POS 4931/JST 4936
Judaism and Politics
Dr. Kenneth Wald
Spring, 2011
Themes for Midterm Essay
- Define Emancipation - acquisition of full rights of
citizenship for individual Jews without having to convert to
Christianity
- Background to Emancipation
- role of Enlightenment in challenging idea of
religious unity
- individual free to choose religion based on reason
- religion as one facet of individual, not the whole
- Condition of Jews under feudalism
- Jewish status fixed by law
- corporate but not individual rights (Biale)
- forced to live together and create own institutions
(Katz; communalism)
- Divisions in Jewish community over Emancipation
- perceived threat to Jewish existence (due to
conversion out)
- perceive threat to Jewish institutions of the
kehillah (with voluntary principle) - cite Lederhendler
- European Emancipation
- achieved in much of Western Europe
- considerable resistance from traditionalists
- did not shield Jews from anti-Semitism evident in
Dreyfuss case
- Jewish success generated more anti-Semitism
- US lacked a feudal tradition and hence Emancipation was
easier to achieve
- Jews had substantial religious and economic freedom
- Article VI established full political rights of
citizenship - role of Madison and Washington
- anti-Semitism existed but had no legal basis
- Judaism became a religion and a choice
- Undermined communalism by voluntary principle and
leaves community much less cohesive