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From Johann Pezzl to Joseph Perl: Galician Haskalah and the Austrian Enlightenment Rachel Manekin From Johann Pezzl to Joseph Perl: Galician Haskalah and the Austrian Enlightenment An examination of the place of the Galician Haskalah within the historiography of the Hebrew Haskalah reveals two major trends. The first of these trends describes the Berlin Haskalah as the first phase of the Haskalah movement, and the Galician Haskalah as the second.1 The second trend moves away from the model of phases, describing the Galician Haskalah as a phenomenon connected to its time and place, namely, as one of the independent expressions of the Haskalah move- ment.2 While the second trend does not ignore the existence of ties and influences between the different expressions of the Haskalah across geographical regions, it rejects the linear, Germanocentric description according to which the Haskalah movement began in Germany, moved to Galicia, and from there continued to the Russian Empire.3 What is common to both trends is the almost complete absence of the cultural and political context of the Austrian Enlightenment.4 This article serves as a first step forward in the investigation of the Austrian context of the Galician Haskalah, focusing on several key points where there is a clear affinity between the two movements. 1 Shmuel Feiner, Milḥemet tarbut: tenu‘at ha-haskalah ha-yehudit ba-me’ah ha-19 [Culture war: the Jewish Haskalah movement in the 19th century] (Jerusalem: Karmel, 2010), 19. Feiner, 46, views the Haskalah as a historical movement characterized by uniformity and continuity stretch- ing over several phases, the Berlin one being the first and then the Galician. The spread of the Haskalah to Galicia was made possible by individuals Feiner calls “liaisons.” He attributes to the Galician Haskalah a “radical character,” and its struggles against Hasidism he describes as “culture wars.” See ibid., 70–72. 2 Jonatan Meir, Ḥasidut medumah: ‘iyunim bi-khetavav ha-satiriyim shel Yosef Perl [Imagined Hasidism: the anti-Hasidic writings of Joseph Perl] (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 2013), 23; 150–151. See also Gershon Hundert’s more general criticism on applying western models on develop- ments in Eastern Europe: “History is not a train that progressively moves across Europe from west to east bringing the same developments to different countries, each in its term.” Gershon David Hundert, Jews in Poland-Lithuania in the Eighteenth Century: A Genealogy of Modernity (Berkley: University of California Press, 2004), 3. 3 On the need to move away from the model of phases in which Berlin is the starting point see Ela Bauer, “Review of Shmuel Feiner, Milḥemet tarbut: tenu‘at ha-haskalah ha-yehudit ba-me’ah ha-19 [Culture war: the Jewish Haskalah movement in the 19th century],” Gal-Ed 23 (2010): 173–180. 4 Meir touches upon the Austrian context but doesn’t elaborate it, see Meir, Ḥasidut medumah, 64–65. Open Access. © 2018 Rachel Manekin, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110492484-004 62 Rachel Manekin The Austrian Enlightenment Recent scholarship refers to the Austrian Enlightenment by a variety of names: the Austrian Catholic Enlightenment, Enlightened Catholicism, Reform Catholi- cism, and Enlightened Josephinism.5 While a Catholic Enlightenment also devel- oped in Germany, its German manifestation was different from the Austrian in several essential points, notably in the influence of Jansenism on the latter.6 Jansenism, a Catholic religious ideology that stressed piety, ethics, and a return to the ideas of Augustine, penetrated Austria via Holland; Spanish Holland had been part of the Austrian monarchy since 1714. Jansenism did not have a similar presence in Germany. Jansenism was in essence anti-Baroque, a characteris- tic that stood in stark contrast to the Baroque Catholicism that was popular in Austria since the counter-reformation. Baroque Catholicism was distinguished by a growing number of pilgrimages to saints’ graves, religious processions, and the attribution of holiness to different objects. Some scholars view the absorption of Jansenist ideas among the high clergy in Austria, starting in the second half of the eighteenth century, as preparing the ground for the Josephinian reforms in the last quarter of that century.7 Until that time, the Jesuits had exclusive control over all educational institutions in Austria, including universities and religious seminaries. This exclusive control was abolished in 1773, when the Jesuit order was dissolved. The terms “Josephinism,” or “Enlightened Josephinism,” express the con- nection of the Austrian Enlightenment with the period of Joseph’s II sole rule (1780–1790), a period described sometimes as “Enlightened Absolutism.” One of the major elements of Joseph’s internal policy was the carrying out of Church reforms.8 It should be emphasized that Joseph II did not promote the separation 5 Harm Klueting, “The Catholic Enlightenment in Austria or the Habsburg Lands,” in A Compan- ion to the Catholic Enlightenment in Europe, Ulrich L. Lehner and Michael Printy (eds.) (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 128–164. 6 Michael Printy, Enlightenment and the Creation of German Catholicism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); Klueting, “The Catholic Enlightenment in Austria,” 130. 7 W. R. Ward, “Late Jansenism and the Habsburgs,” in Religion and Politics in Enlightenment Europe, James E. Bradley and Dale K. Van Kley (eds.) (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001), 154–186. The Austrian Enlightenment was influenced also by Ludovico Muratori, one of the fathers of the Catholic Enlightenment. While not a Jansenist, Muratori viewed Jansen- ism with sympathy. On Muratori see Paola Vismara, “Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750): Enlightenment in a Tridentine Mode,” in A Companion to the Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich L. Lehner and Michael Printy (eds.) (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 259–268. 8 Derek Beales, Joseph II: Against the World, 1780–1790 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 314–326. Galician Haskalah and the Austrian Enlightenment 63 of Church and State. Though a staunch Catholic, Joseph II was also influenced by Jansenist ideas. Joseph II and the members of his Court rejected Baroque Catholicism, specifically pilgrimages, processions, and what were viewed as superstitions. During Joseph’s reign, pilgrimages to burial places of saints were prohibited, the number of processions was reduced, and the administration made efforts aimed at uprooting popular superstitions and generally any adherence to Baroque Catholicism.9 Despite these official efforts, such practices remained rooted among broad sectors of the Austrian population.10 In 1783, many of the contemplative monasteries were shut down (estimates quote 700–800 such monasteries), and their property was allocated to the estab- lishment of schools and other practical purposes.11 That same year, Joseph II also changed the way the clergy was trained, specifically by establishing sem- inaries in the different crown lands where the curriculum was dictated by the state.12 While Joseph made clear that Deism and Atheism would not be tolerated in his monarchy, he was determined to apply a policy of toleration toward non- Catholic Christians and Jews. Religious toleration was one of the major principles of the Enlightenment, and the embrace of such a policy toward Protestants was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church. Historians emphasize that the toleration policy of Joseph II was more progressive than the policies of any other contempo- rary Catholic state.13 The Flood of Pamphlets Abolishing most of the censorship regulations in 1781 brought in its wake what is referred to as the “flood of pamphlets” (Broschürenflut).14 This included the pub- lication of many works, many of them satires mocking monks, monasteries, and popular superstitions. Though labeled “pamphlets,” many of the publications 9 Ibid., 320–321. 10 R. J. W. Evans, Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Essays on Central Europe, c. 1683–1867 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 60–71. 11 Derek Beales, Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Europe (London: I.B. Tauris, 2005), 227–255. 12 Klueting, “The Catholic Enlightenment in Austria,” 147–149; Beales, Joseph II, 289–292. 13 Charles H. O’Brien, “Ideas of Religious Toleration at the Time of Joseph II: A Study of the Enlightenment among Catholics in Austria,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 59 no. 7 (1969): 22–31. 14 Leslie Bodi, Tauwetter in Wien: Zur Prosa der österreichischen Aufklärung 1781–1795 (Frank- furt am Main: S. Fischer, 1995), 117–178. This is the most detailed discussion on the subject. 64 Rachel Manekin were hundreds of pages long. True to the Josephinian spirit, the authors of those works wished to promote moral conduct, moderation, improved education, util- itarianism, and a return to original Christian ideas, all under the guidance of the state. The “flood of pamphlets” made use of genres such as dialogues, epistolary novels, utopian travel literature, sermons, comic novels, parodies, and visions. Philosophical literature in the spirit of German Idealism did not take root in the Austrian Enlightenment. Instead of abstract discussions on social and political issues, which were popular in Germany, Austrian Enlightenment liter- ature dealt with practical issues based on everyday concerns.15 This is one of the reasons why Austrian culture became the subject of criticism in literary circles in Germany, which preferred systematization and intellectual
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