The expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 15th century was a period of great upheaval, as a Spanish-Portuguese diaspora formed in Western Europe and the Mediterranean basin. At the same time, many conversos remained in their home country, while many others emigrated and attempted to rejoin the Jewish community.
As a result, there arose in communities such as Amsterdam, London, northern Italy and other places the beginnings of Jewish Enlightenment and early secularization, as the confrontation with the ideas of the Enlightenment and the modern world brought the challenge of Jewish identity to the fore. Jewish secularization did not commence in Mendelssohn’s Berlin of the 18th century, nor in Eastern Europe of the late 19th century. Secularization has been a slow but steady process through the 15th-18th centuries. Heretics and tragic figures from Converso families in Amsterdam such Uriel De Costa and Baruch Spinoza pioneered Jewish secularism, while an Italian rabbi in London named Rabbi David Nieto attempted to combat it. The addition of Sabbateanism and the rise of the court Jews in Germany in the 17th century, only led to an increasing trend towards secularization, long before Berlin and Mendelssohn.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
Subscribe To Our Podcast on:
PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites
You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com
The Great Shanghai Escape Part IV
The Great Shanghai Escape Part III
Bonus Episode: With Dovi Safier & Seforim Chatter host Nachi Weinstein
The Great Shanghai Escape Part II
The Great Shanghai Escape Part I
Rebbe Under Communism: The Ribnitzer Rebbe
The Jews of Sighet Part II
The Jews of Sighet Part I
The Life & Times of the Baal Shem of Michelstadt
The Mirrers Who Didn’t Make It
Medicine & the Holocaust
From the Ashes to the Hilltops: Rav Yehuda Amital
Chasam Sofer Part V: Halacha & Leadership in a Changing World
Antisemitism Part III: The Road to Racial Antisemitism
Antisemitism Part II: Nationalism & Modern Antisemitism
Antisemitism Part I: Old & New; Religious & Racial
Chassidic Influencers: Mashpi’im & Recurring Themes of Chassidic History
Live From Prague with Dovi Safier & Nachi Weinstein of Seforim Chatter Podcast
Get Out! Get & Divorce in Jewish History
Jewish Population Growth Through the Ages
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Hello Heaven Podcast
Rav Gershon Ribner
For Heaven’s Sake
The Nightingale of Iran
Unpacking Israeli History
Unorthodox