Blog questions for September 25th

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

The modern Jewish history begins with the onset of modernity. Modernity is the state of conscious recognition that the present is unique, original, and meaningfully different from previous eras. Modernity saw the rise of a clear and undisputed cultural and intellectual change in economic, political, and social environments. Modernity reaches across such a cast time range because intellectual sensibilities are not vastly different from those in recent years.

2. What is the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment was a time where social order inspired an intellectual revolution. The Enlightenment was led by many French philosophers who proposed changing society completely based on reason, progress, and faith in humankind. There was a new focus on logic and science, rather than pure religion. These philosophers wanted a world in which people rejected "truths" told to them by traditional religion and instead created new structures based  upon personal experience and common sense.