Questions for 9/25

2. What is the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment took place over the late 17^th and 18^th centuries and encompassed a movement of intellectual thought within the European continent. Many of the philosophers prominent in the 1600s like, Locke, Newton, Smith, Voltaire, greatly influenced the birth of the Enlightenment. Surrounded by ideas of progression and rationality, leaders of the Enlightenment brought society back from the Dark Ages. Scientific thought and challenges to authority through reason were prominent ideas brought about by the Enlightenment; along with the basis for economic systems like capitalism. This revolution of thought established the framework for which the American and French revolutions would be based on.

6. Some Jews, among both the lower classes and the wealthy, converted to Christianity – why did they do this?

There were various reasons as to why Jews, in the lower and wealthy class, converted to Christianity. As the European economic environment shifted many of the jobs Jews were accustomed to having were no longer available. This is mostly due to laws that were anti-Semitic, which in turn caused some poor Jews to convert in order to find work and raise their position on the social totem pole. Within the family, some fathers wanted their children to live successful and happy lives instead of following the rigid structures of Judaism. Some of the Jewish upper class women, like Rahel Varnhagen, believed a higher education was essential to their lives. The Jewish religion did allow for much female movement outside the home, which is key to getting a legitimate higher education.