Jewish Emancipation
Jacob Molho
12/9/16
Jewish Emancipation: The Migration of People, Ideas, and Mindsets
Unique for its time, in September of 1480, Spain created special religious tribunals to address cases of “heretical depravity”. These tribunals, collectively referred to as the Spanish Inquisition, sought to eliminate deviation from Catholicism. Jews bore the brunt of these tribunals. They were rarely acquitted of charges levied through the Spanish Inquisition, and relative to other “heretics,” Jews were executed more frequently. In 1492, all Jews were expelled from Spain. In 1750, Frederick the Great issued the Revidierte General-Privilegium und Reglement vor die Judenschaft im Königreiche Preussen, which strictly limited the number of "protected" Jews permitted …show more content…
to live in Berlin. In 1744, Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, arguably the most anti-semitic monarch of her time, ordered Jews out of Prague. Later, Maria Theresa’s government imposed extremely high, debilitating taxes on the Jews.
These events reflect an attitude widely held by Europeans for nearly two millennia: Jews were responsible for all the evils of society. In the late eighteenth century, however, the “Jewish Emancipation”, a movement that provided Jews with limited civic freedoms, swept across Europe. It was Jewish mass migration, the dissemination of the radical, liberalizing ideas of the French Revolution, and extensive reform of the Jewish religion that enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”.
The mass migration of Jews from Eastern Europe to the Kingdom of Prussia, Habsburg Austria, and France enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”. In the late eighteenth century, three partitions of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania were imposed by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Austria. By 1793, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, the only large European state to have provided a Jewish safe-haven in the previous centuries, ceased to exist. The Partitions of Poland destroyed the old “balance of powers” world order and prompted a new era of Jewish migration.
Jews from the former Polish districts of Posen and Danzig found themselves as Prussian citizens. As Prussian citizens, they moved to the German cities of Breslau and Berlin. Jews from the former Polish district of Galicia found themselves as Austrian citizens and moved to the Habsburg provinces of Bohemia, Hungary, Moravia, and Bukovina. Following the Austrian acquisition of Galicia, Joseph II, recognizing that Jews were some of the most economically productive members of Austrian society, enacted the Edict of Toleration which permitted Jews to choose their own trade or branch of business. The Edict of Toleration served as the first practical Austrian attempt toward the emancipation of the Jews.
Jews from Eastern Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania found themselves to be citizens of Russia. In the Russian Empire, law provided for the Jewish Pale of Settlement. However, those laws, which strictly confined Jewish settlement to areas in Western Russia, were often observed in the breach. Hundreds of thousands of Jews left Russia entirely, opting to settle in Western Europe and the United States. Many Eastern European Ashkenazic Jews, together with the Sephardic Jews from North Africa, immigrated to France. By the eighteenth century, more Jews lived in France than in any other country in Europe.
Initially, Jews in France, Habsburg Austria, and the Kingdom of Prussia self-governed. They developed communities and identities separate from those of the state. In each of these states, Jews lived their lives in a self-governing framework separate and apart from the state. The French Revolution changed this paradigm.
The French Revolution enabled the “Jewish Emancipation” because it integrated the Jews who had migrated from Eastern Europe into the civic life of Western European states.
In August of 1789, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (henceforth to be referred to as “Declaration”), the manifesto of the French Revolution, was passed by the Constituent Assembly. The “Declaration” was inspired by the Enlightenment ideals of equality, individual rights, free trade, and a contractual understanding of the relationship between the ruler and the governed. Although it did not explicitly advance the idea of equality among religious faiths, the “Declaration” assisted Jews into entering a broader …show more content…
society.
Article Ten of the “Declaration” read that “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.” The “Declaration” was partially a reaction to the ancien regime’s corporatism where French society was organized into many different interest groups. French revolutionaries rejected corporatism in the “Declaration” and instead called for equality of all citizens. Among those revolutionaries calling for the legal equality of Jews were many prominent figureheads including Maximilien Robespierre, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau, Abbé Grégoire, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. On January 28, 1790, Jews of Spanish and Portuguese heritage (“Sephardim”), were granted the full privileges of French citizenship. Later, on September 27, 1791, all other Jews were granted the right to citizenship in France. The egalitarian language used in the “Declaration” was appropriated by Jews all over Europe as they awakened to the idea of enjoying fuller civil rights and participation.
The French Revolution disseminated liberal Enlightenment ideas to other European countries.
In Prussia and in many other German states, extensive media coverage of the French Revolution affected the attitude of the general public. The French Revolution reinforced the idea of universal human rights to individuals living in German states. As a direct result of the circulation of Enlightenment ideas in Prussia and other German States, Jewish emancipation progressed. Between 1787 and 1810, German states including Bavaria, Salzburg, Bonn, and the Cisrhenane Republic abolished oppressive poll taxes levied against the Jews. By 1813, the poll tax was abolished in every German state. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia abolished Jewish poll taxes in 1787. On March 11, 1812, Prussian Jews were awarded citizenship, subject to civic duties and military
service. Napoleon Bonaparte, champion of the French Revolution, exported Enlightenment ideas across the European continent through his armies. Napoleon’s armies conquered territories like Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and southern Germany and subjected these territories to French law. A byproduct of Napoleon’s marauding across Europe was the establishment of French law and Jewish equality.
Jews were not passive recipients of their emancipation. Although many Western European states promised Jews emancipation and citizenship, such inclusion came at the cost of assimilation. Enticed by such promises, Jews acted as their own agents and discarded certain traditional, distinctive customs that impeded their integration into the community at large. Jews began modernizing their religion. Once Jews migrated outside of their conservative, insular communities in Eastern Europe, Jews were introduced to the ideas of the French Revolution and to the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment).
The Haskalah, in particular, encouraged the education and full-scale assimilation of Jews, whereby Jewish religious practices would be confined to the private circles of family and the synagogue. The Haskalah movement led many Jews to turn their back on the religious custom defined by the 613 mitzvot (Commandments of God). Other Jews took assimilation even further, intermarrying with Christians and abandoning Judaism altogether to become Atheists. Later, the Haskalah would necessitate the creation of reform Judaism, a denomination that reconciled Jewish beliefs with the demands of the state. To secure political rights beyond citizenship, Jews developed and maintained the Consistories, boards of rabbis and laypersons that would oversee Jewish life and religious institutions. Through the Consistories, Jews transacted business with the government.
Jewish mass migration, the dissemination of the radical, liberalizing ideas of the French Revolution, and extensive reform of the Jewish religion enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”. Through these factors, circumstances conducive to the “Jewish Emancipation” were provided. However, it was only through Jewish agency that the emancipation of the Jews was fully realized.
12/9/16
Jewish Emancipation: The Migration of People, Ideas, and Mindsets
Unique for its time, in September of 1480, Spain created special religious tribunals to address cases of “heretical depravity”. These tribunals, collectively referred to as the Spanish Inquisition, sought to eliminate deviation from Catholicism. Jews bore the brunt of these tribunals. They were rarely acquitted of charges levied through the Spanish Inquisition, and relative to other “heretics,” Jews were executed more frequently. In 1492, all Jews were expelled from Spain. In 1750, Frederick the Great issued the Revidierte General-Privilegium und Reglement vor die Judenschaft im Königreiche Preussen, which strictly limited the number of "protected" Jews permitted …show more content…
to live in Berlin. In 1744, Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, arguably the most anti-semitic monarch of her time, ordered Jews out of Prague. Later, Maria Theresa’s government imposed extremely high, debilitating taxes on the Jews.
These events reflect an attitude widely held by Europeans for nearly two millennia: Jews were responsible for all the evils of society. In the late eighteenth century, however, the “Jewish Emancipation”, a movement that provided Jews with limited civic freedoms, swept across Europe. It was Jewish mass migration, the dissemination of the radical, liberalizing ideas of the French Revolution, and extensive reform of the Jewish religion that enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”.
The mass migration of Jews from Eastern Europe to the Kingdom of Prussia, Habsburg Austria, and France enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”. In the late eighteenth century, three partitions of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania were imposed by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Austria. By 1793, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, the only large European state to have provided a Jewish safe-haven in the previous centuries, ceased to exist. The Partitions of Poland destroyed the old “balance of powers” world order and prompted a new era of Jewish migration.
Jews from the former Polish districts of Posen and Danzig found themselves as Prussian citizens. As Prussian citizens, they moved to the German cities of Breslau and Berlin. Jews from the former Polish district of Galicia found themselves as Austrian citizens and moved to the Habsburg provinces of Bohemia, Hungary, Moravia, and Bukovina. Following the Austrian acquisition of Galicia, Joseph II, recognizing that Jews were some of the most economically productive members of Austrian society, enacted the Edict of Toleration which permitted Jews to choose their own trade or branch of business. The Edict of Toleration served as the first practical Austrian attempt toward the emancipation of the Jews.
Jews from Eastern Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania found themselves to be citizens of Russia. In the Russian Empire, law provided for the Jewish Pale of Settlement. However, those laws, which strictly confined Jewish settlement to areas in Western Russia, were often observed in the breach. Hundreds of thousands of Jews left Russia entirely, opting to settle in Western Europe and the United States. Many Eastern European Ashkenazic Jews, together with the Sephardic Jews from North Africa, immigrated to France. By the eighteenth century, more Jews lived in France than in any other country in Europe.
Initially, Jews in France, Habsburg Austria, and the Kingdom of Prussia self-governed. They developed communities and identities separate from those of the state. In each of these states, Jews lived their lives in a self-governing framework separate and apart from the state. The French Revolution changed this paradigm.
The French Revolution enabled the “Jewish Emancipation” because it integrated the Jews who had migrated from Eastern Europe into the civic life of Western European states.
In August of 1789, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (henceforth to be referred to as “Declaration”), the manifesto of the French Revolution, was passed by the Constituent Assembly. The “Declaration” was inspired by the Enlightenment ideals of equality, individual rights, free trade, and a contractual understanding of the relationship between the ruler and the governed. Although it did not explicitly advance the idea of equality among religious faiths, the “Declaration” assisted Jews into entering a broader …show more content…
society.
Article Ten of the “Declaration” read that “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.” The “Declaration” was partially a reaction to the ancien regime’s corporatism where French society was organized into many different interest groups. French revolutionaries rejected corporatism in the “Declaration” and instead called for equality of all citizens. Among those revolutionaries calling for the legal equality of Jews were many prominent figureheads including Maximilien Robespierre, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau, Abbé Grégoire, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. On January 28, 1790, Jews of Spanish and Portuguese heritage (“Sephardim”), were granted the full privileges of French citizenship. Later, on September 27, 1791, all other Jews were granted the right to citizenship in France. The egalitarian language used in the “Declaration” was appropriated by Jews all over Europe as they awakened to the idea of enjoying fuller civil rights and participation.
The French Revolution disseminated liberal Enlightenment ideas to other European countries.
In Prussia and in many other German states, extensive media coverage of the French Revolution affected the attitude of the general public. The French Revolution reinforced the idea of universal human rights to individuals living in German states. As a direct result of the circulation of Enlightenment ideas in Prussia and other German States, Jewish emancipation progressed. Between 1787 and 1810, German states including Bavaria, Salzburg, Bonn, and the Cisrhenane Republic abolished oppressive poll taxes levied against the Jews. By 1813, the poll tax was abolished in every German state. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia abolished Jewish poll taxes in 1787. On March 11, 1812, Prussian Jews were awarded citizenship, subject to civic duties and military
service. Napoleon Bonaparte, champion of the French Revolution, exported Enlightenment ideas across the European continent through his armies. Napoleon’s armies conquered territories like Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and southern Germany and subjected these territories to French law. A byproduct of Napoleon’s marauding across Europe was the establishment of French law and Jewish equality.
Jews were not passive recipients of their emancipation. Although many Western European states promised Jews emancipation and citizenship, such inclusion came at the cost of assimilation. Enticed by such promises, Jews acted as their own agents and discarded certain traditional, distinctive customs that impeded their integration into the community at large. Jews began modernizing their religion. Once Jews migrated outside of their conservative, insular communities in Eastern Europe, Jews were introduced to the ideas of the French Revolution and to the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment).
The Haskalah, in particular, encouraged the education and full-scale assimilation of Jews, whereby Jewish religious practices would be confined to the private circles of family and the synagogue. The Haskalah movement led many Jews to turn their back on the religious custom defined by the 613 mitzvot (Commandments of God). Other Jews took assimilation even further, intermarrying with Christians and abandoning Judaism altogether to become Atheists. Later, the Haskalah would necessitate the creation of reform Judaism, a denomination that reconciled Jewish beliefs with the demands of the state. To secure political rights beyond citizenship, Jews developed and maintained the Consistories, boards of rabbis and laypersons that would oversee Jewish life and religious institutions. Through the Consistories, Jews transacted business with the government.
Jewish mass migration, the dissemination of the radical, liberalizing ideas of the French Revolution, and extensive reform of the Jewish religion enabled the “Jewish Emancipation”. Through these factors, circumstances conducive to the “Jewish Emancipation” were provided. However, it was only through Jewish agency that the emancipation of the Jews was fully realized.