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Jewish assimilation

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The term Jewish Assimilation refers to a movement that began among Ashkenazi Jews in 18th century Europe, which encompasses outward social, cultural and genetic processes, as well as internal religious processes and events. It fostered assimilation and integration of the previously segregated European Jews into predominantly Christian Europe and later, the wider world. It was made legally possible because of the emancipation, which followed the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. Prior to that the laws of their host countries prohibited Jews from participating in various occupations, and from enjoying the privileges of citizenship.

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The term Jewish Assimilation refers to a movement that began among Ashkenazi Jews in 18th century Europe, which encompasses outward social, cultural and genetic processes, as well as internal religious processes and events. It fostered assimilation and integration of the previously segregated European Jews into predominantly Christian Europe and later, the wider world. It was made legally possible because of the emancipation, which followed the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. Prior to that the laws of their host countries prohibited Jews from participating in various occupations, and from enjoying the privileges of citizenship. Assimilation developed outwardly following Haskala, the Jewish Enlightenment. German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn argued that the separate language, clothing, diet and customs of the Jews were preventing them from participating in the Enlightenment and Mercantilism that had been altering the feudal system in the countries whose rulers had granted permission or even encouraged the Jews to live in. The changes that assimilation made to Judaism resulted in a schism between the religious practices (called Reform Judaism) of the assimilated and traditional or Orthodox Judaism. Reform Judaism adapted practices from Christian Protestant services, including eliminating most use of Hebrew (at the time a dead language, only used in the Torah scrolls, religious services, and Talmud study.) Also eliminated were the wearing of head coverings (yarmulkes), phylacteries (tefillin), prayer shawls (tallitot), fringes (tzitzit), and earlocks (payis). Also modified was the number of times a day that devout Jews were expected to pray, and the requirement to follow kosher dietary laws. Later, in an attempt to bridge the differences between Reform and Orthodox, a third branch called Conservative Judaism developed that retained more of the orthodox traditions but allowed for deviations as may be needed to integrate. The schism resulted in Orthodox Rabbis not recognizing marriages performed by Reform and Conservative Rabbis. Jewish assimilation began among Ashkenazi Jews on an extensive scale towards the end of the 18th century in Western Europe, especially Germany. Reasons cited for its initial success included hope for better opportunities accompanying assimilation into the non-Jewish European communities, especially among the upper classes. Although some laws were changed and had allowed assimilation to flourish, the history of European antisemitism, which often had resulted from church and state actions, was not as easily forgotten. Both the Christian and Jewish communities were divided concerning answers to what was known as "the Jewish question.” The question, coming during the rise of nationalism in Europe, included the extent to which each nation could integrate its Jewish citizens, and if not integrated, how should they be treated and the question solved. As an alternative to a more liberal practice of Judaism, assimilation also took the form of conversion to Christianity. None of the descendants of Moses Mendelssohn retained their Jewish religion. However, anti-Semites often imagined even converts from the Jewish religion and their descendants to still possess inherited Jewish traits that the anti-Semites considered "undesirable," and inferior to "native" citizens. Assimilated Jews often did not achieve the acceptance that they were hoping assimilation would provide. This antisemitism led Jews to philosophical questions of Jewish identity and Who is a Jew?. The propriety of assimilation, and various paths toward it were among the earliest internal debates of the emancipation era, including whether and to what extent Jews should relinquish their right to uniqueness in return for civic equality. These debates initially took place within the diaspora, a population with a revered historical Biblical homeland, but without a state of their own for nearly two thousand years. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions in eastern Europe (particularly Russia and Poland) convinced many Jews to emigrate to the United States. (In Germany, where Jewish assimilation got its start, Jewish integration into the Army and other occupations was successful. It was not until the rise of fascism that German Jewish assimilation failed horribly.) In America traditional disabilities were generally absent but they faced many different challenges of acculturation. In the early 20th century there was social discrimination against Jews in certain quarters., with many universities and professions barred to them or with a quota limit. Preserved within the concept of assimilation are traces of the original struggle between the Reform Judaism and Orthodox movements over the future form of a modern and sustainable Jewish religious consciousness. Also included are the later political debates about a modern and sustainable nationalist consciousness, and conflicting aspirations of a separate nationalism and Jewish assimilation. Assimilation, however, was met by anti-Semitism in Europe. It split into a competing non-assimilationist diaspora nationalism, known as Zionism, in the belief that all Jews might realize a secure and separate national religious identity. In the early 20th century the predominantly secular Zionist movement and its supporters began immigrating and purchasing land in Palestine for Jewish settlements. Although some religious Jews had continued to live in Palestine since the Roman exile, the Arab majority became increasingly concerned over the effects of the purchases and the increasing Zionist settlement. During World War I, both Jews and Arabs assisted the British to defeat the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with Germany. As inducements for their cooperation, Britain made conflicting promises to both Arabs and Jews about their post war independence as well as British post-war plans; these included the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, the Sykes–Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. Following the Holocaust, and the failure of the European assimilation model, in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 replaced the British Mandate over Palestine with a partition of Palestine into two independent states, one Arab and one Jewish, and a Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. The debate continues on Jewish assimilation and the internal questions which it raises both within the diaspora and in the state of Israel that emerged from that 1948 U.N. resolution and the subsequent Arab-Israeli wars. It is noteworthy to mention that, because many un-assimilated European Jews were long not considered as citizens of their host nations, "being Jewish" can refer to either observing the Jewish religion or being a product of a Jewish culture.