Haskalah: The Modern Shift That Divided Judaism | The Jewish Story | Unpacked

As the Age of Enlightenment spread across Europe, 18th-century Jews still faced persecution and were banned from assimilating into modern civilization. A young Jewish German philosopher named Moses Mendelssohn sought to bring modernity to the Jews and secure their place in society.

Nicknamed “The German Socrates”, Moses Mendelssohn spent his life focused on the modernization of European Jews. Though largely successful, this Jewish enlightenment—”haskalah”— created a rift that radically shifted modern Judaism.

As an observant Jew, Mendehlssohn’s vision of haskalah still held traditional practices of Judaism as an integral part of Jewish life. However, the movement’s followers — the Maskilim — gradually disengaged from Jewish traditions, with some even converting to Christianity.

While Moses Mendelssohn’s effort to assimilate Jews brought them to the forefront of modern society, European antisemitism persisted, eventually leading to the tragedies of the Holocaust.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:24 Jews in the Enlightenment Period
01:05 Moses Mendelssohn, The German Socrates
02:03 Efforts to reverse Antisemitism via cultural integration
03:03 Discouraging Yiddish
03:13 Translation of Torah into German
03:23 Petition against Jewish expulsions
03:33 Jewish emancipation
03:43 Separation of Church and State
03:55 The Maskilim and assimilation
04:23 Radical changes to Jewish life and rituals
04:44 German resentment and Antisemitism
05:06 Conversion to Christianity
05:36 Outro

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Executive Producers:
- Melinda Goldrich
- Shmuel Katz

Gold Level:
- Goldrich Family Foundation
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Image and footage credits:
- Chrstphre/Flickr
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About The Jewish Story: Understand three thousand years of Jewish history in these short videos based on the book Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith by the renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert. Learn the Jewish story from the ancient Israelites of the Bible to Hellenization, the Jews of the Middle Ages to modern day, and more.
About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.

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