Skip to main content
This course is archived
Course date
July 1–21, 1997
Location
Budapest
Application deadline
Course delivery
In-person

From the end of the eighteenth century up until the twentieth century, traditional Jewish society was challenged by new Jewish ideologies. The Haskala (the Jewish Enlightenment), religious Reform and Jewish Nationalism all prodded Jews to step "out of the ghetto" and posed alternative visions of how Jewish identity and Judaism was to be defined in the modern era. While these movements have often been analyzed, this course views them from an unconventional perspective--that of the traditional sectors of Jewish society. As such, the history of Jewish "tradition in crisis" can be seen as a case-study how modernization takes place in the context of a specific tradition. While the traditionalists response is the primary focus of the course, hopefully a better understanding of the modernizing challenge should also emerge. Both the transformation of tradition and how that tradition shaped the very contours of the challenge are examined through close textual study of primary sources (in English translation). The focus of the course on the traditional sector has a twofold aim: it provides a unique perspective on Jewish modernization and it presents the opportunity to acquaint the student with basic elements of Jewish tradition and society. The course begins with a description of traditional Jewish society just before the beginning of the modern era in the middle of the eighteenth century. Two movements posed a challenge to traditional society, one in the East, Hasidism, and one in the West, the Jewish Enlightenment or Haskala. The first third of the course will be devoted to the innovations introduced by these two movements and the response of the traditional establishment. In the process of reacting to these challenges, traditional society was itself transformed. The next meetings will be devoted to the challenge posed by the Reform movement and the responses it elicited from what can now be called the Orthodox camp-as opposed to traditional Jewry-in the period 1820-1880. Besides a mainstream Orthodoxy whose foremost champion was the Hungarian rabbi Moses Sofer, two wings developed later to the left and the right-Neo-Orthodoxy and Ultra-Orthodoxy. Neo-Orthodoxy, whose most representative figure was Samson Raphael Hirsch, originated in Germany and sought a synthesis between modern secular culture and Orthodox Judaism. Ultra-Orthodoxy, which developed in Hungary in reaction to the solution proposed by Neo-Orthodoxy, urged segregation and withdrawal from the modern world. Both in Germany and Hungary, the Orthodox Jews seceded from communities which were not under their control. The response of traditional Jews to Jewish nationalism is the subject of the next sessions. Jewish nationalism arose after 1880 in Eastern Europe. Initially, it was greeted warmly by a section of traditional Jewry. But as the issue of identity and culture came to the fore in the Zionist movement, many rabbis turned vehemently against Zionism and later, the Jewish state. Despite this, there were those who early on sought to combine religion and Zionism-Mizrachi-and one present-day offshoot has been frequently in the news in the last decade and a half-Gush Emunim. The last sessions are devoted to changes within modern-day Orthodoxy. In the process of modernisation and the fight against the forces of modernity, even the most ultra-Orthodox have undergone interesting changes. They have developed new institutions such as newspapers, political parties, and have innovated in such traditional areas as the rabbinate and the yeshivot. Both Israel and the United States are analysed. Books used extensively Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The .Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History (NY and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952).

Completed CEU Summer University Application Form

We strongly advise the use of Google Chrome to enable the full functionality of the form.

Notes:

  • You may apply to a maximum of two summer courses. In case of being admitted, you can only attend both if the two courses do not overlap in time.
  • If you applied to CEU before, please use your existing login and password to start a new application. If you do not remember your password from last year click on Forgotten Password. With technical problems, bugs, or errors related to the online application forms please contact the CEU IT Help Desk.
  • Right after login, please select the ”Summer University” radio button from the "Type of course" list, and leave all other fields empty.
  • All application materials must be submitted with the online application form(s). Materials sent by postal mail, electronic mail, or fax are not considered.
  • The maximum allowable file size for upload is 2MB per file and the acceptable file formats are PDF, JPG, and JPEG. Ensure all security features (e.g. passwords and encryption) are removed from the documents before uploading them.
  • Applications cannot be edited after submission. Please submit your application only when it is 100% final and complete.
  • Further user instructions for the online application are included in the form itself. Should you have questions regarding the application form, check the relevant Frequently Asked Questions.
  • Applications submitted after the deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Inquiries

If you need help or more information during the application process, please feel free to contact the SUN staff via email.

Notification

The SUN Office will notify applicants about the selection results in April. Please check the 'Dates and deadlines' section on the relevant course websites for notification deadlines planned earlier or later. The final decision is not open to appeal.