German-Jewish History in Modern Times. Vol. 1: Tradition and Enlightenment, 1600-1780 (review)

144 SHOFAR Summer 1998 Vol. 16, No.4 The new conditions under French authority since 1794 are also described by the author in detail. She discusses the problems oflegal, economic and social restructuring ofthe Jewish population ofthe Saar departements and in particular detail the actual end of the Emancipation of the Jews under Napoleonic rule: in particular, the practice of awarding trade licenses to Jews, the integration in a new consistory constitution, the advancement ofthe idea ofeducating the Jews to be "better" people, and also the hatred of the Jews by the non-Jewish population that was already present before Napoleonic rule, so that the idea of an equal status ofstate citizenship for Jews and Christians could not be carried through. Still, however, the French laws brought about a change of thinking for the Jews. The equality of the French Revolution legislation which lasted only a few years made an indelible impression on the Jews; it recognizably strengthened their self-consciousness and prompted them to self-conscious behavior. Despite this, however, their living condition, in social and economic terms, changed only insignificantly. Legal emancipation mobilized wide and open opposition from a large part ofthe non-Jewish population, so that in the end social integration and the hoped-for equality failed to materialize. The author rightly maintains that anti-Jewish behavior has to be interpreted as essentially more than merely a form of social protest or indirect criticism ofauthority. Such anti-Jewish behavior was very much an expression ofearlier and traditional Christian-Jewish difference. The removal of communal autonomy and its integration into a net of state supervision had significant consequences. At last, for the first time there came a polarization of urban and rural Jewry, as it would be characterized in the nineteenth century. This work also presents, with excellent cartographic and tabular material, the inner Jewish developments as well, including microhistorical details of individual families, and represents a suitable basis for further research about the Emancipation process. J. Friedrich Battenberg Hessische Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (review translated by Dean Bell of DePaul University) German-;-Jewish History in Modern Times. Vol. 1: Tradition and Enlightenment, 1600-1780, by Mordechai Breuer and Michael Graetz, translated by William Templer. Michael A. Meyer, series editor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. 435 pp. $50.00. It has for some time now been unthinkable, if not imprudent, to write the kind of sweeping monumental histories that once stood at the center of the academic study of Book Reviews 145 Judaism. Even before the fmalvolumes of Salo Baron's Social and Religious History ofthe Jews were published, Jewish historical writing had taken on a very different form. More and more, those doing original research in Jewish history disseminated their work in highly focused and relatively narrow monographs that concentrated on a specific thinker or text or period. Rather than subsuming the historical particulars in the broad sweep of a trans-historical narrative, scholars began to favor the notion that the larger picture would ultimately be far better understood if attention was given to the nuance and complexity of historical particulars. As the field of Jewish history matured and became professionalized, sub-specialization of scholarship became the norm, and the notion that any single scholar could produce a truly broad synthetic work was all but impossible. When such tomes were produced-the works of Robert Seltzer and H. H. Ben-Sasson come to mind-they tended to be highly compressed surveys, that, while very useful for undergraduate education, did not really serve the scholarly community as a comprehensive and authoritative contribution. There is still much interest in producing broad scholarly syntheses, and in recent decades a number of projects of this kind were launched. Like other contemporary endeavors in this genre, German-Jewish History in Modern Times is characterized by two concessions to modem historiographical realities: this projected four-volume work is comprehensive only within a circumscribed ~eo-cultural context, and it is the product ofnumerous scholars, each one assigned a section ofhis or her own expertise. The first volume, Tradition and Enlightenment, 1600-1780, demonstrates the many strengths and some weaknesses ofthis undertaking. Overall, though, it must be said that if this tome is any indication, the...