Atarah Leyoshnah: Restore Judaism to Its Pristine Splendor: The Struggle to Establish Haskalah Judaism by Moshe Pelli (review)

In this book, Atarah Leyoshnah, Moshe Pelli goes back to the beginnings, returning to the first generation of the Haskalah. In the first section of the book, Pelli expounds major trends of early enlightenment in Europe and its influence on Jewish thinkers. These thinkers learned from their non-Jewish forerunners but did not become a reflection of them. They sought to introduce enlightenment to the Judengasse by connecting to traditions rather than adopting new modern doctrines. Their goal—as the title of the book indicates—was to “restore Judaism to its pristine splendour”. They definitely wanted to alleviate some religious restrictions, but within the scope of halakah, not against it. Another major objective was the education—reform of the Jewish education. This meant for them moving away from intensive Talmud-study, and turning to the Bible, ethics, and Hebrew as well as acquiring general knowledge in science, languages, and professions. Being religious themselves and deeply rooted in Jewish life, these first Maskilim turned to the Rabbis with their concerns, but found no attentive ear.

In granting European Enlightenment and its influence on Jewish Maskilim a whole section, one might get the impression that the Haskalah was initiated “from outside.” However, Pelli calls our attention to changes within the Jewish communities, especially in Western Europe, which started as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though they were gradual. In Amsterdam the Marranos had contact with the Jewish communities. These Marranos led a moderately secular life, meaning, choosing not to keep the commandments strictly. Contact with these ex-Spanish Jews, as well as the confusion caused by the movement of Shabbtai Zvi and Jakob Frank, contributed a lot to paving the way for the Haskalah.

From the beginning, the Maskilim polemicized against the newly arisen movement of the Chassidim, seeing them, not unlike the Mithnagdim, as a danger for Judaism. They fought them with cynical pamphlets and books, especially decrying their rampant superstitions. Pelli notes that this literature cannot be taken as a sign of the beginning of secularization. As stated above, abandoning the commandments started much earlier, and the early Maskilim sought to get the consent of the Rabbis for the alleviation of some restrictions. They called for meetings to discuss this matter, calling the Rabbis teachers and wise men. Pelli is not sure whether this was mere lip service. The Maskilim wanted to stress how deeply rooted they were within traditional Judaism. However, the Rabbis apparently did not trust their claims and so they ignored them. The verbal exchange between certain Maskilim and some Rabbis was quite extensive. In Atarah Leyoshnah Pelli describes and analyses the works of most of the early prominent Maskilim providing us with a thorough insight into these discussions, thus, enabling us to understand how the Maskilim displayed their profound knowledge to maintain their claim that all the alterations they pleaded for were within the realms of halakah.

Pelli argues that by leaning toward expressions and form of rabbinical way of expression, the early Maskilim were employing effective tactics to attract youngsters who were still indecisive about which way to go. On the other hand, as he states, it was quite natural that the Maskilim would choose and use domains with which they were familiar. He asks further, whether they had a clear plan to follow and claims that most probably they did not. However, their fight for changes shows a clear direction. Pelli mentions these changes: in addition to being knowledgeable in Jewish matters and studies, the Rabbi should also have a thorough secular educational background. Furthermore, Maskilim felt free to show a way in halakah, thus showing their profound knowledge in halakah and demonstrating their ability to decide halakic questions. Hebrew language was another concern of the Haskalah. The Maskilim advocated the use of Hebrew language in accordance with Leibnitz, who argued that language is the mirror of the soul. Rejuvenating Hebrew was...