Jillian Rubin
Jews in the Modern World
Professor Lessees
September 14, 2008
The political and religious points of view vary from Howard Sachar’s The Jew as Non-Europeans and Jacob Katz’s “Traditional Jewish society and modern society”. Both people have different ideas regarding Jewish life in Europe and the way in which it should be interpreted. After reading these two articles it was very clear that these two individuals do not agree on the way Jewish life was in Europe.
Howard Sachar spends a great deal on the way Jews were treated in Europe during this time period. He describes the poor conditions in which the Jews had to live. Jews lived in ghettos such as Frankfurt-am-Main and other comparable ghettos in other tows that were found throughout Western Central Europe. In his opinion, ghettos were a main part of Jewish life even into modern times. The Jews who lived in Western Central Europe for the most part were descendents from ancestors who had already lived in Europe. Religiously, the Jews who lived in Europe were seen as being below the Christians who lived there during this time. During the 14th century the bubonic plague occurred. More Jews than gentiles survived the plague, which consequently caused turmoil within the Christian community in Europe during the time. Sachar believes that there were graphic expressions of Jew hatred that dated back to around the 14th century. Politically, the Jews had problems in Europe as well. Local and state governments would limit Jews to vocations that were normally given to gentiles.
Katz has a different idea on Jewish life during this time. He describes in a good amount of detail the difference between traditional and nontraditional society. He says that a traditional society justifies its way of life by the value of tradition, and modern society the past changes from sphere to sphere. From a theoretical perspective, there is no real distinction between spheres of activity. Katz believes that every traditional Jewish community will accept the rabbinic Jewish tradition. In a traditional society, education is an important part of children’s lives because it gives them knowledge of their religion. Education in traditional societies main goal is to convey traditional values from generation to generation.
Both individuals have different ideas about Jewish life in Europe. Sachar believes that Jews had a very terrible life because they had to live in ghettos; therefore they were not given very much freedom. However, Katz spends a great amount of time describing the differences between traditional and modern societies and the Jews role in each of these societies.