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Haskalah (Hebrew: השכלה; "enlightenment," "intellect," from sekhel, "common sense"), the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the late 18th century that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew, and Jewish history. Haskalah in this sense marked the beginning of the wider engagement of European Jews with the secular world, resulting, ultimately, in the first Jewish political movements and the struggle for Jewish emancipation.
In a more restricted sense, haskalah can also denote the study of Biblical Hebrew and of the poetical, scientific, and critical parts of Hebrew literature. The term is sometimes used to describe modern critical study of Jewish religious books, such as the Mishnah and Talmud, when used to differentiate these modern modes of study from the methods used by Orthodox Jews.
The movement
As long as the Jews lived in segregated communities, and as long as all avenues of social intercourse with their gentile neighbors were closed to them, the rabbi was 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 ghetto," not just physically but also mentally and spiritually in order to assimilate amongst gentile nations.
The example of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), a Prussian Jew, served to lead this movement, which was also shaped by Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn (1754–1835) and Joseph Perl (1773–1839). Mendelssohn's extraordinary success as a popular philosopher and man of letters revealed 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 the Torah. This work became a bridge over which ambitious young Jews could pass to the great world of secular knowledge. The Biur, or grammatical commentary, prepared under Mendelssohn's supervision, was designed to counteract the influence of traditional rabbinical methods of exegesis. Together with the translation, it became, as it were, the primer of haskalah. Haskalah did not stay restricted to Germany, however, and the movement quickly spread throughout Europe (Map of the spread of Haskalah). Adherents of the haskalah movement were called maskilim.
Language played a key role in the haskalah movement, as Mendelssohn and others called for a revival in Hebrew and a reduction in the use of Yiddish. The result was an outpouring of new, secular literature, as well as critical studies of religious texts. Julius Fürst along 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.
Effects
Even as it eased integration, haskalah also resulted in a revival of Jewish secular identity, with an emphasis on Jewish history and Jewish identity. The result was engagement of the Jews in a variety of ways with the countries in which they lived, including the struggle for Jewish emancipation and the birth of new Jewish political movements, and ultimately the development of Zionism in the face of the persecutions of the late 1800s.
Haskalah resulted in an increased rate of assimilation, as Jews known as maskilim became estranged from their traditional religious beliefs. Haskalah produced such groups as the Reform movement, which deviated from traditional Judaism with denial of Divine source of Torah and relaxation of Jewish law. The Orthodox community, meanwhile, responded with the further spread of Chasidic movement in all regions of Eastern Europe, the appearance of Mussar Movement in Lithuania and Torah im Derech Eretz in Germany. Various debates occurred between 'maskilim' and leaders of traditional Jewry. While maskilim aimed to increase secular education amongst Jewish masses often enforcing it (with the government), rabbis and Jewish Torah scholars were opposed to such push, as its main aim was assimilation and undermining of Jewish traditional life.
See also
References
- Jewish Virtual Library on Haskalah
- Jeremy Dauber 2004 Antonio's Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804749019 Review of this book
Jewish history | Ashkenazi Jews topics | The Enlightenment | Reform Judaism
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"Haskalah"