Scientific Literature and Cultural Transformation in Nineteenth-Century East European Jewish Society

Aleph ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 249-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mordechai Zalkin
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
East European ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
European Jewish

Early Life (1884–1905)

1999 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Marc B. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
East European ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
European Jewish

This chapter describes the early years of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg's (1884–1966) life amid the backdrop of the final decades of the nineteenth century. Within this milieu, the Jews in Russia, Poland, and Lithuania were coming to grips with a number of new movements and philosophies. Although the apostles of Jewish enlightenment (Haskalah), through their propagation of new ideals, had some influence in bringing about a modernization and acculturation, there were other important factors which were independent of Haskalah, although often indirectly nourished by it. It was into this east European Jewish society in transition that Weinberg was born in 1884, in Ciechanowiec, Poland. From there, the chapter describes Weinberg's early childhood and schooling. The latter in particular occurred during a controversy over the musar movement, founded upon the ideologies of Rabbi Israel Salanter.

Home for the Homeless? The Hekdesh in Eastern Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natan M. Meir
Keyword(s):  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
East European ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Jewish Hospital ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Polish Jews ◽  
European Jewish ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Structural Poverty ◽  
Social Marginality

This chapter examines the hekdesh, one of the grimmest institutions in East European Jewish society. The hekdesh, or Jewish hospital-cum-poorhouse, is a somewhat elusive historical phenomenon but also a useful venue for analyzing traditional forms of Jewish charity in the Russian Empire as well as the dynamics of social marginality among Russian and Polish Jews. The chapter first considers an important characteristic of Jewish charity—the tendency to distinguish between conjunctural poverty and structural poverty—before discussing the hekdesh as an institution. In particular, it describes efforts to transform the hekdesh into a true medical institution and its incarnation in the late nineteenth century as a place for beggars and other cast-offs of society, with only a nominal connection to caring for the sick. It also explains how the hekdesh may have served to perpetuate the problem of begging and vagrancy.

The Controversy over Sheḥitah and the Struggle between Hasidim and Mitnagedim

2010 ◽  
pp. 342-356
Author(s):  
Shaul Stampfer
Keyword(s):  
Central Element ◽  
East European ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
European Jewish

This chapter assesses the controversy over the knives used in sheḥitah, or slaughtering of animals. In east European Jewish society, meat was a central element of the diet, and the observance of the kosher laws was one of the most obvious ways in which Jews were distinguished from non-Jews. Moreover, a rigorous observance of these laws was one of the ways in which individual Jews demonstrated their piety. The quality of the ḥalaf, or knife used for sheḥitah, is one of the key elements in determining whether meat is kosher or not. During the early days of the hasidic movement, a dispute over the type of knife that should be used — specifically a demand that slaughtering knives be sharpened or ‘polished’ in a special way — played a major role in the struggle between the hasidim and their opponents, particularly the mitnagedim. The decline of this dispute contributed to the establishment of a degree of peace, or at least coexistence, between the groups.

Strategy and Ruse in the Haskalah of Mendel Lefin of Satanow

2001 ◽  
pp. 86-102
Author(s):  
Nancy Sinkoff
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Social Criticism ◽  
East European ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
European Jewish

This chapter focuses on Menahem Mendel Lefin of Satanow, a fascinating maskil, who was a link between the German and the east European Haskalah. Because he often wrote in Yiddish, he has usually been seen as a populist who advanced the maskilim's criticism of east European Jewish life and culture. He attacked the intoxication with mysticism, became involved in the literary battle against hasidism, and proposed the maskilim as leaders who could heal the ills of Jewish society. In contrast to the view of Lefin as a populist, which was rooted in earlier scholarship's nationalist bias, the chapter notes his sophisticated use of literary strategies aimed at different audiences according to the language of the text. It illustrates these strategies in an analysis of a text written for his fellow Jews; an adaptation and translation of a travel story in the New World meant as a tool of social criticism and anti-hasidic polemics; and also in a text written for a wider audience, an anonymous French memorandum that Lefin submitted to the Polish Sejm in 1791.

Introduction

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Shaul Stampfer
Keyword(s):  
Family Formation ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
East European ◽  
The Past ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
European Jewish

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the author's collection of articles which all deal with aspects of east European Jewish life in the modern period. This was a time of transition from a society in which tradition was a key force to one in which models of the past no longer significantly determined behaviour and thought. This shift took place rapidly and under conditions that were not obviously conducive to a quick and smooth transition, and the consequences are still very evident today. The chapter explains thar divided into three sections, the book studies the workings of Jewish communities, particularly east European Jewish society. The first section deals with family formation, family reformation, and family maintenance. The second section deals with education. Finally, the last section deals with the rabbinate — not with specific rabbis but with the institution.

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