Discuss the role of Haskole (Jewish Enlightenment in Eastern Europe) Essay

Discuss the role of Haskole (Jewish Enlightenment in Eastern Europe) and of Hasidism in the formation and development of modern Yiddish culture - Essay Example From the initial days of the Yiddish, there were a few prayer books for women but were merely translations of existing Hebrew scripts. The first of the books published originally in Yiddish was â€Å"Come Out and See†, more commonly known by a slurring of the name as ‘Tsenerena’; written in the early 1600s. It was written for women, who generally did not read Hebrew and were not as well-versed in biblical commentary, so it is an easier read than some of the Hebrew commentaries written for men. When secular Jewish fiction began to emerge, the religious authorities of that time did not approve of these irreverent Yiddish writings dealing with modern secular and frivolous themes. Some strictly observant people refused to even set type for these writers because they were so offended by their works, but Jewish people throughout Europe embraced them wholeheartedly and treasured them. Foundations of the Yiddish theatre can be traced back to Abraham Haim Lipke Goldfaden w ho was (at that time) a pioneer of Yiddish plays. He wrote and produced numerous plays while travelling throughout the Eastern Europe. The culture, as we all know, was not preserved and was laid bare to the brutalism of the Nazis and the communists†¦ however; certain movements took place during that period in order to modernize the Jews and the Yiddish culture. Two off these movements are of great significance regarding the enlightenment of the Jews in Eastern Europe i.e. Haskole (Haskalah) and Hasidism (Hasidic Judaism). Haskole is a word of Yiddish, the alternative of which in Hebrew is Haskalah. The movement began in the late 1880s its aim being to enlighten the Jews of Eastern Europe through better mixing of the Jews with the eastern societies so that they could learn and live the ways of their neighbors in order to acquire a wider horizon. Haskole encouraged