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The Impacts of the Transformative Period on the Younger Members of the Jewish Population

Decent Essays

In order to adequately analyze the path that the Jewish community took to becoming integrated members in the majority society, it is important to look at the personal experiences of the Jewish individuals that had to continue leading their lives, despite the persistent discrimination and rejection that characterized much of their lives. Though there are many literary resources available to illustrate the experience of the Jew in the 18th and 19th centuries, the memoirs of Pauline Wengeroff, Salomon Maimon, and Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi will serve to shape the image of Jewish life after the emancipation processes were complete. The topic of this essay will be the impact of the transitional and transformative period on the younger members of the Jewish population. In other words, the focus will be on how the cultural upheavals and community modifications led to the creation of an entirely new Jewish identity, one that can be characterized by the desire to modernize and move away from the practices causing the deep chasm in society. It is critical to point out that despite the completion of legislation and actions of the government to fully emancipate the Jew, the social and cultural divides were still running rampant in society. Assimilation or acceptance into society was not a task that the government could complete simply by passing laws forbidding exclusion it was much more reliant on the attitudes and actions of individuals in what was previously considered the

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