Jewish History: From Poland to Emancipation

Beit Din

Authoritative Jewish Court

Black Death

Rumors circulated throughout Europe blaming and attacking Jews for causing the pandemic of bubonic plague that swept through Europe between 1347-1351 killing about one-third to one-half of the population

Blood Libel

The fictional claim that Jews killed Christians for ritual purposes, like re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus or using Christian blood for magic or baking matzoh

Bogdan Chmielnicki

1648-1667 Leader of Cossack Rebellion that resulted in massacres of Polish Jews during the Deluge of Poland (1648-1657)

Cossacks

Group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking people known for their military skill, semi-nomadic lifestyle, and strong sense of independence; revolted against Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Demonology

Eastern European Jewish superstitious belief in demons, leading to customs like tying a red thread to infant beds to protect them against the child-stealing/killing demon Lilith

Four Lands Council

Va'ad Arba Aratzot - the central autonomous governing body of Polish Jewry from late 1500s until 1764, representing Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Volhynia, and Podolia

Hasidism

Religious movement that rose in 1770s Ukraine, emphasizing mystical and emotional connection to God

Host Desecration

Fictional belief that Jews would steal communion wafers to re-enact the stabbing of Jesus; used as pretext for violence

Jacob Frank

1726-1791 Leader of Frankist sect of Shabbatean Messianism that emerged in Poland

Kahal

The official governing council or authority and judicial ruling body of a Jewish community

Kehillah

The social, religious, and communal body—all the Jews living in a given locale

Khazaria

Empire of the Khazar rulers, who were Jewish from about 740-960

Mitnaggedim

Opposition movement to Hasidism, led by Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (Vilna Gaon) 1720-1797

Moses Isserles (Rema')

1500s leading Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, considered the Maimonides of Polish Jewry

Ne'eman

Communal official who served as trustee or representative, handling external relations with non-Jewish authorities

Pale of Settlement

Restricted area for Russian Jewish settlement decreed by Czarina Catherine the Great in 1791

Parnas

Communal executive or lay leader responsible for managing day-to-day affairs of the kehillah

Poland

Became the center of European Jewish scholarship in the 16th-17th centuries

Shtadlan

Jewish intercessor or lobbyist who negotiated between Jewish community and non-Jewish authorities

Superstition

Used to explain mysterious phenomena in the pre-scientific Middle Ages and why fictions were created about Jews

Tovim

Lay leaders or community elders with moral authority who acted as advisors to the kahal

Yiddish

Jewish-German hybrid language that spread throughout Europe, incorporating local language influences

Alliance Israélite Universelle

Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 to safeguard human rights for Jews worldwide

Doña Gracia Nasi

1510-1569 Portuguese Sephardic Jewish philanthropist who developed escape network saving conversos from Inquisition

Isaac Luria (Ha-Ari)

Founder of modern Kabbalah, developed theory of 6 vessels of sparks broken at creation

Joseph Caro/Karo

Sephardi author of the Shulchan Arukh providing organized explanation of practical halakhot and customs

Judezmo/Ladino

Judeo-Spanish language that evolved among Sephardi communities of Turkey

Millet System

Ottoman system allowing each religious community to govern itself in matters of religion and personal status

Safed/Tsfat

Center of medieval Kabbalah, home to Isaac Luria

Salonica (Thessaloniki)

Center of Sephardic Jewish life after 1492 expulsion from Spain; had Jewish majority population by 16th century

Shabbatai Tzvi

1600s Ottoman Jewish mystic who claimed to be the Messiah and founded the Sabbatean movement

Assembly of Notables

Napoleon's 1806 gathering of Jewish influencers to answer questions about Jewish emancipation and integration

Baruch Spinoza

Influential pantheist Jewish philosopher who was excommunicated by Amsterdam beit din

Emancipation

Process of granting Jews full civil rights as individuals and extending citizenship in modern nation states

European Enlightenment

European intellectual movement advocating individual rights, reason over belief, scientific method, and democratic ideals

Excommunication/Cherem

Most powerful tool of medieval and early modern Jewish courts to enforce community membership

Gotthold Lessing

Friend of Moses Mendelssohn, advocate of Jewish emancipation, author of "Nathan the Wise"

Haskalah

German Jewish Enlightenment movement begun by Moses Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn

Founder of Haskalah, first to publish German vernacular Bible translation, advocated reconciliation of faith and reason

Napoleon Bonaparte

Consul ruler of France who emancipated France's Jewish communities

Nathan the Wise

Toleration parable written by Gotthold Lessing

Pantheism

Philosophy that God is nature, advocated by Baruch Spinoza

Paris Sanhedrin

Convened by Napoleon in 1807 to enforce French Jewish acceptance of emancipation terms

Toleration

Policy of co-existence with different people without necessarily respecting their views

Abraham Geiger

Mid-1800s German rabbi credited with founding Reform Judaism; leader in Wissenschaft des Judentums movement

Alfred Dreyfus

French Jewish army colonel falsely accused of treason 1894-1906, case unleashed antisemitism and inspired Zionism

Assimilation

Process of minorities fitting into non-Jewish dominant society

Czar Alexander II

Russian leader whose 1881 assassination sparked anti-Jewish pogroms

Dreyfus Affair

Series of events surrounding arrest and eventual exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus

Emile Zola

French-Jewish journalist who published "J'Accuse!" attacking corruption in Dreyfus prosecution

Eugenics

Pseudo-scientific movement using genetics to "improve" human population through selective breeding

French and German antisemitic political parties

Political parties formed in late 1800s running on antisemitic platforms

Judenfrage

"Jewish Question" - whether Jews could integrate into modern nation states

Kishinev Blood Libel Pogrom

1903 violent anti-Jewish riot in Russia sparked by false blood libel, killed 49 Jews

May Laws

1882 Russian anti-Jewish regulations restricting rights outside designated areas

Orthodoxy, Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism

German-originated movements to modernize Judaism to varying degrees

Pogroms

Organized massacres of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe in late 19th/early 20th centuries

Protocols of the Elders of Zion

1903 fabricated text claiming to be minutes of Jewish conspiracy for world domination

Racial antisemitism

Late 1800s hostility toward Jews based on race; term "antisemitismus" first used by Wilhelm Mahr in 1879

Russian Imperial antisemitism

Pre-1882 stage of Russian antisemitism through laws and civil orders

Russian popular antisemitism

Post-1882 stage embraced by populace, erupting in mob violence

Samson Raphael Hirsch

Mid-1800s German leader rejecting Jewish reforms, advocating Torah im Derech Eretz

Theodor Herzl

Viennese journalist inspired by Dreyfus Affair to write "The Jewish State" and found Zionist movement

Vladimir Jabotinsky

Russian-born champion of Revisionist Zionism, rejected promise that Zionism would eliminate antisemitism

Wilhelm Mahr

German journalist who first used "antisemitismus" in 1879 publication

Wissenschaft des Judentums

Movement for Jewish scholarship using modern scientific methods and critical thinking

World Zionist Conference

1897 convention in Basel, Switzerland to plan creation of Jewish homeland

Zecharias Frankel

1800s German Jewish scholar who advocated Positive Historical Judaism, evolved into Conservative Judaism

Gains of Emancipation

Freedom of religion, political rights, integration into society, expanded economic opportunities, expanded social circles, religious autonomy

Losses of Emancipation

Loss of power to enforce religion, military service, pressure to assimilate, Jews no longer a nation, increased intermarriage, decreased Jewish identity

1348-1349

Black Death massacres in central Europe and France

1492-1520

Spanish expulsion and emigration to Poland and Lithuania

1492-1569

Sephardic emigration to Ottoman lands

1530s

Safed becomes major center of Kabbalah led by Isaac Luria and Joseph Karo

1648-1657

Chmielnicki Massacres of Polish Jews during Cossack Rebellion

1764-1765

Dissolution of Four Lands Council

1766

Russian Jews confined to Pale of Settlement

1830s-1840s

Jewish Emancipation begins

1890

Austrian, German, and French elections include antisemitic rhetoric

1903

Protocols of the Elders of Zion first published in Russia

1264

Charter of Prince Boleslav the Pious

1656

Spinoza excommunicated by Amsterdam Beit Din

1791

Revolutionary France grants full citizenship to Jews

1806

Napoleon convenes Assembly of Jewish Notables

1879

Wilhelm Mahr first uses "antisemitismus"

1894

Dreyfus Affair begins

1896

Herzl publishes "The Jewish State"

1897

First World Zionist Conference in Basel