In the last one
hundred years, among the many topics included in the study of Jewish
history, "Emancipation" has been one of the favorite ones. In a
recent scholarly anthology "The Modern Jewish Experience - A
Reader's Guide", David Weinberg, Professor of History at Bowling
Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, observes: "Whether
because of ideological preference, the lack of a suitable
alternative model, or simple inertia, it is unlikely that
Emancipation will soon be dethroned, as the central topic of the
study and teaching of modern Jewish history."1
In my paper I will briefly introduce the subject "Emancipation" and
then continue with several specific historical examples that will
demonstrate some of the unique features that characterize the tough
road to Emancipation in Hungary. This paper, even in its final form,
is a preliminary study, based on primary sources and archival
documents that will lead to a more comprehensive analysis of the
Emancipation of Hungarian Jewry.
The term "Emancipation" in modern Jewish historiography refers to
the "legal processes by which Jews acquired civil and political
rights in their countries of residence." The original phrase, as was
pointed out by scholars of subsequent generations, originates from
Roman law where it meant "the liberation of a son from the authority
of his father and his attainment of independent legal status." While
the word "Emancipation" referring to granting equal rights to Jews
gained popularity in the 1830s and 1840s, until then only the
betterment of their situation, namely the "amelioration" of their
civil status (bürgerliche Verbessenung) was mentioned. This
technical term was introduced in 1781 by Christian Wilhelm von Dohm
(1751-1820) a German historian, economist and diplomat. Many a
historian follow Simon Dubnow's dating and division of Jewish
Emancipation who considered the French Revolution (1789) as the
starting point. I agree with Jacob Katz, the "dean" of late
twentieth century Jewish historians who would antedate the movement
to the 1781 publication of Dohm's pamphlet "Über die bürgerliche
Verbesserung der Juden" (Concerning the Amelioration of the Civil
Status of the Jews).2
The long and often painful road that led to Emancipation for
Hungarian Jews started in the 1780s. Hungary's new ruler, Joseph II,
who refused to wear the crown of St. Stephen, decided to break the
power of the Diet, the Free Royal Cities and the "Almighty" Catholic
Church. His Edict of Toleration in 1781 (Edictum Tolerationae) was
the first and perhaps the best known of religious edicts that
extended the "free practice" of religions to all confessions, though
quite a few of the restrictions were still in practice. This
specific edict does not deal with Jews, but only with Protestants
and members of the Greek Orthodox Church. A few months later, the "Edict
of Tolerance" was issued, one of the first in a series of edicts
concerning the Jewish subjects of Joseph II. The Edict of Tolerance,
promulgated on January 2, 1782 was a quite lengthy document
consisting of twenty-five paragraphs. It is clear that the Emperor
did not issue the edict to emancipate his Jewish subjects; rather he
granted more rights to them in order to make them "useful and
serviceable to the State, mainly through better education and
enlightenment of its youth as well as by directing them to the
sciences, the arts and the crafts."3
The Jews were considered small players in the Emperor's master plan
"to convert the multifaceted monarchy into a single province equal
in all its institutions and responsibilities...a single mass of
people all equally subject to impartial guidance." The first
paragraph of the edict clearly states the price the Jewish community
must pay for the privileges promised.
It certainly is not at all Our supreme wish herewith to grant the
Jews residing in Vienna an expansion [of rights] with respect to
external tolerance [Duldung]. On the contrary, in the future it will
remain that they do not constitute an actual community under a
designated leader from their own nation, but as hitherto each family,
considered separately, will serenely enjoy the protection of the
laws of the land in accordance with the tolerance [Duldung]
specifically given it by Our government of Lower Austria. Further,
as hitherto they will not be allowed public religious worship or
public synagogues; they will not be permitted to establish their own
press for the printing of prayer books and other Hebrew books, but
when necessary they are to turn to available printing presses in
Bohemia; should they wish to import Jewish books from foreign lands,
which in general is forbidden, they are accordingly obligated in
each such instance, to apply for permission and, like all other
subjects, to submit imported books to the censor.4
On March 31, 1783 the "Systematica Gentis Judaicae Regulatio" was
proclaimed. This decree promises privileges if and when the Jews are
willing to give up their special status of being a state within the
State. In every official document and communication Jews should use
the language of the province; neither Hebrew, except for liturgical
use at worship services, (excepta duntaxat cultu Divino) nor Yiddish
(jüdisch-deutsch) will be allowed. Jewish subjects will be given two
years to master those official languages. Preference is given to
three languages: Hungarian, Latin and German. Paragraph 4/d mentions
spoken languages such as German, Hungarian and "Sclavonica" or
Slavic, though it was not yet determined that all of these languages
will be taught in the new school system. Joseph II and his
administration do not hide their desire namely "the speedy
extermination of Jewish languages". Again Hebrew books that are used
at services or for a specific ritual purpose will be exempt.
Otherwise printing or even importing Hebrew, Yiddish or just books
that use Hebrew characters should be severely and absolutely
prohibited.
Special emphasis is put on education and on reforming the Jewish
school system. The document refers to the "well-known obstinacy and
natural prejudice" Jews possess that will cause difficulties in the
implementation of the Emperor's plans. Joseph II expects that the
Rabbis and Elders of the Jewish community should encourage their
people to carry out these ordinances especially those that concern
education. If Jewish children decide to attend Christian schools,
they do not have to learn catechism but they should receive
instruction in the Jewish faith instead. The tutor must be paid by
the parents of the Jewish children. Ten years following the
proclamation, no Jewish person age twenty-five or younger will be
allowed to conduct any business or conduct any commercial activity
unless he completed the educational requirements at one of these
officially approved schools.
On a positive note, the "Systematica Gentis Judaicae Regulatio"
opened up the universities for Hungarian Jewish youths and eased for
them the regulations concerning apprenticeship for craftsmen, and
subsequently for joining guilds. Joseph II warns Christian artisans
and craftsmen to show understanding towards their Jewish apprentices.
Special mention is made about their dietary requirements that should
be honored.
The last of the ordinances numbered section 13 is most interesting.
The "distinguishing marks [distinctiva signa], that separate the
Jewish Nation from others should be abolished." The ordinance
mentions as one of these marks, the beard, but very likely it meant
the "peot" or side-locks. In exchange for abandoning all the outer
signs of their religion" Joseph II would allow them to carry a sword
and promises them protection against any disturbance or violation of
their rights guaranteed by the law.5
In addition to the royal decrees, there were genuine efforts by
well-intentioned Magyars of the Enlightenment who argued vehemently
for the Emancipation of the Jews. Most of their writings appeared in
brief pamphlets such as the one authored by Janos Nagyvathy
(1755-1819), one of the first compilers of Hungarian agricultural
manuals.
If we dare to found our faith upon the Jewish Bible, and if we dare,
and even like, to sing Jewish Psalms in our churches, we have no
reason to exclude Jewish people from society on grounds of their [different]
customs, nor to collect from them taxes for toleration of their very
existence. And why [is this done]? Just because they exist. Oh,
Europe! When you behave like this, are you not acting against
yourself?6
Among the early pioneers of Reform Judaism in Hungary there are many
rabbis whose lifestyle was not much different from that of their
most "pious" colleagues, though their ideas were extremely
enlightened and revolutionary. It is the task of the 21st century
scholars to rediscover the teachings hidden in dusty and rare books.
In his study "The Historical Experience of German Jewry and Its
Impact on Haskalah and Reform in Hungary", Michael Silber
demonstrated, through numerous examples, that "The boundaries
between rabbinic and Haskalah cultures were not sharply defined in
Hungary and the Bohemian provinces."7
One of the most prominent thinkers who lived in between these
boundaries was David ben Meir ha-Kohen Friesenhausen who identified
himself as a Hungarian Rabbi. His name is not even mentioned in the
Encyclopedia Judaica though the 1903 Jewish Encyclopedia contains a
brief article on him.8 We learn from the
latter that he was a mathematician; born at Friesenhausen about the
middle of the eighteenth century. He lived in "Berlin and later in
Hunfalu and Újhely, Hungary; died in Gyula-Fehérvár (Hungary), on
March 23, 1828." He wrote Kelil ha-Heshbon, a Hebrew manual of
algebra and geometry (Berlin 1796) and authored Mosdoth Thebel, a
treatise on astronomy in which he explains the Copernican system (Vienna
1820). In the second part of his Mosdoth Thebel, Friesenhausen
furnishes evidence as proof for the eleventh axiom of Euclid.
However, the most interesting part of this opus for Jewish cultural
history is the third section that contains the author's "Tzavaah",
Ethical Will to his children. This Tzavaah, which consists of
twenty-six double pages, is indeed a treasure house of unique and
revolutionary ideas and suggestions (66/b-93/b). In it he refers to
a German letter he wrote in 1806 to Joseph the Prince Palatine of
Hungary in which he advocated the necessity of establishing modern
Rabbinic Schools (90/b). The twentieth century scholar Mordechai
Eliav, in his Hebrew monograph "Jewish Education in Germany in the
Period of Enlightenment and Emancipation"9,
unaware of this document, credits Elkan Henle in 1827 as being the
first to suggest the establishment of a modern Rabbinic School that
would take the place of the old fashioned Yeshiva. Since
Friesenhausen's plan for modern rabbinical schools was sabotaged by
the Rabbi of Pest and his lay leaders, the frustrated Friesenhausen
felt it important to include this, his most cherished plan, in the
Tzavaah.
These are the highlights of Friesenhausen's ideas concerning the
seminary. The children who are worthy to attend the new Seminary
should be selected by their respective rabbis. From all the parts of
the Habsburg Empire Jewish children should be selected in the age
groups of 9-13 who are good-natured, studious and bright. These
candidates will attend the Seminaries that will be constructed in
Hungary, Galicia and Bohemia-Moravia. The schools should not be in
large cities where the children might be influenced by the glamour
and lust so common in those metropolises. Neither should they be
placed in small villages where the local people are boorish. The
right choice to house the schools, Friesenhausen believes, would be
in medium sized cities. Each school will have two departments with
two principals who will do much of the teaching.
The principals will be given comfortable apartments and the pupils
will enjoy all the luxuries early nineteenth century living could
offer. Well-equipped libraries and special quarters for maids and
cooks are among the many of Friesenhausen's proposals. Students will
wear departmental uniforms so that one can distinguish between the
older and the younger groups.
"The schedule of studies should be as follows. The students of the
lower school, up to the age of twelve or thirteen who work under the
direction of the "small teacher" (ha-m'lameid ha-katan) will study
one and a half hours every morning before breakfast. They will
concentrate on "Torah, first Prophets, Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and
Daniel as well as the Books of the Chronicles, combining these
studies with Hebrew grammatical exercises. After breakfast till noon
they continue with Talmudic courses, selections taken from the
Tractate of B'rakhot and other tractates of Seder Moed. The teacher
should explain to the children the different laws that have been
derived from those Talmudic discourses, chapter by chapter, but it
is not advisable to use difficult commentaries. Then for a while the
students should take a walk or do something that would relax their
bodies...They should also study arithmetic, the language of the
country and German and Latin..."10
These subjects, as Friesenhausen indicates, may be taught by
non-Jewish teachers. The teachers ought to be disciplinarians and
the views expressed by them should not contradict those taught in
the Torah courses. Secular studies such as biology, geography,
social studies, languages and rhetoric are encouraged and required
on the higher level as well.
Students are to be ordained at the age of eighteen when they may get
married, but they may not get married before they reach that age.
The approval of the bride by the principal is a must. Upon
ordination, a sum of one thousand "z'huvim" is allocated from the
school's treasury for every graduate. This sum of money is invested
and given to the newly ordained rabbi at his wedding to secure his
future independence.
In order to avoid unnecessary problems, Friesenhausen suggests that
after fifteen years of the establishment of the Rabbinical Schools,
no Rabbi should be accepted to new positions unless he was ordained
by these institutions.
David Friesenhausen realized that his plan was costly and its
effectiveness depended entirely on the financial support of the
Jewish community. Our author concludes that the establishment of
such Rabbinical Schools in the Diaspora is as essential as was the
building of the Temple in Ancient Israel11.
This preliminary study that focused on Hungary indicated that there
were three major forces that played an important role in the
struggle for Jewish Emancipation.
First, the Emperor/King and his administration used the policy of
carrot and stick to assimilate Hungary's Jewish subjects. Many
historians believe that the throne's ultimate goal was total
assimilation, namely conversion to Christianity. Thought the
research so far is not conclusive, it is clear that while more
rights were given to the individual Jew, Jews were gradually
deprived of their very existence as a vibrant, independent and
self-supportive community. Hungary too followed the West European
model articulated by the French politician, Count Stanislas de
Clermont-Tonnerre (1752-1792): The Jews should be denied everything
as a nation, but granted everything as individuals. They must be
citizens. It is claimed that they do not want to be citizens, that
they say this and that they are (thus) excluded; there cannot be one
nation within another nation...It is intolerable that the Jews
should be come a separate political formation or class in the
country. Every one of them must individually become a citizen; if
they do not want this, they must inform us and we shall then be
compelled to expel them.12
The second, but perhaps the least effective force was the efforts of
the Hungarian "do-gooders" and idealists who, influenced by the
Bible, Masonic ideas and the literature of the Enlightenment could
not tolerate the humiliation and suffering of their Jewish
neighbors.
Finally, the members of the third group that desired Emancipation
were comprised of the majority of the Jews living in Hungary. For
the first time in history, large numbers of Jews identified with
Hungary and declared themselves Magyars. In their 1790 Latin
language petition to the Hungarian Diet, the representatives of
Hungarian Jewry declared:
Around the globe there is no homeland for us except Hungary, no
father for us except the King in whose rule the Lord of the Universe
entrusted Hungary and her nationalities. We have no other mentors,
but the governmental authorities and our landowners. We have no
other brethren, but the ones with whom we live and die in one
society. We have no other protection but the laws of the homeland".13
The fast growing Jewish community of Hungary faced countless
obstacles and challenges, but also tremendous opportunities. There
was no notable middle class in Hungary and Jews were perhaps the
natural candidates to fill that vacuum. The major question that had
to be answered was "By what price?"
David Friesenhausen and other enlightened and dedicated individuals,
who were perhaps the true reformers, tried to present ways and means
through which Jews could preserve their communal integrity and still
become good citizens of Hungary.
In the long run, the opportunistic elements of the assimilated Jews,
with the encouragement and support of Hungarian political groups,
dominated the leadership of the Hitközség or Gemeinde, whose members
in the post Emancipation era often became willing and unprincipled
collaborators with any Hungarian government in power, regardless of
its political or ideological views.
1 David Weinberg, "Jewish
Emancipation", in The Modern Jewish Experience, A Reader's Guide,
Jack Wertheimer, ed., New York, 1993, p. 96
2 Jacob Katz's views are summarized in his "The Term 'Jewish
Emancipation' Its Origin and Historical Impact", in Jacob Katz,
Emancipation and Assimilation - Studies in Modern Jewish History,
Gregg International Publishers Limited, 1972, pp. 21-45. Christian
Wilhelm von Dohm's pamphlet is available in English translation by
Helen Lederer. Concerning the Amelioration of the Civil Status of
the Jews, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1957
3 Quoted from The Jew in the Modern World, A Documentary History,
Second Edition, Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., New
York, 1995, p. 37
4 Ibid.
5 The original Latin text of the Systematica gentis Judaicae
regulatio was published several times - e.g. Magyar Zsidó Oklevéltár
- Monumenta Hungariae Judaica, XVIII, Sándor Scheiber, ed.,
Budapest, 1980 pp. 347-353, no. 650 ; most recently a new Hungarian
translation of the original Latin was provided by Judit Borbély in
László Gonda, A zsidóság Magyarországon 1526-1945 [Jewry in Hungary
1526-1945], Budapest, 1992, pp. 261-268
6 Bela K. Kiraly, Hungary in the Late Eighteenth Century - The
Decline of Enlightened Despotism, New York, 1969, p. 168
7 Michael Silber, "The Historical Experience of German Jewry and Its
Impact on Haskalah and Reform in Hungary", in Towards Modernity, The
European Jewish Model, Jacob Katz, ed., New Brunswick, 1987, p. 113
8 Meir Gilon's Hebrew article "R. David Friesenhausen between the
Enlightenment and Hassidism" is perhaps the only modern scholarly
essay dedicated to this rather neglected figure of Jewish cultural
history; in The Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest 1877-1977 - A
Centennial Volume, New York 1986, Hebrew Section, pp. 19-54
9 Mordachai Eliav, Ha-Chinukh ha-Y'hudi b'Germaniyah, Jerusalem,
1960, p. 153
10 David Friesenhausen, Mosdoth Thebel, Wien, 1820, p. 79/b
11 Ibid. p. 92/b
12 Quoted from The Jew in the Modern World, A Documentary History,
Second Edition, Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., p. 115
13 Sándor Büchler "De Judaeis", in IMIT Évkönyv [Annual of the
Israelite Hungarian Literary Association], Budapest, 1900, p. 297
Rabbi
Ferenc Raj was born at the height of World War II in Budapest,
Hungary. He survived the Holocaust through the heroic efforts of the
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
Ferenc Raj was awarded a PhD in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from
Brandeis University. He is a graduate of both the University of
Budapest where he earned a Master's Degree and a Diploma of Merit in
Near Eastern Studies and the Jewish Theological Seminary of Hungary
where he was ordained in 1967.
Rabbi Raj continued his rabbinic career in America serving Reform
congregations in Brooklyn, New York and Belmont, Massachusetts prior
to his election as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Berkeley,
California.
Rabbi Raj retired on June 30, 2007 and continues in his role as
Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth El. He is also Founding Rabbi of
Bet Orim Reform Jewish Congregation in Budapest, Hungary.
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