Kulturkampf in Eastern Europe: The Russian Haskalah and the Rabbinic Response

Catalog description

Until the 1860s, most Russian maskilim were observant Jews who sought to reconcile Jewish and secular learning. However, their cultural program of acculturation and educational reform set them on a collision course with most rabbis, whose authority they challenged. This course will focus on the writings and activity of three central representatives of the three generations of Russian Haskalah; Isaac Ber Levinsohn (1788 1860), Samuel Joseph Fuenn (1818 1890), and Moshe Leyb Lilienblum (1843 1910). Through a careful reading of some of their works, we will analyze how the Haskalah program changed and developed over the span of these generations.