German Jews and the University, 1678-1848

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64014-115-5
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 304 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 582 g

Reihe: Dialogue and Disjunction: Studies in Jewish German Literature, Culture & Thought

Traces the gradual opening of university education in Germany to Jews, its significance for assimilation to the bourgeoisie, and the legal restrictions that nonetheless barred Jewish graduates from most professional careers.

For centuries Jews in Germany were denied full rights and excluded from gentile society. At the same time, Jewish law restricted scholarship to exegesis of the Talmud. But from the late seventeenth century onward, as German universities progressively opened their doors to them, many Jews turned toward university studies. This process accelerated around 1800 once education (Bildung) assumed a central role for social ascent among the so-called Bildungsbürgertum (cultural bourgeoisie). Many Jews sought to benefit from the professional and social opportunities that university attendance enabled, but they soon discovered that while the state encouraged education as a means of the "moral improvement" of the Jews, it was unwilling to concede them the right to professional careers. Alienated from their ancestral religion and unwilling or unable to return to trading occupations, academized Jews often found themselves leading precarious existences. Many joined the struggle for emancipation or took up the reform of Judaism. Now available in English translation for the first time, Monika Richarz's classic study addresses the far-reaching transformation of German Jewry under the impact of university education. It traces the secularization of Jewish education, the significance of academic education for social assimilation, and the loss of Jewish solidarity with increasing acculturation and emancipation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Richarz, Monika

Weitere Mitwirkende

Bagchee, Joydeep

Feiner, Shmuel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte des Judentums (Diaspora)
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword to the English Edition

Foreword to the German Edition

Preface to the German Edition

Translator's Note

List of Abbreviations

1: Jewish Education in the Enlightenment Era

2: Jewish Encounters with the University before Emancipation

3: Jewish Students in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

4: The Social Situation of Jewish Students in the pre-1848 Era

5: The Professional Experience of Jewish University Graduates

Conclusion

Documents

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Bagchee, Joydeep
JOYDEEP BAGCHEE is a Berlin-based scholar, author, and translator. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research.

Richarz, Monika
MONIKA RICHARZ retired in 2001 as Professor and Director of the Institute for the History of German Jews, University of Hamburg.