• January 14, 2025
  • 14 5785, Tevet
  • פרשת שמות

Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3

Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3

Join Rabbi Jeffrey Saks for an overview of major topics in Modern Jewish history, including Emancipation and Enlightenment, and their impacts on Jewish life, culture, and observance; Zionism and the State; Modern anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. This ambitious agenda will be pursued through an encounter with primary sources, and with thinking about how our lives as contemporary, religious Jews is affected by the events of the past 250 years.

October 12, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 1
Class description

JEWS IN RUSSIA: THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT: Intro to the new round of classes in Modern Jewish History – turning our attention to the East

October 19, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 2
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HASKALA IN THE EAST:

October 26, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 3
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CANTONISTS: In attempting to offer solutions to the “Jewish Question” some governments offered carrots, others sticks (before just resorting to mass annihilation). Among the more bitter sticks were Jewish juvenile recruits to the Russian Army – the so-called Cantonist system.

November 2, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 4
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SECULAR EDUCATION IN RUSSIA: Further on the attempted forced haskala of Russian Jewry (19th century). The sad tale of Max Lilianthal in Russia.

Handouts
November 16, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 5
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ANTISEMITISM IN RUSSIA:

Handouts
November 23, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 6
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KISHINEV POGROM & BIALIK: Jumping ahead a bit, but staying within the discussion of anti-Semitism – a look at Bialik’s famous poem on the 1903 Kishinev pogrom (see here for background). For a full English translation of the poem see here.

November 30, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 7
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ANTISEMITISM IN THE WEST:

Handouts
December 14, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 8
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THE DREYFUS AFFAIR: Perhaps one of the most infamous chapters in modern European anti-Semitism – with profound impact. Full text of J’Accuse in English at: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/J’accuse

Handouts
December 21, 2010 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jews, Judaism, and Modernity Part 3: Lesson 9
Class description

THE ADVENT OF ZIONISM: Some concluding thoughts on the series – from the yellow star to the Blue & White.

Handouts

Rabbi Jeffrey Saks is the founding director of ATID – The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, in Jerusalem, and its WebYeshiva.org program. He is the Editor of the journal Tradition, Series Editor of The S.Y. Agnon Library at The Toby Press, and Director of Research at the Agnon House in Jerusalem. A three-time graduate of Yeshiva University (BA, MA, Semicha), Rabbi Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature (see https://www.webyeshiva.org/rabbisaks/).