"Remembering" by Pauline Wengeroff: Jewish Enlightenment in Russia

In Pauline Wengeroff's memoir, Rememberings, we see the effects of the Jewish Enlightenment on Russian culture. In each region that was a home to Jews in the early nineteenth century, Enlightenment took hold amongst portions of the Jewish population. One of the goals of the Enlightenment was to make Jews more cultured and to be more like their neighbors. Although many Christian habits were adopted, the root of these activities came from each specific local culture. The results of the more enlightened Jew differed in each area. The German enlightenment was different from the Russian enlightenment but the core ideas were the same. The Jews wished to be entirely accepted by the country they lived in and cease to be foreigners, so they began speaking Russian, attending the theatre, and pursuing a secular education. Wengeroff respects the broader education aspects of the enlightenment, but mourns the loss of key Jewish traditions, such as the Sabbath, and Talmud-study.…