The relationship between tradition and haskalah in Judaism

Our PhD study named "The Relationship between Tradition and Haskalah in Judaism", consists of introduction, three main chapters, and a conclusion. In the introduction of the thesis, the topic, the importance, the purpose and the method of the research are given out. Although the Haskalah period is in the centre of focus for this thesis, to put forth the traditional religious understanding, it is necessary to give information about what the tradition is in Judaism, and how traditional religious understanding emerged. In this manner, the first chapter of the thesis speaks of "the sectarian conflict in the first period" which had been forming the traditional perspective from the early period on, "the religious texts" which had been formed in a long time and is considered sacred, and "the clerics" who have been keeping their presence from the Temple Period until now within a specific stratified form. In the second chapter, the Jewish society in the pre-Haskalah Europe was studied. In this chapter, we tried to show in which social, cultural, economic, religious and political environment Haskalah had come into existence, as well as how the Jewish life was like in Europe until the early modern period. The differences of traditions and identities with respect to the Jewish people, and the tense atmosphere caused by the relations between the Jews and the Christians, the factors that constitute the Jewish congregational life will be addressed in this chapter. In the third chapter, the endeavors of modernisation by the Haskalah movement tried to put into effect for the Jewish congregations, and the rabbinic clerics' position in the face of these endeavors will be dealt with revolving around the subjects such as "science", "education", "language", "sacred text", "religious law", "Jewish identity" comperatively. Of the subjects that will be pointed out in this chapter are the differences in radius of action between the early Maskilim, and the young Maskilim in which period Haskalah was effective, and the different attitudes of the rabbinic clerics towards these changing areas. Key Words: Enlightenment, Rabbinic Judaism, Tradition, Haskalah, Rabbi, Maskil, Emansipation, Herem, Modernization, Responsa, ha-Measef