Lesson 13 Lecture Notes East European Jewry

Lesson 13 Lecture Notes

East European Jewry Part I

Western Europe/Eastern Europe p [insert map of Europe]

Historical Background: Poland (13 th – 17 th centuries) p Jewish Community n n p Economics n n p Lived separately Lived according to Jewish law Jews prospered Jews involved in wheat trade Culture/Governance n n Center of Jewish Learning Council of the Four Lands

Historical Background: Cossacks p Cossacks n n n p “free person” Privileges in return for military svc Revolt when privileges are threatened 1648 -1650 Chmielnicki Insurrection n n Led by Bogdan Chmielnicki Goal: create independent state Uprising against landlords and Jewish estate managers Known as the Deluge Bogdan Chmielnicki

Historical Background: Partition p Weaker Kings mean weaker country n n p No longer saw Jewish advantage Decline of Jewish community Partition of Poland n n n Neighbors (especially Russia) took bites 1772, 1793, and 1795 Russia absorbs most of Poland & her Jews

Historical Background: Pale of Settlement, 1835 -1917 p Pale estb. 1794 by Catherine the Great n n p Other Tsars expand n p 90% Jews already there Other Jews sent there 1 mil. Sq. miles in W Part of larger plan 1. 2. 3. Undermine Jewish life Restructure community Direct into useful, “non-Jewish” occupations

Laws Relating to the Jews p Alexander I Statutes Concerning the Organization of Jews n n n p Statutes Regarding the Military Service of Jews n n Nicholas I Alexander I (1777 -1825) Limits Jewish movement Send children to public schools Use only Russian, Polish or German Dress in Russian or Polish fashion n n Nicholas I (1796 -1855) Jews serve military for 25 years Under 18 preliminary service first Alienate Jewish children

Religious Life: Hassidic Judaism p Jews searching for something spiritual n n p Israel ben Eliezer of Miedzyboz n n n p Jewish Study until 18 th century – Pilpul p Available primarily to wealthy Jews Recovering from Deluge Ba’al Shem Tov Besht Taught through folk tales Hassidism n n n Religious fundamentalism Worship through joyous prayer Find goodness and Godliness in all things

Religious Life: Mitnagdim p Many Jews opposed Hassidim n p Mitnagdim (those opposed) Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720 -1797) n n n Vilna Gaon (Genius of Vilna) Leader of Mitnagdim Pronounced herems (excommunications)

Cultural Life: Haskalah I p Definition: The Jewish Enlightenment was known as the Haskalah (from the Hebrew for “Reason”). It was a Jewish secular movement which encompassed education, Jewish literature and culture. Its proponents were known as maskilim.

Cultural Life: Haskalah II p Education n n Maskalim set up secular schools to help improve future generations of Jews Curriculum National language (not Yiddish) p Secular subjects (not Talmud) p New job skills (farming, crafts) – elevate Jews p n n Dress – like Russians and Poles Tsar Nicholas I and Maskalim on same page for awhile

Cultural Life: Haskalah III p Secular Jewish literature increased n n Poetry – in Hebrew and Russian Judah Lieb Gordon p Awake My People! (1866) § Optimistic § Forward-looking § Take advantage of opportunities p For Whom Do I Toil? (1871) § Despair § Didn’t see results he was looking for

Cultural Life: Haskalah IV p Language n Debate Russian – Arguments For p Yiddish – Arguments For and Against p Hebrew – Arguments For p n Debate never really resolved Haskalah leads to growth of literature in all 3 languages p Modern Hebrew grows out of Haskalah literature p

Next Class p Preview n n n Increased Anti-Semitsm Emigration Socialism