Jewish Thinkers A. Within the histo

The modern call for a Jewish homeland springs from the Jewish people's deeply rooted connection to Israel. Their history as a civilization begins there, and, throughout 18 centuries of exile, the Jewish people continued to trickle in to the Holy Land in hopes that the future of their people as well as the past would be in Israel. Jews did not begin to emigrate in large numbers to Israel, however, until the late 1800s. The beginnings of Jewish emigration to Israel is generally attributed to the emergence of a virulent anti-Semitism in both Eastern and Western Europe. France and Germany proved to be fertile ground for racist theorizing, and Russia began its pogroms in 1881. By the turn of the century, the Jews were suffering persecution at the hands of Christians and Muslims throughout the world. This increased pressure from the Jews' adopted homes, combined with an internal longing for Israel, created the conditions for Zionism.

Zionism is a call for Jews to establish and maintain a Jewish homeland in Israel. The benefits of a homeland include the freedom to worship with

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the Enlightenment take hold of Western Europe. Philosophers raised questions concerning individual freedom and personal autonomy, questions that spoke directly to the identity of the Jewish people as citizens in unsympathetic, non-Jewish environments. The Jewish emancipation emerged from this milieu, in no small way because of the writing of Mendelsohn. At the time of his birth, Jews were segregated throughout Europe, were forbidden to engage in occupations in competition with Christians, and suffered from the lack of skilled educators. They were, in short, hampered from practicing their religion and hampered from participating in European culture (Walter 20). Mendelsohn was born in Dessau, Germany, and studied Rabbinical law in Berlin. He is recognized for setting the philosophical and moral foundations for the Jews to move from the Ghettos of Europe into the mainstream of European life and culture. He also wished to make Europe's culture accessible to the Jews and to give Jews the privilege of full citizenship in their respective countries. While not recognized as a profoundly original philosopher, he was recognized as an influential thinker during his time, and the questions he raised about the status of the Jewish people in
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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)