Haskalah : the romantic movement in Judaism / Olga Litvak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Litvak, Olga.

Series:

Key Words in Jewish Studies

Key words in Jewish studies

Key Words in Jewish Studies ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Haskalah.

Judaism--History--18th century.

Judaism.

Judaism--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Commonly translated as the "Jewish Enlightenment," the Haskalah propelled Jews into modern life. Olga Litvak argues that the idea of a Jewish modernity, championed by adherents of this movement, did not originate in Western Europe's age of reason. Litvak contends that the Haskalah spearheaded a Jewish religious revival, better understood against the background of Eastern European Romanticism. Based on imaginative and historically grounded readings of primary sources, Litvak presents a compelling case for rethinking the relationship between the Haskalah and the experience of political and social emancipation. Most importantly, she challenges the prevailing view that the Haskalah provided the philosophical mainspring for Jewish liberalism. In Litvak's ambitious interpretation, nineteenth-century Eastern European intellectuals emerge as the authors of a Jewish Romantic revolution. Fueled by contradictory longings both for community and for personal freedom, the poets and scholars associated with the Haskalah questioned the moral costs of civic equality and the achievement of middle-class status. In the nineteenth century, their conservative approach to culture as the cure for the spiritual ills of the modern individual provided a powerful argument for the development of Jewish nationalism. Today, their ideas are equally resonant in contemporary debates about the ramifications of secularization for the future of Judaism.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliteration

Part I. Terms of Debate

1. Wrong Time, Wrong Place

2. Beyond the Enlightenment

Part II. State of the Question

3. Haskalah and History

4. Haskalah and Modern Jewish Thought

Part III. In A New Key

5. Exile

6. New Creation

7. Faith

8. Paradise

9. Fall

10. The End of Enlightenment

Notes

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8135-5437-3

OCLC:

821738214