humility, which he considers to be the first of virtues.

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In another, addressed to his second son, who occupied an official position at the Castilian court, Nahmanides recommends the recitation of the daily prayers and warns above all against immorality. Nahmanides died after reaching seventy-six, and his remains were interred at Haifa , by the grave of Yechiel of Paris. Yechiel had emigrated to Acre in , along with his son and a large group of followers. In Obadiah ben Abraham , commentator on the Mishnah , arrived in Jerusalem; this marked a new period of return for the Jewish community in the land. Despite second-class citizenship, Jews played prominent roles in Muslim courts, and experienced a "Golden Age" in Moorish Spain about —, though the situation deteriorated after that time.

Riots resulting in the deaths of Jews did however occur in North Africa through the centuries and especially in Morocco , Libya and Algeria , where eventually Jews were forced to live in ghettos. During the 11th century, Muslims in Spain conducted pogroms against the Jews; those occurred in Cordoba in and in Granada in At certain times, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face death in some parts of Yemen, Morocco and Baghdad.

Remaking Identities: God, Nation, and Race in World History - Benjamin Lieberman - Google Книги

They treated the dhimmis harshly. Faced with the choice of death or conversion, many Jews emigrated. By that ratio, if other factors had not intervened, there would be million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13 million. Jewish populations have existed in Europe, especially in the area of the former Roman Empire, from very early times. The historian Norman Cantor and other 20th-century scholars dispute the tradition that the Middle Ages was a uniformly difficult time for Jews.

Before the Church became fully organized as an institution with an increasing array of rules, early medieval society was tolerant. Between and , an estimated 1. As they were not Christians, they were not included as a division of the feudal system of clergy, knights and serfs. This means that they did not have to satisfy the oppressive demands for labor and military conscription that Christian commoners suffered.

In relations with the Christian society, the Jews were protected by kings, princes and bishops, because of the crucial services they provided in three areas: Christian scholars interested in the Bible consulted with Talmudic rabbis. As the Roman Catholic Church strengthened as an institution, the Franciscan and Dominican preaching orders were founded, and there was a rise of competitive middle-class, town-dwelling Christians.

By , the friars and local priests staged the Passion Plays during Holy Week, which depicted Jews in contemporary dress killing Christ, according to Gospel accounts. From this period, persecution of Jews and deportations became endemic. Around , Jews found relative security and a renewal of prosperity in present-day Poland. After , Jews suffered more discrimination and persecution in Christian Europe. Europe's Jewry was mainly urban and literate. The Christians were inclined to regard Jews as obstinate deniers of the truth because in their view the Jews were expected to know of the truth of the Christian doctrines from their knowledge of the Jewish scriptures.

Jews were aware of the pressure to accept Christianity. Christian rulers gradually saw the advantage of having such a class of people who could supply capital for their use without being liable to excommunication. As a result, the money trade of western Europe became a specialty of the Jews. But, in almost every instance when Jews acquired large amounts through banking transactions, during their lives or upon their deaths, the king would take it over. Jews were frequently massacred and exiled from various European countries.

The persecution hit its first peak during the Crusades. In the People's Crusade flourishing Jewish communities on the Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed. In the Second Crusade the Jews in France were subject to frequent massacres. They were also subjected to attacks by the Shepherds' Crusades of and The Crusades were followed by massive expulsions, including in the banishing of all English Jews; [63] in , Jews were expelled from France; and in , thousands were expelled from Austria.

Over this time many Jews in Europe, either fleeing or being expelled, migrated to Poland, where they prospered into another Golden Age. Historians who study modern Jewry have identified four different paths by which European Jews were "modernized" and thus integrated into the mainstream of European society. A common approach has been to view the process through the lens of the European Enlightenment as Jews faced the promise and the challenges posed by political emancipation.

Scholars that use this approach have focused on two social types as paradigms for the decline of Jewish tradition and as agents of the sea changes in Jewish culture that led to the collapse of the ghetto. The first of these two social types is the Court Jew who is portrayed as a forerunner of the modern Jew, having achieved integration with and participation in the proto-capitalist economy and court society of central European states such as the Habsburg Empire.

In contrast to the cosmopolitan Court Jew, the second social type presented by historians of modern Jewry is the maskil , learned person , a proponent of the Haskalah Enlightenment. This narrative sees the maskil's pursuit of secular scholarship and his rationalistic critiques of rabbinic tradition as laying a durable intellectual foundation for the secularization of Jewish society and culture. The established paradigm has been one in which Ashkenazic Jews entered modernity through a self-conscious process of westernization led by "highly atypical, Germanized Jewish intellectuals".

Haskalah gave birth to the Reform and Conservative movements and planted the seeds of Zionism while at the same time encouraging cultural assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided. In the s, the concept of the " Port Jew " has been suggested as an "alternate path to modernity" that was distinct from the European Haskalah. In contrast to the focus on Ashkenazic Germanized Jews, the concept of the Port Jew focused on the Sephardi conversos who fled the Inquisition and resettled in European port towns on the coast of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

Court Jews were Jewish bankers or businessmen who lent money and handled the finances of some of the Christian European noble houses. Corresponding historical terms are Jewish bailiff and shtadlan. Examples of what would be later called court Jews emerged when local rulers used services of Jewish bankers for short-term loans. They lent money to nobles and in the process gained social influence.

Noble patrons of court Jews employed them as financiers , suppliers, diplomats and trade delegates. Court Jews could use their family connections, and connections between each other, to provision their sponsors with, among other things, food, arms, ammunition and precious metals.

In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including up to noble status for themselves, and could live outside the Jewish ghettos. Some nobles wanted to keep their bankers in their own courts. And because they were under noble protection, they were exempted from rabbinical jurisdiction.

From medieval times, court Jews could amass personal fortunes and gained political and social influence. Sometimes they were also prominent people in the local Jewish community and could use their influence to protect and influence their brethren. Sometimes they were the only Jews who could interact with the local high society and present petitions of the Jews to the ruler.

However, the court Jew had social connections and influence in the Christian world mainly through his Christian patrons. Due to the precarious position of Jews, some nobles could just ignore their debts. If the sponsoring noble died, his Jewish financier could face exile or execution.

Significant repression of Spain's numerous community occurred during the 14th century, notably a major pogrom in which resulted in the majority of Spain's , Jews converting to Catholicism. With the conquest of the Muslim Kingdom of Granada in , the Catholic monarchs issued the Alhambra Decree whereby Spain's remaining , Jews were forced to choose between conversion and exile. As a result, an estimated 50, to 70, Jews left Spain, the remainder joining Spain's already numerous Converso community. Perhaps a quarter of a million Conversos thus were gradually absorbed by the dominant Catholic culture, although those among them who secretly practiced Judaism were subject to 40 years of intense repression by the Spanish Inquisition.

A small number also settled in Holland and England. The Port Jew describes Jews who were involved in the seafaring and maritime economy of Europe, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Helen Fry suggests that they could be considered to have been "the earliest modern Jews". They were allowed to settle in port cities as merchants granted permission to trade in ports such as Amsterdam, London, Trieste and Hamburg.

Fry notes that their connections with the Jewish Diaspora and their expertise in maritime trade made them of particular interest to the mercantilist governments of Europe. Compared with other Ottoman subjects, they were the predominant power in commerce and trade as well in diplomacy and other high offices. In the 16th century especially, the Jews were the most prominent under the millets , the apogee of Jewish influence could arguably be the appointment of Joseph Nasi to Sanjak-bey governor , a rank usually only bestowed upon Muslims of the island of Naxos.

Safed became a spiritual centre for the Jews and the Shulchan Aruch was compiled there as well as many Kabbalistic texts. The first Hebrew printing press, and the first printing in Western Asia began in Jews lived in the geographic area of Asia Minor modern Turkey, but more geographically either Anatolia or Asia Minor for more than 2, years. Initial prosperity in Hellenistic times had faded under Christian Byzantine rule, but recovered somewhat under the rule of the various Muslim governments that displaced and succeeded rule from Constantinople.

For much of the Ottoman period, Turkey was a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, and it continues to have a small Jewish population today. The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economical prosperity at times but were widely persecuted at other times was summarised by G. It would not be difficult to put together the names of a very sizeable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence, to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same could be done for Christians.

But it would again not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions, or pogroms. The relatively tolerant Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe that dated back to 13th century and enjoyed relative prosperity and freedom for nearly four hundred years; however the calm situation there ended when Polish and Lithuanian Jews were slaughtered in the hundreds of thousands by the cossacks during Chmielnicki uprising and by the Swedish wars Driven by these and other persecutions, Jews moved back to Western Europe in the 17th century.

The last ban on Jews by the English was revoked in , but periodic expulsions from individual cities still occurred, and Jews were often restricted from land ownership, or forced to live in ghettos. With the Partition of Poland in the late 18th century, the Jewish population was split between the Russian Empire , Austro-Hungary , and Prussia , which divided Poland for themselves. The Haskalah movement paralleled the wider Enlightenment, as Jews in the 18th century began to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society.

Secular and scientific education was added to the traditional religious instruction received by students, and interest in a national Jewish identity, including a revival in the study of Jewish history and Hebrew, started to grow. At around the same time another movement was born, one preaching almost the opposite of Haskalah, Hasidic Judaism. Hasidic Judaism began in the 18th century by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov , and quickly gained a following with its more exuberant, mystical approach to religion.

These two movements, and the traditional orthodox approach to Judaism from which they spring, formed the basis for the modern divisions within Jewish observance. At the same time, the outside world was changing, and debates began over the potential emancipation of the Jews granting them equal rights. The first country to do so was France, during the French Revolution in Even so, Jews were expected to integrate, not continue their traditions. This ambivalence is demonstrated in the famous speech of Clermont-Tonnerre before the National Assembly in We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals.

We must withdraw recognition from their judges; they should only have our judges. We must refuse legal protection to the maintenance of the so-called laws of their Judaic organization; they should not be allowed to form in the state either a political body or an order. They must be citizens individually. But, some will say to me, they do not want to be citizens. If they do not want to be citizens, they should say so, and then, we should banish them. It is repugnant to have in the state an association of non-citizens, and a nation within the nation Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith.

Hasidism comprises part of contemporary Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, alongside the previous Talmudic Lithuanian-Yeshiva approach and the Oriental Sephardi tradition. Opposite to this, Hasidic teachings cherished the sincerity and concealed holiness of the unlettered common folk, and their equality with the scholarly elite. The emphasis on the Immanent Divine presence in everything gave new value to prayer and deeds of kindness, alongside Rabbinic supremacy of study , and replaced historical mystical kabbalistic and ethical musar asceticism and admonishment with optimism, encouragement, and daily fervour.

This populist emotional revival accompanied the elite ideal of nullification to paradoxical Divine Panentheism , through intellectual articulation of inner dimensions of mystical thought. The adjustment of Jewish values sought to add to required standards of ritual observance , while relaxing others where inspiration predominated. Its communal gatherings celebrate soulful song and storytelling as forms of mystical devotion. Though persecution still existed, emancipation spread throughout Europe in the 19th century.

Napoleon invited Jews to leave the Jewish ghettos in Europe and seek refuge in the newly created tolerant political regimes that offered equality under Napoleonic Law see Napoleon and the Jews. Despite increasing integration of the Jews with secular society, a new form of anti-Semitism emerged, based on the ideas of race and nationhood rather than the religious hatred of the Middle Ages. This form of anti-Semitism held that Jews were a separate and inferior race from the Aryan people of Western Europe, and led to the emergence of political parties in France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary that campaigned on a platform of rolling back emancipation.

This form of anti-Semitism emerged frequently in European culture, most famously in the Dreyfus Trial in France. These persecutions, along with state-sponsored pogroms in Russia in the late 19th century, led a number of Jews to believe that they would only be safe in their own nation. See Theodor Herzl and History of Zionism. During this period, Jewish migration to the United States see American Jews created a large new community mostly freed of the restrictions of Europe.

A similar case occurred in the southern tip of the continent, specifically in the countries of Argentina and Uruguay. During the s and s the Jewish population in Europe began to more actively discuss immigration back to Israel and the re-establishment of the Jewish Nation in its national homeland, fulfilling the biblical prophecies relating to Shivat Tzion.

In the first Zionist settlement— Rishon LeZion —was founded by immigrants who belonged to the " Hovevei Zion " movement. Later on, the " Bilu " movement established many other settlements in the land of Israel. The Zionist movement was founded officially after the Kattowitz convention and the World Zionist Congress , and it was Theodor Herzl who began the struggle to establish a state for the Jews. After the First World War , it seemed that the conditions to establish such a state had arrived: The Arab co-inhabitants of Palestine were hostile to increasing Jewish immigration however, and began to oppose Jewish settlement and the pro-Jewish policy of the British government by violent means.

Arab gangs began performing violent acts and murders on convoys and on the Jewish population. After the Arab riots and Jaffa riots , the Jewish leadership in Palestine believed that the British had no desire to confront local Arab gangs over their attacks on Palestinian Jews. Believing that they could not rely on the British administration for protection from these gangs, the Jewish leadership created the Haganah organization to protect their farms and Kibbutzim.

Major riots occurred during the Palestine riots and the — Arab revolt in Palestine. Due to the increasing violence the United Kingdom gradually started to backtrack from the original idea of a Jewish state and to speculate on a binational solution or an Arab state that would have a Jewish minority. Meanwhile, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of the science, culture and the economy.