The Jewish Enlightenment by Feiner Shmuel; Naor Chaya;

Author:Feiner, Shmuel; Naor, Chaya;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2004-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

The Haskalah Project’s First Initiatives

As soon as he arrived in Königsberg at the end of 1781, even before he thought about embarking on an academic career, Euchel tried to promote the establishment of a modern Jewish school. The plan was published in an open letter, Sefat emet, in which Euchel anonymously appealed to the public to persuade it of the urgent need to reform traditional education in the community. He harshly criticized the lack of a practical purpose in education, neglect of the Hebrew language, and persistence of the old cultural ideal of excelling only in the Talmud. The traditional teachers had forgotten that the Bible and the Mishnah were the source of the Talmud, he asserted. Nor was it enough to observe the commandments. Man, the crowning glory of Creation, also has a duty to gain intellectual and rational knowledge about his creator. If someone could afford to hire a private tutor to guide his children on this true path, all well and good, but the ideal solution would be to establish a community school.

Euchel did not wait for an incentive in the form of Joseph II’s legislation; his proposal preceded Wessely’s program for a revolution in Jewish education by several months. Although Euchel’s plan concerned only the Königsberg community, on the local scene he was presumptuous in appealing directly to public opinion, thus circumventing the authoritative forum of the religious establishment. From this standpoint, his plan was unquestionably subversive. In Sefat emet, Euchel urged the community rabbi to abandon his indifference and to express his opinion about the state of education for Jewish youth.20 Judging from Euchel’s own testimony, his plan evoked a favorable response and the support of the Königsberg community, but the project actually failed and apparently was never implemented.21 In any event, this unprecedented attempt to democratize the decision-making process in the community and the bold initiative of a young maskil to transform the community through the introduction of an innovative enlightened educational system tell us much about Euchel’s ambitions and his resourceful strategies.

In marked contrast to the failure of his plan for a modern school, the journal Hame’asef, edited by Euchel and his colleagues in Chevrat Dorshei Leshon Ever, was very successful. From the very first issues, the editors endeavored to give their readers a sense of intimacy and of belonging to the literary republic that was taking shape. They addressed their readers directly (“to enlightened sons!”), printed their letters and the maiden works of young maskilim, shared editing and printing problems with them, sought their advice and opinions, posed riddles and questions about biblical commentary to them, and fired them with enthusiasm. The Hame’asef project was presented as an heroic endeavor to revive and rehabilitate Jewish culture, as a reformist project aimed at delivering this culture from a prolonged, profound crisis. And the readers did regard Hame’asef as the fulfillment of their wishes, made good use of the literary forum, and were glad to join the young literary republic. The letters these maskilim

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