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Judaism and Europe

It is not possible to make sense of Judaism today without understanding how it evolved in Europe. It was in Europe that the multiple options took shape for thinking about what Jewishness could mean once it became just one component among others in an individual’s sense of self. At the same time, European Jewry has endured a long and painful journey as it tried to create confident accounts of how Jewish identity could be understood. This journey reflects a struggle faced right across Europe between accommodating difference and acknowledging the inherent limitations of tolerance. With this in mind, this chapter examines the different pathways that have been forged by Jews across Europe as they sought to construct proud interpretations of both Judaism and Jewishness. In so doing, key themes are explored: cultural Judaism, religious reform, assimilation, anti-Semitism, secularization, and Zionism.