Haskalah

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Pronunciations

Haskalah (hahs-kah-LAH) listen
Haskalah (huhs-KUH-luh) listen

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Definitions

  • n. 19th century Jewish Enlightenment, in which modern philosophy and literature entered Jewish consciousness.

Example Sentences

  • "With the Haskalah, Eastern European Jews finally saw the introduction of humanistic ideals."

  • "I have an aunt who insists that Yiddish is a bastard language. She talks like she's right out of the Haskala..." (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew

Etymology

  • TH השכלה haskalá > Y השׂכּלה haskóle, lit. 'education, knowledge; with definite article, the Jewish Englightenment movement'

      • Who Uses This

      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
      • Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)

      Regions

      • Australia / New Zealand
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      Haskolah, Haskola, Haskala

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