
1690 AD to 1710 AD, Psalm 131: The Hofjuden.
This generation of the 1690s and the 1700s is at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Peter the Great is Tsar in 1682 (at the age of ten years) but has real power from 1696 to the death of his half-brother. During his reign, Russia emerged from the Middle Ages and achieved the status of European power confirmed by the victory over the Swedes in 1709 in Poltava. He founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703 which became the new capital of Russia in 1712.
While Amsterdam serves as the basis for a new rise of Judaism in Europe, New Amsterdam, which has recently become New York – since the city came under British rule – will serve as the basis for the creation of North American Judaism.
The Ottoman Empire [2] tried to attack Vienna in 1683, its defeat is stinging and marks the beginning of the decline of Turkish power in Europe. The Europeans unite in a Holy League and the Turk is still defeated, in 1696 by the Russians, in 1697 by Austria. For the first time, the Ottoman Empire is forced to sign an unfavorable treaty. In Karlowitz, in 1699, he lost Podolia, the Ukraine, the Greek Morea and Hungary. The Sublime Gate is still powerful, but now its armies no longer attack, they defend themselves.
- The period 1650-1750 [3] saw the development of court Jews, who had already proved themselves as purveyors of armies during the Thirty Years War. The absolutist state, based on mercantilist ideology, tries to establish a monetarist economy that used credit to stimulate commercial and industrial development. Only the Jews, who were also discarded from the land and the trades, had the mobility, the interpersonal skills, and the initiative to raise the funds and establish the business networks necessary for such an enterprise.
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Other court Jews [4] will have similar backgrounds, such as the « Jewish Süss » (Joseph Oppenheimer, 1698-1738) who ends his life in prison and hanged refusing baptism. Leffmann Behrens helped Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, to obtain the throne of Poland after helping his father Ernest Auguste obtain the title of Elector in 1692. These court Jews, despite their success, unfortunately often fleeting, do not break their attaches with their religion and their fellow believers:
- It should be noted [5] that Court Jews never seek to take advantage of their privileged status to distance themselves from their religion or community. Allowed to have their own rabbi even when their place of residence is forbidden to the Jews, they do not think at all to convert even profiting from their exceptional status to ask for more generous authorizations for their co-religionists.
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(extract of the psalm 131 associated to this generation, verses 1 and 2 )
- A song of ascent by David. O Lord, my heart was not haughty, nor were my eyes raised on high, and I did not pursue matters greater and more wondrous than I.
- I swear that I calmed and quieted my soul like a suckling on its mother; like a suckling was my soul with me.
The end of the reign of Louis XIV that corresponds to this generation initiates the Age of Enlightenment aimed at advancing knowledge based on the development of science and philosophy by fighting religious obscurantism, mainly Christian. This movement will have its equivalent on the Judaism side by the Haskalah advocating the integration of Jewish communities, mainly Ashkenazi, into European societies. This movement, which will actually be initiated in the middle of the 18th century, will oppose the power of traditional Jewish religious authorities. The fight of the Haskalah will be facilitated by the discredit of those authorities who have largely endorsed the messianic movement of Sabbatai Zevi which still has consequences for the present generation. The disappointment engendered by Sabbataism continues to provoke conversions to Islam or to Christianity even to a kind of atheism. Cultivated elites turn to new philosophical currents that no longer bring credit to the rabbinical hierarchy.
(extract of the psalm 131 associated to this generation, verse 3 )
- Israel, hope to the Lord from now to eternity.
[1] (directed by) Jean Delumeau: « History of the world, from 1492 to 1789 ». Chapter: « The slave trade » (French: « Histoire du monde, de 1492 à 1789 ». Chapitre : « La traite des noirs ». (p. 342 à 345) ).
[2] (directed by) Jean Delumeau: « History of the world, from 1492 to 1789 ». Chapter: « The Decadence of the Ottoman Empire ». (French: « Histoire du monde, de 1492 à 1789 ». Chapitre : « La décadence de l’Empire Ottoman ». (p. 333) ).
[3] (directed by) Jean Baumgarten: « A thousand years of Ashkenazi cultures ». Delphine Bechtel’s chapter: « Jews in Germany and Austria in the age of absolutism ». (French: « Mille ans de cultures ashkénazes ». Chapitre de Delphine Bechtel : « Les Juifs en Allemagne et en Autriche à l’ère de l’absolutisme ». (p. 104-105) ).
[4] (directed by) Jean Baumgarten: « A thousand years of Ashkenazi cultures ». Delphine Bechtel’s chapter: « Jews in Germany and Austria in the age of absolutism ». (French: « Mille ans de cultures ashkénazes ». Chapitre de Delphine Bechtel : « Les Juifs en Allemagne et en Autriche à l’ère de l’absolutisme ». (p. 105) ).
[5] Roland Charpiot: « History of the Jews of Germany ». Chapter: « Jewish Society in Crisis in 17th and 18th Century Germany ». (this passage quotes Samuel Trigano). (French: « Histoire des Juifs d’Allemagne ». Chapitre : « La société juive en crise dans l’Allemagne des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles ». (ce passage cite Samuel Trigano). (p. 46/47) )