Sacred Bonds of Solidarity: The Rise of Jewish Internationalism in Nineteenth-Century France

Front Cover
Stanford University Press, 2006 - Religion - 327 pages
Starting around 1840, French Jews began to reach out in new ways to Jews elsewhere, especially in North Africa and the Middle East. In describing these activities, they spoke of feelings of solidarité and a mission to bring civilisation to Jews everywhere, a language more meaningful in the French public arena than in Jewish tradition. Far from a remnant of ancient feelings, Jewish solidarity is a modern phenomenon with roots in its inventors' integration into French political culture. Why did acculturation inspire elite French Jews to affirm their Jewishness through international aid? What did their actions mean in the French public sphere, and how did they transform Jewish identity?

In a book that speaks to French historians and Jewish historians alike, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity explores the historical roots of Jewish international aid and the language of "solidarity" that accompanied it. In using this language, French Jews redefined Jewish identity in lasting ways. At the same time, they helped shape state secularism and the "civilizing mission" in French foreign and colonial policy.

From inside the book

Contents

The Jewish Citizen
17
Alliances with Restoration Liberals
40
Jewish Identities in the Age of Romanticism
81
Secularism and the Civilizing Mission
117
The Making of Modern Jewish Solidarity
157
The Myth of Jewish Power
200
Conclusion
229
Bibliography
279
Index
307
Copyright

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Page 282 - Des juifs au xix' siècle, ou. Considérations sur leur état civil et politique en Europe , suivies de la notice biographique des juifs anciens et modernes qui se sont illustrés dans les sciences et les arts; par M.

About the author (2006)

Lisa Moses Leff is Associate Professor of History at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

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