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Newer Approaches to Jewish Emancipation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Salo W. Baron

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“Jewish emancipation”—the term itself started to come into common use after the achievement of the Catholic emancipation in England in 1828—is a weighted phrase. Like the corresponding Roman legal concept, it connotes the release of Jews from previous bondage into a state of freedom. As such it has represented a major stage in the struggle of liberal forces for the attainment of equality of rights for all men and was the dominant factor in the political and legal evolution of modern Jewry. From that standpoint modern Jewish history has often been equated with the progress of legal equality. In fact, most historians have dated its beginning with the emancipatory legislation of the French Revolution, that is, with the proclamation by the French National Assembly in January, 1790, of the equality of rights of Sephardic (Spanish-Portuguese) Jews and of the Ashkenazic (German-Polish) Jews in September, 1791. So widely accepted was this periodicization that it was considered an expression of American nationalism when, some three decades ago, two American Jewish historians, Max L. Margolis and Alexander Marx, pushed back the inception of that period a few years to the era of the American Revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 8 , Issue 29 , March 1960 , pp. 56 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © 1960 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

1. Max L. Margolis and Alexander Marx, A History of the Jewish People (Philadelphia, I927). The Older point of view is well exemplified by Martin Phillipson and Simon M. Dubnow, each of whom wrote a three-volume Neueste Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes, beginning with the French Revolution. The former appeared in a second revised edition, Vols. I-II (Frankfort, I922-30), Vol. III (I9II). Dubnow's work was later incorporated in a revised form as the last three of ten volumes in his Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes (Berlin, I925-29). See also the other literature listed in my brief summary, "Jewish Eman cipation," Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, VIII, 394-99.

2. See my "Ghetto and Emancipation," Menorah Journal, XIV (I928), 5I5-26; and, more fully, in my A Social and Religious History of the Jews (3 vols.; New York, I937), with many additional data and bibliographical references. Of course, that bibliography is no longer up to date—the revised edition of that work, Vols. I-VIII (New York, I952-59), has not progressed beyond the twelfth century—but it may be supplemented by my survey of "Some Recent Literature on the History of the Jews in the Pre-Emancipation Era (I300- I800)," which is to appear in the Journal of World History.

3. Hugo Grotius (De Groot), Remonstrantie nopende de ordre dije in den landen van Hollandt en de Westvrieslandt dijentgestelt op de Joden, recently reissued by Jacob Meijer (Amsterdam, I949), with the comments thereon by Arthur K. Kuhn, "Hugo Grotius and the Emancipation of the Jews in Holland," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, XXXI (I928), I73-80; and by Meijer, "Hugo Grotius Remonstrantie," Jewish Social Studies, XVII (I955), 9I-I04. See also, more generally, Hendrik Brugmans and Abraham Frank (eds.), Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland, Vol. I (Amsterdam, I940); and Herbert I. Bloom, The Economic Activities of the Jews of Amsterdam in the Seven teenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Williamsport, Pa., I937).

4. Cecil Roth, A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel, Rabbi, Printer and Diplomat (Philadelphia, I934); Mordecai Wilensky, Shivat ha-Yehudim le-Angliah ("The Return of the Jews to England in the Seventeenth Century") (Jerusalem, I944); and such more detailed analyses as Nathan Osterman, "The Controversy over the Proposed Readmission of the Jews to England," Jewish Social Studies, III (I94I), 30I-28; Don Patinkin, "Mercantilism and the Readmission of the Jews to England," Jewish Social Studies, VIII (I946), I6I-78; John Bowman, "A Seventeenth-Century Bill of ‘Rights' for Jews," Jewish Quarterly Review, XXXIX (I948-49), 379-95; and Lucien Wolf, "The First Stage of Anglo-Jewish Emanci pation" in his Essays in Jewish History (London, I934), pp. II5-36; and M. F. Modder, "Aspects of Jewish Emancipation in England," London Quarterly Review, CLVIII (L933), 453-63. See also the more comprehensive studies by H. S. Q. Henriques, The Jews and the English Law (Oxford, I908), and Cecil Roth, A History of the Jews in England (2d ed. rev.; London, 1949).

5. Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (I5 vols.; Albany, I853-57), III, 2I6 ff., sec. II. See Max J. Kohler, "Civil Status of the Jews in Co lonial New York," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, VI, 8I-I06; idem, "Phases in the History of Religious Liberty in America," ibid., XI (I903), 53-73; Abram Vossen Godman, An American Overture: Jewish Rights in Colonial Times (Phila delphia, I947); and, more generally, Jacob Rader Marcus, Early American Jewry (2 vols.; Philadelphia, I95I-53).

6. J. H. Hollander, "The Naturalization of Jews in the American Colonies under the Act of I740," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, V (I897), I03-I7; Leon Hühner, "Naturalization of Jews in New York under the Act of I740," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, XIII (I905), I-6. See also Marcus, Early Ameri can Jewry, II, 5I4 ff.

7. Barnett A. Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina (Philadelphia, I905), pp. 68 ff.; Charles Reznikoff (with the collaboration of Uriah Z. Engelman), The Jews of Charleston (Philadelphia, I950), pp. 34 ff.; Jeanette W. Rosenbaum, Myer Myers, Goldsmith, I723- I795 (Philadelphia, I954). See also, more generally, Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen (Philadelphia, I895).

8. Simon M. Dubnow, History of the Jews in Russia and Poland (3 vols.; Philadelphia, I9I6), esp. I, 306 ff.; O. Margolis, Geschichte fun Yidn in Rusland, Vol. I (Moscow, I930); Louis Greenberg, The Jews in Russia (2 vols.; New Haven, Conn., I944-5I), Isaac Levitats, The Jewish Community in Russia, I772-I844 (New York, I943).

9. Selma Stern (Täubler), Der preussische Staat und die Juden, Part I (2 vols.; Berlin, I925); idem, The Court few (Philadelphia, I950); Ismar Freund, Die Emanzipation der Juden in Preussen (2 vols.; Berlin, I9I2); Alfred Francis Pribram (ed.), Urkunden und Akten zur Geschichte der Juden in Wien (2 vols.; Vienna, I9I8); my Die Judenfrage auf dem Wiener Kongress (Vienna, I920). See also Adolf Kober, "The French Revolution and the Jews in Germany," Jewish Social Studies, VII (I945), 29I-322; and my "The Impact of the Revolution of I848 on Jewish Emancipation," Jewish Social Studies, XI (I949), I95-248.

10. Tertullian Apologeticus adversus gentes xxi, in Migne's Patrologia Latina, II, 637; and Adversus Judaeos ii, ibid., I, 45I; Heinrich Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, Preface to Vol. V.

11. See my "Ghetto and Emancipation," Menorah Journal, XIV (I928), 5I5-26, and "The Jewish Factor in Medieval Civilization," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, XII (I942), I-48.

12. For this reason, it appears, the frequent designation of the Jewish status during the Middle Ages as that of "pariahs" has little justification. The only superficial similarity, namely, that both the medieval Jews and the Indian pariahs lived outside their respective societies, must not let us lose sight of the basic distinction between a corporate group of "aliens" who considered themselves living under a divinely inflicted temporary punish ment without any infringement on their permanent selection as God's "Chosen people," and a group of genuine "untouchables" who acknowledged their intrinsic inferiority. After all, a Jew needed but approach the baptismal font in order to shed instantaneously his "alien" character and to become a full-fledged member of Christian society, whereas a Pariah could never get out of his caste. See the additional remarks against Max Weber's pertinent thesis in my Social and Religious History of the Jews (2d ed.), I, 297, n. 7, which remain unimpaired by the defense of Weber's point of view offered by Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale, the translators of Weber's Ancient Judaism (Glencoe, I952), pp. xxiv-xxv.

13. J. L. Klüber, Akten des Wiener Kongresses I8I4 und I5 (8 vols.; Erlangen, I8I5- I9), esp. II 456 ff., 590 ff.; Hirsch Ilfeld, Dibre Negidim ("Words of Dignitaries," a con temporary Hebrew collection of Batavian addresses (Amsterdam, I799); J. S. da Silva Rosa, Bibliographie der Literatur über die Emanzipation der Juden in Holland (Frankfort, I9I2) (reprinted from the Zeitschrift für hebraische Bibliographie, Vol. XV); Selma Stern-Täubler, "Die Emanzipation der Juden in Baden," Gedenkbuch zum hundertfünfund zwanzigjährigen Bestehen des Oberrats der Israeliten Badens (Frankfort, I934), pp. 7-I04; Philip Friedmann, Die galizischen Juden im Kampfe um ihre Gleichberechtigung (I848- I868) (Frankfort, I929). On the much-debated change in the ultimate formulation in the text of Art. I6 of the Germanic Confederate Act see my Die Judenfrage auf dem Wiener Kongress, pp. I55 ff.

14. Saul Ginsburg, "The Origin of the Jewish Rekrutchina" (Yiddish), Zeitshrift, II-III (Minsk, I928), 89-I06, partly reprinted in his Historishe Werk ("Historical Works") (3 vols.; New York, I937), II, 3 ff.; idem, "Jewish Cantonists" (Yiddish), ibid., III, 3-I35.

15. Ahad Haam (Asher Ginzberg), "Slavery in Freedom," in his Selected Essays, English trans. Sir Leon Simon (Philadelphia, I9I2), pp. I7I-94. On the rise of Jewish nationalism and the demands for Jewish minority rights see below, n. 20.

16. See my "Nationalism and Intolerance," Menorah Journal, XVI (I929), 405-I5; XVII (I929), I48-58. This subject requires fuller elaboration which the present writer hopes to submit before very long in the broader context of later medieval and early modern history.

17. Clermont-Tonnere's address at the National Assembly of December 23, I789, re printed in Revue des grandes journées parlementaires, ed. Gaston Lèbre and G. Labouchère, I (I897), I0.

18. See, especially, Robert Anchel, Napoléon et les Juifs (Paris, I928); and, more gen erally, my Modern Nationalism and Religion (New York, I947), passim.

19. See, for instance, the data adduced by Cecil Roth in his answer to the query, "Are the Jews Unassimilable?" Jewish Social Studies, III (I94I), 3-I4. Of the host of writings on the Nazi and other forms of anti-Semitism see Gerald Reitlinger, The Final Solution (New York, I953), and other literature cited in my article, "Anti-Semitism," which is to appear in the next revised edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

20. See Simon Dubnow, Nationalism and History: Essays on Old and New Judaism, ed., with an Introductory Essay, Koppel S. Pinson (Philadelphia, I958); Oscar I. Janowsky, The Jews and Minority Rights, I898-I9I9 (New York, I933); Jacob Robinson et al., Were the Minorities Treaties a Failure? (New York, I943).

21. See my additional remarks on "The Emancipation Movement and American Jewry" (Hebrew), Eretz-Israel, IV (I956, Ben-Zvi Jubilee Volume), 205-I4.

22. See, for instance, Leon Poliakoff (Poliakov), "An Opinion Poll on Anti-Jewish Measures in Vichy France," Jewish Social Studies XI (I949), I35-50; idem, Harvest of Hate (Syracuse, N.Y., I954); Solomon Schwarz, The Jews in the Soviet Union (Syracuse, N.Y., I95I); Peter Meyer et al., The Jews in the Soviet Satellites (Syracuse, N.Y., I953).

23. One need but refer here to the extensive debates initiated by Werner Sombart's Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben (Leipzig, I9II), which were partly reviewed, under Sombart's own supervision, by his pupil, A. Philips, in a dissertation under the same title (Berlin, I929). See also Herbert I. Bloom, The Economic Activities of the Jews of Amster dam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, and my remarks on "Modern Capitalism and Jewish Fate" Menorah Journal, XXX (I942), II6-38.

24. See my Judenfrage auf dem Wiener Kongress, esp. pp. II7 ff.

25. See the literature listed in my The Jewish Community: Its History and Structure to the American Revolution (3 vols., Philadelphia, I942), III, I90 ff.

26. The relations of the Shabbetian and Frankist movements to the progress of Jewish emancipation have been emphasized particularly by Gershom Scholem in several publica tions. Cf. especially his most recent penetrating Hebrew study of Shabbetai Zvi ("S. Z. and the Shabbetian Movement in His Lifetime") (2 vols.; Tel-Aviv, I957), and the literature listed there (II, 829 ff.).