Jews of Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1780-Present - Assignment Example

He came to Berlin in 1743 and taught himself many languages such as German, English, French and Latin, and read other writings by philosophers in order to enlighten himself. He translated the Torah into German and this book was used to teach the German language to the German Jews. They were taught how to read and write in German. Moses began enlightening the German Jews but upheld his Jewish heritage. He encouraged the Jews to speak both German and Hebrew. However, some Jewish believers were against his ideas and considered it profane to learn anything else apart from Hebrew.

Several Jewish education institutions were founded from 1778 to 1815 to instruct the German Jews in general science and scripture in German. With time, the Jews changed their thinking which was mainly centered on their religion into an enlightened culture focused on man. Once they learnt German, the Jews started following the ways of the Germans .The Jewish and German culture became more integrated and some Jews completely adopted German culture (Volkov 254). In 1782, a new law was enacted by Emperor Joseph II of Austria.

This law was called the Edict of Tolerance and it aimed to fully integrate Jews into German life. They were granted access to education and training for jobs. The law also abolished all documents written in Jewish and decreed the use of German language only. The Jews were also required to use German surnames and drop the Jewish ones. German states followed the example of Austria and in 1812, the Prussian King, Frederick William enacted his Edict and many Prussian Jews were given rights of citizenship and change of names (Hertz 108).

Goethe’s concepts of Bildung and Kultur were promoted through literally salons in the 1780s and 1790s. The literary salons were mainly apolitical meetings. Rahel Levin started the most prominent salon in 1791. This woman did not uphold her Jewish identity and supported the