for the benefit of the French state; dispensing with the relics of
corporativism to complete the process of state unification and
centralised control. But we are concerned with the thought processes of
the enlightment thinkers, the ideological reasoning which provided the
justifications for emancipation. This reasoning sprang from a synthesis
of the leading liberal thinkers of France, Britain, and Germany and the
'exception Jews' who moved freely in the salons of Western Europe.
The legislation which guaranteed the equality of Jews with their
fellow men in revolutionary France was the culmination of a process of
debate which had been gestating for many decades. Prompted by their
association with enlightened Jews and the needs of a new economic and
political order western liberals began to redefine the status of the
Jew. This was reflected by the political philosopher John Toland in his
pamphlet, 'Reasons for Naturalising the Jews in Great Britain and
Ireland' (1714), he maintained that the manifest faults of the Jew were
not innate but circumstantial. Granted equal opportunities and dignity
they would prove to be resourceful and loyal subjects. This theme was
continued by the German scholar Christian Dohm. In his treatise
'Concerning the Amelioration of the Civil Status of the Jews (1781),
Dohm argues that the Jew is not inherently evil, but that the many
faults apparent in his nature are a by-product of his treatment by the
Gentile. Thus leading to the conclusion that the removal of these
negative conditions would render the Jews less 'harmful' and prepare
them for a gradual increase of rights and improved conditions 'if and
when they may deserve them'. This treatise was closely followed by the
Edict of Tolerance (1782) issued by the emperor of Austria, Joseph II.
This provided for the civic betterment of the Jews in exchange for a
change in their cultural values and institutions. However, what is
implicit in these assertions is the use that the Jew can be to the
state. There is no recognition of civic parity, or, most importantly,
his humanity. This was left to the French Humanists such as Mirabeau
and the Abbe Gregoire, who emphasised the injustice of the Jews sub-
servient and humiliating position and argued for a radical reappraisal
purely within the context of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
The suggestion that Jewish avarice, and a whole host of other
unsavoury character traits, was the logical consequence of Christian
persecution was a view that was becoming widely accepted among the
intellectual French elite. It was a view that was championed by the
Count de Mirabeau. In 1787 this distinguished rationalist published a
tract entitled 'On Moses Mendelssohn and the Political Reform of the
Jews'. While recognising that Mendelssohn was an exception Jew,
Mirabeau ventured to predict that Mendelssohm was merely a particularly
brilliant example of the untapped reservoir of Jewsih talent in the
ghetto world. "Do you want to make the Jews better men, useful
citizens?" he wrote. "Banish from society all debasing distinctions
against them: open to them all avenues of subsistence and livelihood."
(Sachar:p.55) Mirabeau's sentiments were echoed by the liberal cleric,
Abbe Gregoire, "If the Jews have faults," the abbe suggested, "it is
Christian society which is responsible...In their place would we not be
worse?" (ibid) It was this vein of enlightened thought which eventually
brought emancipation to the Jews of France. As Berr Isaac Berr, a
Merchant Banker from Nancy, noted on the day that the National assembly
voted equal rights for Jews: "From being vile slaves, mere serfs, a
species of men merely tolerated and suffered in the empire, liable to
heavy and arbitrary taxes, we are, of a sudden, become the children of
the country, to bear its common charges, and share in its common
rights." (Flohr:p.108) However, what is most interesting in this brief
review of western liberal thought is the ommission of any overt attacks
on Judaism. Rather the finger of blame is directed towards the
Christian attitudes for producing the cultural backwardness of the
Jews. Therefore Judaism was not disparaged, but the conditions which
produced it where. Were then, in regards to Judaism, did the Jewish
intellectuals stand? Was it Christian attitudes which prevented the Jew
from becoming assimilated with his Gentile brethren, or was it the
obscurantism of Judaism which kept the Jew chained to his pariah
status?
Clearly emancipation could not effectively have been extended as
an act of grace from above unless the Jewish community was prepared
intellectually and emotionally for entrance into the West. In contrast
to life outside the ghetto the stifling conditions of Jewish thought
and orthodoxy were becoming increasingly apparent to those already
exposed to the philosophy of the enlightenment. Many Jewish thinkers
sought to highlight these iniquities, explain why they had come about,
and argue for a reappraisal of the direction and content of Jewish
culture. Two of the most eloquent and influential of this school of
thought were Naphtali Herz Wessely (1725-1805) and David Friedlander
(1750-1834).
In his controversial work 'Words of Peace and Truth' (1792),
Wessely sought to marshal Jewry's support of the Edict of Tolerance
issued by the Austrian Emperor. Joseph II instructed the Jews to
establish schools in which to teach their children to read and write
the German language in addition to a curriculum concentrating on
secular subjects. While continuing the theme of the historical role of
the Gentiles in forcing the Jews to isolate themselves from the outside
world, Wessely now called for a re-evaluation of the cultural milieu
which this course of action had produced. Wessely differentiated
between the teachings and knowledge of the Torah; and 'human knowledge'
"This 'human knowledge' benefits the commonweal, as it teaches how to
avail oneself of all things under the sun. It is responsible for man's
success in all his worldly endeavours and provides a means for every
man to be an aid to his fellow through his affairs and actions."
(Flohr:p.63) For Wessely 'human knowledge', consisting of eductaion in
the arts and sciences, were a prerequisite for a fuller understanding
of the knowledge of God; the two were not mutually exclusive; "Where
human knowledge ends, the divine teaching begins, instructing us on
what is beyond man's power of reason." (ibid) The historical alienation
of the Jews had led them to eschew human knowledge and concentrate on
the few things which were allowed them: trade, commerce, and the
teachings of the Torah and Talmud. Becoming in the process ignorant in
the ways and means of the outside world, even losing proficiency in
their own historical language, Hebrew, to embrace an international
patois, Yiddish, which only added to their isolation. Wessely went on
to add, "There is one people in the world who are not sufficiently
concerned with 'human knowledge' and who have neglected the public
instruction of their youth in the laws of etiquette, the sciences and
the arts. We, the children of Israel, who are dispersed throughout all
of Europe, have turned our backs on these studies.... Seeing that we
are treated with a heavy hand and that in the eyes of the oppressors we
are beneath tha rank of man, we have lost the inclination to pursue the
study of 'human knowledge'.... The few superior individuals among our
ancestors ceased to teach the people this 'human knowledge' for they
knew that even the sweetest wisdom is bitter to the embittered soul."
(ibid:p.64-65) Thus Wessely believed that the stultifying ritualism and
obscurantism, which characterised the ghetto and much of Jewish
learning, was an historical anachronism which had long since served its
purpose. If the Jews were to become worthy, respected, and valued
citizens they must avail themselves of the new learning, as knowledge
of these subjects could only strengthen the House of Israel and mend
the breaches made by preceding rulers.
David Freidlander was much more vehement in his attacks on
orhtodox rabbinical authority; whose practises and attitudes, he
believed, would eventually result in a widepsread conversion to
Christianity and the dissolution of the Jewish religion. In a private
letter written to a business associate (1792) Freidlander puts his
case for religious reform in the strongest terms..."I do not have to
tell you about the conception of God which the rabbi's define as
religion. Three thousand years after the granting of the Torah, these
rabbi's are still busy pondering the question whether on consumption
of less than a morsel, one must recite the grace after meals or not. He
who does recite the grace belongs to the Jewish religion, and he who
does not make such a blessing. does not belong." (ibid:p.79)
Freidlander was scathing in his condemnation of the rabbi's who
rejected reason and revelled in revelation and superstition. The
rabbi's were confined within the four walls of the Halakhah and knew
nothing of the outside world, furthemore their example and teachings
were preventing the cultural and educational development of the Jew.
Freidlander contrasted the difference between the Gentile and the Jew.
The Gentiles frequently probed their religions in order to eliminate
the chaff, to purify their morals and to improve their faith. "The
Jews, on the other hand, who have started out on the highest level,
constantly deteriorate. The ignorance of our people accumulates in a
most frightful manner, and in twenty years you will hardly find a man
who is able to read the Torah." (ibid) Freidlander believed that the
Jewish people must not only throw off the the oppressive yoke of the
Gentiles, in their quest for emancipation, but remove the antiquated,
superstitious, and irrational beliefs of traditional Judaism as
propounded by the rabbi's and communal leaders. "Only if we are free,
neither afraid of the ruling party nor intimidated in our
enlightenment, by the threat of excommunication and the refusal of
burial rites, will it be possible to raise Israel's prestige, our Torah
and the teachings of Moses from the dust." (ibid)
These thoughts and arguments were part of a much wider debate
which was raging between orhtodox rabbinical authority and the
advocates of reform and enlightenment. The reformers emphasised the
need for secular education and the greater assimilation of the Jews
into the outside world; only if these values and mores were adopted
could the Jews survive in a rapidly changing environment. The
traditionalists, however, viewed this as heresy and a recipe for the
collapse of Judaism, which, if it was to survive, must remain true to
the traditions of the centuries. In essence the reformers wanted to
develop a new basis for Judaism, while the traditionalists wished to
cling to the old. However, any discussion of the enlightment, and its
role in turning Jews from pariah's into citizens, would not be complete
without mentioning the role of Moses Mendelssohn in its development and
prosecution.
Mendelssohn, by virtue of his intellect and standing, in both
the Jewish and Gentile communities, greatly influenced the process of
emancipation through his translation of the Torah into German and his
belief in the benefits of secular education. Between 1778 and 1783
Mendelssohn set about the massive task of translating the Torah into
classical German and was thus the awakener of secular interests among
his own people. This seemingly considerate and uneventful task was
fraught with tremendous consequences. In all the ghettos of Germany
until this time Yiddish had been the vernacular. A barrier of language
separated the Jewish masses from the Gentile world; keeping them
isolated, introspective and prone to regard all things Gentile as
hostile and threatening. The translation taught the Jew to speak German
and prepared him for his impending liberation. Mendelssohn, and others
of his ilk, began the emancipation, or Haskalah, by giving the Jew a
tongue to speak with and eyes to read with. However, what is more
important than the fact that Mendelssohn facillitated emancipation
through linguistics, is the criticism, from the leading Jewish scholar
of the time, which was implicit in his reasoning. A letter he wrote to
a friend concerning his reasons for the translation of the Torah is
extremely enlightening in this respect: "This is the first step to
civilisation, from which my nation, alas, has held itself so aloof that
one might almost despair of the possibility of improvement."
(Steinberg:p.190) Therefore Mendelssohm recognised the inadequacy of
Jewish culture and wished to change it for the better, the better being
assimilation with Western culture. In this sense Mendelssohn was
admitting a form of cultural inferiority, this was quickly seized upon
by other members of the Jewish elite who saw this as a justification
for rejecting their heritage, a position which eventually heralded the
the traumatic process of adjustment during the 19th Century.
CONCLUSIONS
The age of the enlightenment and emancipation lifted the siege of the
Jewish communities. With the lifting of this state of siege the
accumulated customs of centuries became exposed to the rational
analysis of the science of 'reason'. The Haskalah movement aimed to
prepare Judaism for a new challenge; the challenge of becoming citizens
instead of pariahs. They viewed with concern the concentration of Jews
in trade and commerce, to the typical life of the Jewish student which
was devoid of any concern for a future livelihood. To the ceremonial
life of the ghetto which had become laden with all sorts of bizarre
customs, rites and superstitions which had lost all meaning and
significance. To these cosmopolitan Jews the embarrassing charges of
obscurantism and superstition from their Gentile contemporaries rang
unerringly true in their ears. In order to revitalise an ailing culture
it was necessary to hack away at the ancient tentacles of Judaism which
were threatening the very survival of the entity it was meant to
preserve. The Haskalah movement was acknowledging a primary law of
nature: an organism which fails to respond and adapt to a changing
environment will perish. Moses Mendelssohn, and the concerned reformers
who preceded and followed him, charted a course for the reinvigoration
of the Jewish people in the turbulent years of the 19th Century,
preparing them for the role of citizen instead of the accustomed role of pariah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JACOB KATZ OUT OF THE GHETTO 1973
JACOB KATZ TOWARDS MODERNITY 1987
PAUL MENDES-FLOHR THE JEW IN THE MODERN WORLD 1980
HOWARD SACHAR THE COURSE OF MODERN JEWISH HISTORY 1958
MILTON STEINBERG THE MAKING OF THE MODERN JEW 1967
