Chasidism and Haskalah
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Another major persecution of the Jews was associated with the Crusaders. During the First Crusade (1096–1099), hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Rhineland were massacred, before the knights sailed for Jerusalem and massacred more Jews, Muslims, and even local Christians. When Saladin defeated the last Crusaders in 1187, the remaining Jews in Israel welcomed him as a liberating hero.
Another major persecution of the Jews was associated with the Crusaders. During the First Crusade (1096–1099), hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Rhineland were massacred, before the knights sailed for Jerusalem and massacred more Jews, Muslims, and even local Christians. When Saladin defeated the last Crusaders in 1187, the remaining Jews in Israel welcomed him as a liberating hero.
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Jewish existence in Muslim lands, though better overall than in Christian lands, was also checkered. Jews contributed greatly to the advanced Islamic civilization of the Golden Age (8th-13th centuries). Jews' position in Muslim lands was based on their status as ''ahl al-dhimmah'' (singular: '''
dhimmi
'''), meaning "protected people". Depending on the interpretation of the ruler and his degree of control over subjects who at times resented the non-Muslims in their midst, this could be a very good status or a miserable and dangerous one, and some Muslim rulers, such as the Almohads in 12th-century Spain, even removed this status altogether, thereby denying any protection to non-Muslims in their realm. By contrast, courts in cities in [[Central Asia]] such as [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]], where Sufi saints and their followers spread a message of love and acceptance, were hospitable to Jews for hundreds of years and employed only Jews as court musicians.
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Jewish existence in Muslim lands, though better overall than in Christian lands, was also checkered. Jews contributed greatly to the advanced Islamic civilization of the Golden Age (8th-13th centuries)
while also advancing the study of their own religion. Probably the most famous authority on the Jewish religion and Jewish thought during that period was Moshe ben Maimon, also called Maimonides (c. 1135-1204), who in addition to being a great rabbi and leader of the Jewish community in [[Egypt]], was also a philosopher and an extremely famous medical authority who spent the last years of his life as the personal physician of Saladin
. Jews' position in Muslim lands was based on their status as ''ahl al-dhimmah'' (singular: '''
dhimmti
'''), meaning "protected people". Depending on the interpretation of the ruler and his degree of control over subjects who at times resented the non-Muslims in their midst, this could be a very good status or a miserable and dangerous one, and some Muslim rulers, such as the Almohads in 12th-century Spain, even removed this status altogether, thereby denying any protection to non-Muslims in their realm. By contrast, courts in cities in [[Central Asia]] such as [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]], where Sufi saints and their followers spread a message of love and acceptance, were hospitable to Jews for hundreds of years and employed only Jews as court musicians.
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====Chasidism and Haskalah====
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'''Chasidism''' is a mystical Jewish movement that was founded in the first half of the 18th century by a man from the [[Ukraine]] who is generally acknowledged to have been a great and inspirational rabbi. He is usually known by his nickname, ''Baal Shem Tov'', "Master of the Good Name". Though Baal Shem Tov was a great Torah scholar and is often quoted as such, he was inspired to create a new style of Jewish practice that while continuing to encourage Torah study, also emphasized a joyful connection with God in the forms, for example, of communal singing and dancing. While it's generally the case that all branches of Judaism revere Baal Shem Tov, his closest followers became known as the Chasidim, and they eventually divided into different sects, named after the village or town where their first '''rebbe''' or rabbinical spiritual leader came from. So, for example, the Satmarers originated from [[Satu Mare]], [[Romania]], while the Lubavitchers originated from [[Lyubavichi]], [[Belarus]] and the Breslovers came from [[Bratslav]], [[Ukraine]]. In Israel, the Chasidim are called Haredim or "Ultra-Orthodox" Jews, and some of them are non-Zionist and devote themselves to Torah study, rather than military service. The most famous of the various centers of Haredi Judaism in Israel is in the [[Jerusalem/Haredi|Mea Shearim]] neighborhood of Jerusalem. There are also large Chasidic communities in the United States, and the Lubavitchers, also called Chabad, do a lot of "outreach" to other Jews, to encourage them to become more observant of mitzvot (commandments); therefore, there are Chabadniks (Lubavitcher Chasidim) in almost every part of the world where Jews live or visit, helping to enable them to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. Today, many Chasidim make pilgrimages to the graves of great figures in their sects, such as the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in [[Uman]], Ukraine and the grave of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, in [[New York City/Queens|Queens]], [[New York City|New York]]. You may recognize Chasidic men by their tradition of dressing in suits and black hats at all times of year.
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The '''Haskalah''' was the Jewish response to the Enlightenment in Christian countries, and it is generally called the "Jewish Enlightenment" in English. It started in the second half of the 18th century in Galicia (not the Spanish region: this region was then part of [[Poland]] and is now divided between Poland and [[Ukraine]]) and gained steam in the 19th century, especially in [[Germany]] and other German-speaking parts of Central Europe. The Haskalah was a flowering of Jewish secular culture, at first in Yiddish and German, and it spread to other parts of Continental Europe and to the United States and other English-speaking lands. Maskilim, as followers of Haskalah were called, often saw themselves as citizens of their country first and Jews second, but Zionism (see below) was also an outgrowth of Haskalah. So was the new Reform denomination of Judaism, which originated in 19th-century Germany and can be said to have elevated what they considered to be logical thinking over traditional conceptions of Jewish law, with appeals to the example of Maimonides, who applied his own brand of reason in his commentaries on Judaism in his own day.
====The worst persecutions and the rise of Zionism====
====The worst persecutions and the rise of Zionism====