The Transformation of Jewish Identity

This chapter provides the historical context for the social scientific understanding of the evolving transformations of the Jewish people and Jewish identity by articulating three objectives. First, this chapter provides a broad description of the many transitions in the long history of Jewish civilization and in the definition of Jewish identity: Biblical Period (Phase I), Greco-Roman/Talmudic Period (Phase II), Medieval Period (Phase III), Modern Period (Phase IV), and Contemporary Period (Phase V). Second, this chapter focuses on the specific transition of the Jewish community from a traditional to modern society by examining both internal and external dynamics. Third, and finally, this chapter provides a detailed examination of the process of emancipation, following the French Revolution under Napoleonic rule. This transition occurred pursuant to emancipation: the freeing of Jews in a modern society from the social, political, geographic, and economic restrictions placed on them in medieval society and from the antisemitism that rationalized such restrictions. American Jews were able to live in a freer and more open society than any prior diasporic community, that is, any Jewish community outside the land and/or State of Israel.