Leaving the Ghetto

We know a great deal by now about how the history of European Jewry in the modern era came to its tragic end.

Accounting for Anti-Semitism

The term anti-Semitism made its first appearance in Germany in the fall of 1879.

Is Messianism Good for the Jews?

Ever since biblical antiquity, messianism has been an integral component in the making of Jewish history. But what function, exactly, has messianism fulfilled in Jewish history? And specifically, what positive contribution has it made to the maintenance and survival of the Jewish community?

Orthodox Jews-From Passivity to Activism

It took the perspicacity of Israel Salanter, founder of the Musar movement, to sense that the era of self-evident and unreflecting adherence to the traditional way of life was over, and that only a conscious act of self-education would enable modern Jews to internalize traditional values. This novel idea met with the predictable opposition of most traditionalist leaders. At the heart of Salanter's system was a recognition of the potential loss of Jewish youth to secular society. This is what links him to Samson Raphael Hirsch. Both men sought to bind the individual Jew to his faith by building up his sense of commitment.

German Culture and the Jews

"Jews have not assimilated into 'the German people,' but into a certain layer of it, the newly emerged middle class." I have since come to believe, after further inquiry into the historical process known as assimilation, that notwithstanding the experience of certain individuals, the entry of Jewry as a collective into the body of German society, a process which began in the later 18th and early 19th century, did not mean real integration into any stratum or section of it. Rather, it meant the creation of a separate subgroup, which happened to conform to the German middle class in certain of its characteristics.

Morality and Deterrence

Misreadings of Anti-Semitism

Modern historians have tended simply to rule out the Jews altogether as a possible cause of anti-Jewish animosity. Rather, these scholars have felt compelled to explain the ongoing hatred and persecution of Jews exclusively in terms of developments within the anti-Semitic camp or in the larger non-Jewish environment. Generally speaking such explanations have tended to fall into three categories: the socio-political; the psychological; and the ideological.

Israel and the Messiah

The prayer for the well-being of the state of Israel which is recited on Sabbaths and festivals in most synagogues in Israel and the Diaspora calls the state "reshit geulatenu," the commencement of our redemption. The question that a historian may address is not whether the state of Israel is worthy of association with the traditional messianic concept but whether a connection can in fact be drawn between the messianic hope entertained by Jews through the ages and the modern national movement that led to the founding of Israel.

Zionism vs. Anti-Semitism

Ever since its emergence as a national movement, Zionism has had its ideological and political opponents. Recent events have turned the notions of anti-Zionist and anti-Semite into veritable synonyms.

Zionism and Jewish Identity

Jewish identity is problematic in the modern world as it was not in premodern times.

Was the Holocaust Predictable?

Almost anyone who lived through the period of the Holocaust, observing it from either near or far, will readily testify that information concerning the Nazi murder of the Jews, when it first came out seemed absolutely unbelievable. In retrospect, however, as we look back on the exact sequence of events that led to the tragedy, we tend to conceive of it as the culmination of a predetermined and unavoidable march of destiny.

Moses Mendelssohn, by Alexander Altmann

The name of Moses Mendelssohn-philosopher, man of letters, "Father of Jewish Emancipation"-is undoubtedly familiar to anyone who has even a cursory acquaintance with the highlights of Jewish history.

Emancipation and Jewish Studies

Modern Jewish experience, to be fully understood, must be viewed under the aspect of emancipation, that process, starting in the late 18th century, whereby the Jews of Western and Central Europe achieved civic and social rights, thus paving the way for their entry into the larger society.

The French Enlightenment and the Jews, by Arthur Hertzberg

THE HISTORY OF European Jewry during the last two or three hundred years has assumed, in our generation, an interest that goes beyond the usual historical curiosity. Paradoxically...