Manekin, Rachel
Senior Fellow: April–July 2022
Research Project: Galician Maskilic Critiques of Hasidism: Sceptical Reverberations?
This project will investigate the degree to which the arguments of the nineteenth-century Galician Jewish maskilim (enlighteners) were influenced by Enlightenment sceptical arguments against the claims of popular religion. The proposed study will focus on the Galician maskil Judah Leib Mieses (1798–1831), whose work The Zeal for Truth (Qinat ha-emet) is an extended and learned polemic against belief in ghosts, demons, and spirits and the general belief in mystical powers that characterises Hasidic thought.
It may seem odd that religious rationalists could have been influenced by sceptics; one might suppose that only fideists would have a use for such sceptical arguments in order to justify their embrace of faith. However, sceptics and religious rationalists shared a common enemy in the religious enthusiast, and that is why religious rationalists found the sceptics’ arguments appealing.
Although the focus of this study will be The Zeal for Truth, other Galician maskilim, such as Isaac Erter and Nachman Krochmal, will also be investigated in order to ascertain the extent to which they employ arguments drawn from Enlightenment scepticism. To be sure, the scepticism of the Galician maskilim is not thoroughgoing; still, the use of sceptical arguments by religious rationalists in a Jewish context has not been studied.
Rachel Manekin is a professor emerita of Jewish studies at the University of Maryland.