Transcript The Enlightenment and Religion

Survey of Jewish History
Introduction to Judaism
Winter 2008
Two Centers:
Babylon and Jerusalem (4th10th Century)
Second Temple Judaism
Land of Israel
Jews in Palestine
Patriarch
Jerusalem Talmud
Rise of Christianity/Byazantine Empire
Jews in Babylonia
Exilarch
Babylonian Talmud
Creation of Talmudic Academies
Jews in the Sassanid Empire
• Long history in Babylon
• Is this Exile?
– “We have made ourselves in Babylonia the
equivalent of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel.)”
(Talmud)
• Cultural split between Jewish
communities
The Sassanid Empire (224-642)
Life Under the Sassanids
• Political and religious autonomy
• Exilarch (Resh Galuta)
– Centralized and Recognized Leadership
• Operate outside Roman Empire
– Cultural autonomy
– No need to respond to Christianity
– Paradox of acculturation in Palestine vs. Babylon
Babylon as Jewish Authority
• Central academies move to Babylon
• Babylonia Talmud (5th Century CE)
– Longer, more sophisticated than Jerusalem
Talmud
– Central text from Babylon not Jerusalem
The Babylonian Talmud
Jews Under Islam and
Christendom
• What are similarities?
– Theological place for Jews
– Jews as second class citizen
• Differences?
– Islam sees Judaism as venerable
precursor
– Christianity ambivalent about Jews
• The Problem with Monotheistic Truth
Judaism and Early Islam
• Jews already highly integrated into Arabian
culture
• Biblical Culture had become Arabized
– Abraham as founder of sacred shrines
• Muhammad expects Jews to become
Muslims (submitters)
• Jews (as recorded in Qu’ran) refuse to accept
Muhammad
The Rapid Rise of Islam
• Muhammad (570-632) from Mecca
• Emigrates to Medina with Followers
• Following death, Islamic Empire
spreads rapidly
• Global Jewish popular share one culture
The Spread of Islam and the Jews
Jews Under Islam
• “Fight against those who do not believe in
God or in the Last Day, and do not forbid
what God and His messenger have
forbidden, and do not practice the religion
of truth among those who have been given
the book, until the pay the juzya[special tax]
of hand, humbled.” (Qur’an 9:29)
The Jew in Islamic Society
• What do you know about Islamic-Jewish
relations today?
• Jews and Christians: People of the Book
• Christians suspect--Trinity
• Second Class Status-Dhimmis
– Economic Restrictions
– Social Restrictions (clothes, horses)
– Religious Restrictions (new churches)
Jews Thrive Under Islam
• Islamic World center of culture, science, philosophy
(7-13th century)
• Center of Jewish life moves to Baghdad
• Saadia Gaon (882-942)
– Jewish philosophy in Arabic
– Refers to God as Allah
– First Jewish theology
• Karaites-”People of Scripture” (8th century)
The Golden Age of Spain
(9th-12th Century)
• Islamic Conquest spreads to Iberian Peninsula
• Jews Completely integrated into society
– Multi-ethnic, multi-religious
– Polygamy
– Rabbi Courtiers and Arabic love poetry
• Kahal-Jewish Communal Infrastructure
The Golden Age in Andalusia
Cordoba Synagogue, 1314
Wine, Woman, and Death
“There came a voice: ‘Awake!’
Drink wine at morning’s break
‘Mid rose and camphor make
A feast of all your hours…
How can we be carefree
Or raise our cups in glee,
When by all men are we
Rejected and despised?” (Dunash ben Labrat)
End of the Golden Age
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Almoravides from the South (12th Cent)
Christians from the North
Growing Pressure to Convert
Inquisition (1480) and “New Christians”
Expulsion in 1492 and Sephardim
Jews in Medieval Christian
Europe
• Christendom vs. Islamic Empire
• Frankish Kings bring Jews to Central/Western
Europe (9th century)
• Asheknazim
• Sets up basic economic tension
– Not in Feudal hierarchy
– Rely fully upon King, baron, or bishop
• Corporate communities
What Brings Jews to Central
Europe?
• Economics
– International Merchants
– Settle at Political/Economic Centers
• Sets up basic economic tension
– Not in Feudal hierarchy-No Land
– Rely on Imperial or Royal protection
– What are some of the problems with this
set-up?
How do Jews in Christian
Europe Live?
• Corporate communities
– Charters for self-rule-royal support
– Not integrated into Feudal Structure
– Jewish court in charge of religions and civil affairs
• Not living in Ghettos
– Social Mixing (trade, conversation, debates)
– Polemical Interaction with Christians
• Ecclesia vs. Synagoga
Rabbinic Leadership
• Scholasticism generates interest in
Jewish texts by Rabbinic leaders
• Rashi (1040-1105) in Troyes and
disciples
– Best way to study Old French!
The Crusades and Medieval
Persecution
• Rescue Christian Holy Sites (1099)
• Widespread massacres and forced
conversion
• Blood Libels (1144)
• Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
– Limited Usury, Jewish badge
• Talmud on-trial-Why?
• Black Death and Poison Wells (1348)
Jewish Expulsion
• 1290 Expulsion from England
• 1306-1394 Jews expelled from France
• 1492 Expulsion from Spain
To Sum Up A Millennia
• What new challenges does post Second
Temple Judaism pose?
• Is there a Jewish geographical, textual,
linguistic center?
• How do Jews fare similarly/differently in
Christian vs. Islamic societies?
Center Shifts to Poland
• Polish nobles encourage Jewish
immigration
• “Po-lin” “Here we stay”
• Jews fill need for business expertise,
trade, and land management
• Council of the Four Lands
• 1791 Established as the Pale of
Settlement
Ottoman Empire
(15th Century-20th century)
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Welcome Spanish (Sephardic) refugees
Great economic opportunity
Multi-linguistic, tolerant Empire
Ladino
Return to Palestine
• Revival of Palestinian community
• Importance of Safed
• Center for Kabbalah
– How to explain the exile?
– Mystical approach
Jews in the Modern Period
• Emancipation
– Recognition of Jews as equal citizens
– The price of citizenship
• Enlightenment
– Reason over revelation
– The challenge to Judaism
The
Enlightenment
and Religion
Jewish Integration
• Rapidly enter the middle-class
• Embrace citizenship and national
culture
• Judaism as a religion of reason
• The Limits of Emancipation
Major Developments
• Rise of Zionism and Founding of the State of Israel
• Holocaust and Destruction of European Jewry
• Russian Revolution and Suppression of Judaism in
the Soviet Union
• Rise of the United States as Jewish Center