Haskalah

American  

[hah-skuh-lah, hah-skaw-luh, hah-skah-lah] / ˌhɑ skəˈlɑ, hɑˈskɔ lə, hɑ skɑˈlɑ /

noun

1. an 18th–19th-century movement among central and eastern European Jews, begun in Germany under the leadership of Moses Mendelssohn, designed to make Jews and Judaism more cosmopolitan in character by promoting knowledge of and contributions to the secular arts and sciences and encouraging adoption of the dress, customs, and language of the general population.

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Etymology

Origin of Haskalah

From the Hebrew word haśkālāh enlightenment

Example Sentences

The Slavuta publishing house, it is claimed, was closed, and the Schapiras met with their tragic end, because "as printers they scrupulously abstained from publishing Haskalah literature."

From The Haskalah Movement in Russia by Raisin, Jacob S.

Society for the Promotion of Haskalah among the Russian Jews, 237-239, 246, 252, 291-292.

From The Haskalah Movement in Russia by Raisin, Jacob S.

Hasidim, 65;   their teachings, 66, 67, 150;   spread, 69;   persecuted by the Mitnaggedim, 76, 131;   efforts at reconciliation with Mitnaggedim, 120-121, 260;   reformed, 122;   united with Mitnaggedim against Haskalah, 134;   fought by Maskilim, 168.

From The Haskalah Movement in Russia by Raisin, Jacob S.

The advocates of Haskalah gradually came to recognize the truth, which Lilienthal admitted afterwards, that for a Russian rabbi a thorough knowledge of the Talmud was absolutely indispensable.

From The Haskalah Movement in Russia by Raisin, Jacob S.

To the student of Haskalah he is interesting, because he marks the close of the old and the beginning of the new era.

From The Haskalah Movement in Russia by Raisin, Jacob S.