Modern Jewish History

MODERN JEWISH HISTORY BY REV. MAURICE HARRIS (1922) This volume of Modern Jewish history covers the Reformation era to the early 20th century. It tells the story of the Jewish community of Holland including the trials of Spinoza, and the German Jews of the 18th century, including Mendelssohn. The effects of the French Revolution and liberal democracies on Jewish and minority rights and the activities of Jews in the United States are also covered. TABLE OF CONTENTS THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES ...................................................................................................................... 3 DEVELOPMENT IN TORAH AND KABALA .......................................................................................................... 9 MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL. ............................................................................................................................... 14 SPINOZA AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES .......................................................................................................... 19 THE PASSING OF POLAND AND THE RISE OF RUSSIA .................................................................................. 24 MOSES MENDELSSOHN ................................................................................................................................. 32 RELIGIOUS REFORM THE POST-MENDELSSOHN ERA. ................................................................................ 37 INTELLECTUAL EMANCIPATION ISRAEL LEARNS TO "KNOW HIMSELF" ........................................................ 41 POLITICAL EMANCIPATION ............................................................................................................................. 50 AMERICA ........................................................................................................................................................ 63 JEWISH ACHIEVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES............................................................................................ 72 THE WORLD WAR. ......................................................................................................................................... 84 APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................................... 95 PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION This volume completes the author's history of the Jews. The series was commenced in 1897 with a Biblical history styled "People of the Book" in three volumes. The first covered the patriarchal period and the Mosaic Law (The Pentateuch); the second, the Israelitish Monarchy; the third, the Epoch of the Prophets, closing with the Restoration of Judah after the Exile. This was followed by "A Thousand Years of Jewish History"—from the close of the Persian era to the entrance of the Mohammedans into Europe. Next in the series was the "History of the Mediaeval Jews" covering the Middle Ages, the entire 1 Spanish era and closing with the discovery of America. Page The present volume is styled "Modern" though beginning with the Sixteenth Century; for that century witnessed the rise of such movements as the Renaissance, the Christian Reformation and the extension of political rights—all of which tended to shape the modern world. The first edition carried the story down to the Russian exodus. The author gratefully recalls the fact that the manuscript of this earlier edition was read by Dr. Henry Berkowitz and Dr. Martin A. Meyer. This modern history has now been recast and enlarged after a period of twelve years. New illustrations have been added. It covers the history down to the present year, 1922. The text is briefer and the notes fuller than in previous volumes, as it will be put in the hands of advanced students who will be enabled by the many references to carry the study further. In order to encourage the study of different phases of Jewish questions, the Index has been compiled to group under special heads data scattered throughout the volume. Among these may be mentioned: Gentile Appreciation of the Jew; Jews as Statesmen; Jews in Science and Letters; Orthodox and Reform Judaism; The Bible and Modern Life; America; The World War. In our survey of the entire history of the Jew from Bible times, we see that every age has brought him face to face with a different problem. The Jew of today must now re-interpret his function in the world and thereby help shape the destiny of the Jew of tomorrow. Some abbreviations: J. Q. R., Jewish Quarterly Review; T. Y., A Thousand Years of Jewish History; H. M. J., History of the Mediaeval Jews; J. E., Jewish Encyclopaedia; J.P.S.A., Jewish Publication Society of America Publications. 2 Page THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES General Survey. The story of the Jew from the sixteenth century, to be told in this concluding volume, is not as tragic as his history in the Middle Ages. The gleams of the Inquisition fires have died down. Massacres are far rarer, though there will be some. Europe turned the corner with the Reformation and the Printing Press. Where there is persecution at all, it is by oppressive legislation rather than by slaughter. The Jews still experience a Dark Age, somewhat of their own making; but we shall see it followed by an era of emancipation both political and religious. As the world to-day presents different degrees of civilization, so the status of the Jews varies with their environment. The Orient, in spots, still depicts the suppression of the individual, characteristic of antiquity. Eastern Europe was largely mediaeval in its attitude towards the Jew, certainly till the World War's close. The West alone shows the freedom of modernity. But we shall see, in all lands, that social prejudice persists even when legal disability is removed. We saw the Jews expelled from England in 1290, from France finally in 1394, from Spain in 1492, from Portugal in 1557, from German states and separate localities at various times. On the other hand we saw them settling in Poland in the eleventh century, in Turkey and in South America in the sixteenth. We shall now witness their settlement in Holland, their re-settlement in England, their gradual entrance or re-entrance into most lands, and their large immigration to the United States. Humanism. Not only the map, but also the spirit of Europe changed in the fifteenth century. The Absolute Church and the "Holy Roman Empire" were steadily disintegrating, both as facts and as beliefs. Italy had led the way in a new attitude towards the world, a fuller freedom, a joy of living. The Renaissance — the rebirth of literature, art and science — was one of its expressions. To this the Medicis of Florence contributed a large share. The revival of learning awakened a new appreciation for the classics of antiquity hitherto stigmatised as "pagan." In this feeling of greater freedom in thought and outlook men broke away from the thraldom of old notions of the world as a place of hopeless sin and ceased to regard its culture with suspicion. The term Humanism is given to the new spirit. It was applied technically to the revived interest in Greek and Latin writings, — litterae humaniores — i.e., the literature that dealt with man rather than with God. So it stood in contrast to the old scholasticism and the writings of the monks that dealt with God rather than with man. But in its larger sense it not only concerned literature, but every sphere of human activity. It practically asserted — as against the old tyrannies of Church and 3 of State — man's right to know and to be. Page In science it led to new discovery and invention. In government it rung the knell of the old despotisms. In Christianity it brough the Reformation. This wave of light did not reach all lands at the same time. Italy led the advance in literature and art; Germany in religious reform; France in political freedom. The new awakening reached Israel accidentally; that is if there are any accidents in history. Let us say, rather "All chance, — direction that thou canst not see." About the year 1500 an ignorant apostate named Pfefferkorn was used by the Dominican Order to vilify and ultimately destroy the Talmud. Such things had been done before, in France; why not again? The monks forgot two things: first, that it is not always safe to repeat an experiment, and secondly, that it was two hundred and fifty years since twenty-four carloads of Talmuds had been burnt in Paris. The world had advanced since then. The Jews dared to protest. This only brought new pamphlets of abuse from the Dominicans through Pfefferkorn urging their expulsion from Germany. He obtained from Emperor Maximilian permission to examine all books in Jewish possession and to confiscate those he deemed injurious. But here even the local archbishop intervened. It was not to be such plain sailing as in the "good old days." Both sides now appealed to the Emperor and a great German scholar, John Reuchlin, was chosen to investigate the charges against Jewish books. Little did the Dominicans realize that in the choice of this noble-hearted Christian — a great Humanist — not only would their immediate purpose be defeated, but new events would grow out of it that would shake up all Christendom and prepare the way for the modern era of freedom and light. Reuchlin. None better fitted than Reuchlin for this task. He was prominent in the Humanist Movement mentioned above. He was also a Hebrew scholar — one of the very few in the Christian world. Through the wavering of the Emperor and the intrigues of Pfefferkorn

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