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Levend Joods Geloof #1 Rosh Hashanah 5757
Theme: 200 years emancipation of Jews In The Netherlands
On these pages we give you summaries of a few articles.
The New Congregation Adat Yeshurun (1797-1808)
Emancipation of the Jews the Dutch way
Asser: portrait of an enlightened Jewish family
Other articles in this issue:
Twohundred years of emancipation, an evaluation - Prof. dr. R.G. Fuks-Mansfeld
The Jew as examplary immigrant - Willy Reedijk
Emmy Belinfante: a life of struggle for the emancipation of women - Shirah Lachmann
Messages from a year - Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp
On the barricades for Jewish music - Cantors reclaim Jewish musical heritage - Manja Ressler
The New Congregation Adat Yeshurun (1797-1808)
In this article the historian dr Salvador Bloemgarten recounts the history of the short-lived congregation Adat Yeshurun which split from the Ashkenazi Community of Amsterdam in 1797, one year after the emancipation. The emancipation took place - like in other European countries - as a result of the Napoleontic occupation of The Netherlands. Dr Bloemgarten argues that the establishment of Adat Yeshurun was a consequence of granting civil rights to the Jews in The Netherlands. He also ponders the question whether Adat Yeshurun can be seen as a very early form of Reform Judaism.
Legally, because the 'National Assembly' of The Netherlands had decreed a separation of Church and State; as a consequence the establishment of a new Jewish congregation could no longer be stopped by the civil authorities.
Ideologically it was a consequence of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment. Its members were so-called 'patriots' (republicans) and democrats in contrast to the majority of Dutch Jewry who were ardent monarchists. Because of its Enlightened political views, Adat Yeshurun can be considered a pre-Reform congregation, religiously speaking there were only a few who were even familiar with the work of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) philosopher Moses Mendelsohn. But there was no opposition to religious ideas or practices of the 'old' community. The real issue for the founders of Adat Yeshurun was the lack of democracy in the Jewish community.
In 1806 the self-proclaimed Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte appoints his brother Louis Napoleon as King of Holland. Louis Napoleon turns back the clock in many ways, among which should be mentioned the separation of Church and State. Interestingly enough though, the equal rights for the different religions are maintained. Having a positive attitude towards Jews in general, Louis Napoleon, tries to further integration of the Jews in the Dutch society. He uses his power over religiouis affairs to force a reunion of Adat Yeshurun with the 'old' Jewish community in 1808. By establishing at the same time a central National Board for the Ashkenazi Jews, in which mainly enlightened Jews were appointed, he succeeded to make a truce between enlightened and orthodox Jews which lasted till the 1920ies. Dr Bloemgarten considers this truce the reason why the Reform movement in The Netherlands only started to gain adherents in the 1930ies.
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Emancipation of the Jews the Dutch way
In this article Dr Joseph Michman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) argues that the emancipation of the Jews was not the result of an overall tolerant attitude of the Dutch towards the Jews as is generally assumed, but the result of special circumstances and rather strong pressure from the French representative to the Dutch National Assembly.
Furthermore, Dr Michman argues, the Emancipation decree was issued in the short period of political radicalism, which was ended by a coup d'etat in June 1797.
Before the Emancipation decree was accepted newspapers in the Netherlands published polemical articles against equal rights for the Jews, in which no small amount of anitsemitic rhetorics could be heard. But also the rabbis and their orthodox followers were against civil rights. They always had had good relationships with the Dutch civil authorities, who supported their power in the Jewish community. The majority of the Jews were monarchists, because they felt protected by the the Dutch king. Only a small minority of intellectual Jews greeted the Enlightenment, with its ideas about democracy and equality, with enthousiasm.
Eventually the emancipation decree was accepted. But in the years that followed it soon became apparent that in practice the equal rights of the Jews were only implemented when it suited the authorities. They refused to take care of the mass of poor Jews (eighty % of the Jewish population at that time) as they did of the Christian poor. The Jews had to look after their own poor.
The most important difference though with the situation in other European countries - like Germany - was that after the fall of Napoleon the Dutch government did not take the opportunity to revoke the emancipation decree. Thanks to a few individuals who were sympathetic to the Jews, the emancipation decree remained in force.
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Asser: portrait of an enlightened Jewish family
Peter Buijs, assistent-conservator of the Jewish Historical Museum, wrote this article about a fascinating Dutch Jewish family, who were in their time well-known advocates of the Jewish emancipation. The story shows how they came in contact with the ideas of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, through marriages with women from enlightened Jewish families in Berlin. Members of the family were the first university-educated jewish lawyers, the first Jewish members of city-councils and parliament and counselors of the king for Jewish affairs.
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