The Conservatism of the So-Called Jewish Enlightenment

In the late 18th century, a group of Jewish intellectuals centered around Berlin began a project to reform Jewish education, rethink the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, and respond to the Jews’ changing political and legal status. They called it the Haskalah—literally “bringing of understanding”—and it is generally understood as the Jewish version of the European Enlightenment and the precursor to Reform Judaism. But Olga Litvak, in conversation with Nachi Weinstein, argues that it was in fact a deeply conservative movement; its ultimate goal was to preserve Judaism and Jewish distinctiveness. Their discussion ranges from the ideas of Moses Mendelssohn to the financial pressures on the early modern rabbinate to what maskilim would say about Orthodox Judaism today. (Audio, 127 minutes.)