Among the many manifestations of medieval European antisemitism was the blood libel – the infamous false accusations of ritual murder which were used against Jewish communities for a millennium, resulting in many innocent Jewish lives lost and a climate of fear and danger surrounding the Pesach holiday. Directly related to the Christian holiday of Easter, the specific accusation of ritual murder developed in England in 1144, with the first recorded blood libel surrounding the death of William of Norwich. It soon spread to continental Europe, and remains to this day in some parts of the world. Aside from the challenges inherent in confronting the blood libel itself, many seminal events in Jewish history had their roots in a blood libel, such that it has cemented itself as a tragic component of the collective Jewish experience.    

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Rav Yosef Chaim (1835-1909), better known by his popular work Ben Ish Chai, was an important leader of the Baghdad Jewish community of the 19th century, whose influence reached across the Ottoman Empire and beyond. Having grown up in the rabbinical aristocracy of Baghdad, he succeeded his father’s position in 1859, serving the Jewish community for the next half century. This was primarily through his masterful oratorical skills, which he delivered twice daily, every Shabbos and on special occasions to the entire community. He wrote tens of works on the entire gamut of Torah literature, and financed his own publication costs to have them printed in Jerusalem. He made a historic journey to the Land of Israel in 1869, and at the end of his life inspired the Calcutta based philanthropist Yosef Avraham Shalom to fund the establishment of the famed Porat Yosef yeshiva. His innovative halachic methodology influences the world of Sephardic psak until today.

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External forces of the modern era such as political & economic changes, emancipation, the collapse of the kahal autonomy, technological advancement, wars, urbanization & immigration, led to the mass secularization of the Jewish People in the modern era. Conversely Orthodoxy was defined and strengthened through confronting its struggles during this time. Many non-orthodox internal Jewish movements arose over the course of the 18th-20th centuries, each one attempting to redefine Jewish identity in the modern era. While most Jews secularized and assimilated, various internal Jewish movements from Reform & Haskala to Jewish nationalism, attempted to create an alternative sense of Jewish identity for modern times.

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The secularization of the Jewish People in the modern era really begins as a slow but growing trend within the communities of the Spanish Jewish diaspora of northern Europe in the 16th century. In the pre modern era, the legally backed autonomy of the Kahal – the Jewish autonomous communal structure, ensured that at least externally and superficially, the Jewish individual maintained a nominal Jewish religious identity and mode of observance. With the advent of the modern era, the rise of the nation-state, with its view of the individual citizen as an entity, the kahal lost its autonomous jurisdiction, religious affiliation was no longer the sole arbiter of identity, and secularism became possible for the first time in European history. As religious observance became a matter of personal choice, this voluntary association emerged as a defensive posture, which ultimately strengthened orthodox identity. Changes in legislation – especially emancipation and compulsory education laws – and the massive immigration to the United States at the turn of the 19th & 20th centuries, led to large swaths of Jewry embracing secularization in a growing trend which was bereft of ideology, leadership or a formal platform. It was rather a function of modernity, and its reality of integration into surrounding society.

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The modern era brought many external changes which challenged the centuries old Jewish communal structure. Political change, emancipation, wars, revolution, economic development, technological advancement, the industrial revolution, urbanization, immigration and other external forces, all contributed towards a growing trend of secularization among the general European as well as the Jewish population. This convergence of factors and the movement towards secularization threatened the religious status quo.

            Internal Jewish movements such as Jewish Haskala, Reform, Neolog and others arose in Germany, Galicia, Russia & Hungary, which sought to redefine Jewish identity in the modern era, and make it more compatible to integrate into an emancipated European society. Religious figures from the traditional establishment struggled with these new movements, redefining Orthodoxy in the process. Orthodoxy in the modern era came to define Jewish identity through its very struggle with modernity. Its combative confrontation with rival Jewish movements regarding the new means of defining Jewish identity in the modern era strengthened Orthodoxy, and paved the way for the flourishing of Orthodoxy as a movement in the modern era.

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At the dawn of the 18th century, the overwhelming majority of the Jewish People were religiously observant in the traditional sense. By mid-20th century, the overwhelming majority of the Jewish People practiced a decidedly secular lifestyle. How and why did this secularization take place? This new series launched on Jewish History Soundbites will explore this topic in this and upcoming episodes, and provide definitive answers to this important historical question.

            Over the course of the 18th-19th centuries there emerged internal Jewish movements in Germany, Galicia & Russia who advocated for changes within the Jewish communal, educational & religious structure. Haskala, Reform and others rose to prominence on the Jewish scene and prompted a long and combative response from the Orthodox establishment. Though it may be enticing to suppose that it was these internal Jewish movements which were the cause of secularization, in reality this was not the case. Secularization was almost exclusively caused by primarily external factors, all of which were distinctive features of the modern era. Political changes, emancipation, legislative changes, economic changes, technological advancements, the industrial revolution, wars, revolutions, urbanization, immigration trends, colonialism & other external factors of modernity, all combined to generate a silent trend towards secularization. This was a movement without ideology, platform or leadership. It was a reality of growing secularization which was a direct result of the modern era and its challenges.

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Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/

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As someone who experienced the upheavals of both the Thirty Years War, as well as the Khmelnytsky uprisings of 1648-49 (Tach Vitat), Rav Yomtov Lipman Heller (1579-1654) lived and led his people during an auspicious time. Much of his early rabbinical career was spent in Prague. Much of his travails were recorded by him, in a unique and rare rabbinical autobiography entitled Megillas Eivah. As the author of many popular Torah publications, he was accused of blasphemy against the Church in one of his writings and was arrested on trumped up charges. This was due to dissent within his own community regarding a progressive income tax which was imposed by the imperial authorities in order to fund the Thirty Years War. He was arrested and initially sentenced to death, but ultimately his sentence was reduced to a hefty fine, as well as foregoing his rabbinical position in Prague. He was later restored to his glory as rabbi of Krakow, where he spent his last years rehabilitating the community in the wake of the Khmelnytsky massacres. As a protection against future tragedies, he famously composed a special Mi Shebeirach to be recited in honor of those who abstain from talking in shul.

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With its origins in 19th century Poland, Lelov is unique among Chassidic dynasties due to its migrating to Ottoman Jerusalem in 1851. Rav David Biderman established the dynasty in Lelov, Poland, and his son Rav Moshe, immigrated to the Land of Israel towards the end of his life. The successive generations of Biderman’s had a decisive impact on the development of the Chassidic Old Yishuv of Yerushalayim, but as a formal Chassidic dynasty, it greatly differed from its counterparts in Eastern Europe. Lelov also forged a close connection with the Karlin community and its leadership, and the Lelov rebbes were often viewed as proxies of the Karlin Rebbes. With later generations of Lelov Rebbes often visiting and even residing in Poland, and especially with the move of the Lelov Rebbe Rav Moshe Mordechai Biderman to Tel Aviv and later Bnei Brak, it leads to the conclusion that Lelov is neither Polish nor Yerushalmy, but rather between Poland and Yerushalayim.

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The majestic and beautiful edifice of the Tiferes Yisrael Shul, also known as the Nisan Bak shul after its founder and leader, stood as the central shul of the Chassidic Old Yishuv of Yerushalayim, from its establishment in 1872, until its ultimate destruction by the Jordanians in 1948. The project was initially spearheaded by Rav Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin, known as the Holy Ruzhiner, who headed the Chassidic Kollel Vohlyn, with the members of the Bak family at its head. Upon completion the shul was named for the Ruzhiner, and it served the needs of the Yerushalayim Chassidic community in the ensuing decades.

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Someone whose Talmudic commentary has completely dominated Torah study for four centuries, Rav Shmuel Eliezer Aidel’s (circa 1555-1631), better known as the Maharsha, emerged as a leading rabbinical figure and teacher during the golden age of Polish Jewry in the late 16th & early 17th centuries. Financially supported by his mother in law Aidel for many years, the Maharsha was able to both teach Torah to his students, as well as author his all-encompassing commentary to both the the Halachic as well as Aggadic passages of the entire Shas. Following his mother in law’s passing, he assumed several successive rabbinical positions, before finally settling in the prominent community of Ostroh, where he remained until his passing. There he opened a yeshiva, and served the needs of the community. He also served in a broader leadership capacity within the autonomous governing council known as the Vaad Ha’arbah Aratzos – the Council of the Four Lands, recognized by the government in the old Polish Kingdom. The Maharsha’s influence on Torah scholarship remains prominent until this very day.

Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/

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