Zionist library for boys and girls · 1908-01-01 · 3 · p. Seite 3

-3- Hii.SMl.i4 is the Hebrew word for ,Tenlightenment11-. In a way this movement, which developed in Poland and in Russia, was an imitation of the Emancipation movement in Germany, , ■ The Haskala-Movement had the same aims as the German Emancipation movementnamely to "bring greater knowledge to the Jews, and "broaden the scopc^of their minds, "by introducing modern science into their studies. The Haskala movement wanted to make the Jew equal to the non-Jew in knowledge and cultural standard. This "being achieved, it was thought that the Jew would he regarded as worthy to leave his ghetto and to mix with the non-Jewish population. The leader of this movement was JJliyah of Vilna - or as he was called at that time, the Qa-on of Vilna* (Ga-on meaning TIchief" or "genius".) Looking backward, the great historians say: The. Haskala Movement was doomed to fail. Why? Because altho1 it was possible to "copy" the ideas of other nations and to transfer them to one's own country, their success and development depends on many other factors. It depends greatly on the development of th£' country, concerned, Bussia was at that time still rule.d by the Tzars, and Bussian political ideas, population and economy were very backward/The ideas of the French Revolution were only reaching Russia as a weak echo, from more advanced Western Europe, The Haskala could not therefore achieve the same results as the Emancipation Movement in Germany, The time was not ripe for it. But altho' it did not succeed in solving the Jewish problem, which was as we know very severe at that time (the Jews being crowded in Ghettos and living a miserable life) it has done a great deal for Jewry as we shall see below.