Blog questions for september 25th

Julia Kohn

Reading: Jews: A History, pp. 231-240

1. When does the modern period in Jewish history begin? What is modernity?

The modern period began “with the onset of modernity”. Modernity means the conscious awareness of an era’s uniqueness. Modernity became this rise of “clearly visible, cultural and intellectual sensibilities that were conditioned by tangible changes in economic, political and social environment”. The products that emerged from the modern age were enlightenment, the rise of modern science, the decline of the aristocracy and absolute monarchy, and the emergence to political and economic power of the middle classes. In addition to this shift in power and the development of a democracy, modernity marked the beginning of industrialization and the rise of the factory system. Within modernity Trade, literacy and proficiency arose. The Jews had perused these developments immediately and had become the central figures in the creation of modern culture. Though all of the world had been changed forever, the Jews had been transformed into “everybody else” and had lost apart of their identity.

2. What is the Enlightenment?

Enlightenment was part of the intellectual revolution and the members and or creators apart of the enlightenment era consisted of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Kant. This philosophy essentially rejected religious and traditional “truths”.  They created new economic, political and social structures for the greater good and gave rise to the concept of individualism over tradition. Its purpose was to reform society using reason and advance society through modern science.