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  • Constructing modern identities: Jewish university students in Germany, 1815-1914

    The emergence of Jewish student associations in 1881 provided a forum for Jews to openly proclaim their religious heritage. By examining the lives and social dynamics of Jewish university students, Keith Pickus shows how German Jews rearranged their self-images and redefined what it meant to be Jewish. Not only did the identities crafted by these students enable them to actively participate in German society, they also left an indelible imprint on contemporary Jewish culture. Pickus's portrayal …

  • The shaping of Jewish identity in nineteenth-century France

    Nineteenth-century French Jewry was a community struggling to meet the challenges of emancipation and modernity. This struggle, with its origins in the founding of the French nation, constitutes the core of modern Jewish identity. With the Revolution of 1789 came the collapse of the social, political, and philosophical foundations of exclusiveness, forcing French society and the Jews to come to terms with the meaning of emancipation. Over time, the enormous challenge that emancipation posed for …