In France in 1180 Phillip Augustus imprisoned all the Jews in his lands and released them only after a heavy ransom was paid. Then the next year he nullified all their loans made to Christians, taking a comfortable twenty- percent for himself. Then in 1182 he confiscated all their lands and buildings and then drove them out of France. Then about seven years later he readmitted the Jews into France and carefully regulated their banking business so as to reserve profits for himself through a variety of taxes and duties. This was not only done in France but all over the world where the Jews lived; i.e. The Ottoman Empire had the Mullet System.
In the medieval scheme the Jew was limited socially, legally and segregated economically. A line was drawn about him and every attempt to cross it was instantly detected and punished. In this way the Gentile helped the Jew to remain Jewish. By 1800 the Jews in every land in Western Europe had attained at least partial emancipation. Therefore ending almost eight hundred years of systematic isolation and persecution. Only in Eastern Europe did the strongholds of Orthodox Judaism remain intact, as did the repressive legislation denying Jews equal status with Gentiles. From the 17th Century onwards the changing economic forces surging through the societies of Europe and went hand in hand with the philosophy and science of such intellectuals as Descartes, Locke and Newton to help create the age of reason. The rich merchants and court Jews brought into the ghetto tales of a new science that had shattered ancient theologies; men were talking of a universal religion of reason, of natural rights which all men shared merely by virtue of the fact that they were men. In such an intellectual atmosphere, religious tolerance was rapidly becoming an accepted ideal, even for Jews. It was in these conditions that the emancipation of the Jews was swiftly, if unevenly, completed.
As the years of Revolution swept through France then Europe it was the high point of the Enlightenment. It was in these years that the old feudal systems were swept away in a tidal wave of revolutionary fervor. All men stood before the laws as equals. Liberty and equality, these were the rights and aspirations for all men. In 1791 the French National Assembly finally admitted all Jews to the rights of full French Citizenship. There were sound economic and political reasons for the emancipation, such as releasing the full potential of Jewish capital and enterprise once and for all for the benefit of the French State. But we are more concerned with the thought processes of the enlightenment 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 nonconformity Jews who moved freely in Western Europe. The legislation that 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. Granting equal opportunities and dignity they would prove to be resourceful and loyal subjects. 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. The suggestion that Jewish greediness, and a whole host of other unsavory character traits, was the logical consequence of Christian persecution was a view that was becoming widely accepted among the intellectual French elite. 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 counter part, or was it the shadow appearance 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. “Only the Jews continued to practice endogamy (marriage within the extended family) since Church prohibitions did not apply to them and because their existence in closed and scattered communities limited their choice of spouses.” (Barnavi 106)
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 heir own historical language, Hebrew, to embrace an international language, Yiddish, which only added to their isolation. 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. Thus Jews believed that the humiliating ritualism and obscurity, which characterized the ghetto and much of Jewish learning, was an historical mistiming which had long since served its purpose. If the Jews were to become worthy, respected, and valued citizens they must assistance 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. These thoughts and arguments were part of a much wider debate, which was raging between orthodox rabbinical authority and the advocates of reform and enlightenment. The reformers emphasized the need for secular education and the greater assimilation of the Jews into the outside world; only if these values and morals 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. “In sixteen-Century Spain, “Liberal” circles advocated an open policy towards the conversos, believing that the superficial vestiges of their Jewish identity would eventually disappear.”(Barnavi 120) However, any discussion of the enlightenment, and its role in turning Jews from pariah's into citizens, would not be complete without mentioning the role of Moses Mendelson in its development and prosecution.
Mendelson, 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 Mendelson set about the massive task of translating the Torah into classical German and was thus the aroused person 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, thoughtful and prone to regard to all things Gentile as hostile and threatening. The translation taught the Jew to speak German and prepared him for his impending liberation. Mendelson, and others of his type and kind 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 Mendelson facilitated emancipation through linguistics, is the criticism, from the leading Jewish scholar of the time, which was implicit in his reasoning. “Mendelson had to fight on two fronts: with traditionalist rabbis who feared losing the purity of Judaism and the nations cohesion, and with Germans who opposed Jewish emancipation.” (Barnavi 172)
Mendelson recognized the weakness of Jewish culture and wished to change it for the better, the better being assimilation with Western culture. In this sense Mendelson 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 traumatic process of adjustment during the 19th Century.
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 that had lost all meaning and significance. To these cosmopolitans Jews the embarrassing charges of obscurantism and superstition from their Gentile contemporaries rang perfectly true in their ears. In order to revitalize an ailing culture it was necessary to hack away at the ancient roots 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 that will perish. Moses Mendelson, 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.