The Haskalah and the making of the, “New Jew”

The 18th century ushered Europe out of religious wars and sprawling empires into rapid economic, political and ideological change. Rulers of newly formed states sought to create stable economies through mercantilism and capitalism. Emancipation became the buzzword of the 18th and 19th centuries transforming subjects ruled by divine right, into citizens of a State. The period is most remembered as the age of Enlightenment due to the proliferation of new ideas by philosophers. In this new world, philosophy, reason and tolerance became the new religion creating what Jewish historian Emanuel Kantz termed a, “semi neutral society.” Where society had once been strictly delineated by religion and class,