The Roots of Modernity: The Jews of Europe in the 18th Century

This course seeks to explore the broad spectrum of experiences of European Jews during one of the most turbulent and significant centuries in the history of the Jewish people, at the dawn of the modern period. We will examine Sabbateanism, Hasidism, the Enlightenment and the Jewish haskalah, and draw upon the works of memoirists, itinerant preachers, women and children. We will read from travel narratives, eighteenth-century journals, philosophical treatises, Hasidic sermons, and theatre plays.