Modern Jewish History

(including coffee and continental breakfast) This introductory course will examine major currents, ideas and personalities that have characterised the social, political and cultural history of the Jewish people during the past two hundred years. The onslaught of modernity produced dilemmas and opportunities that changed Jewish History.

We will explore major developments such as emancipation, acculturation, mass demographic movements, racial anti-semitism, and Jewish nationalism. We will attempt to understand the Jewish world today.

Come and learn with the best. Beat the traffic and the parking problems. Enjoy the privilege of early morning quality time with our Chief Executive and senior lecturer.

• Introduction – Who Are the Jews • Moses Mendelssohn – The First Modern Jew • The French Revolution – Napoleon and the crisis of Jewish Identity • The Jews of Eastern Europe • The Jews and the Tsars • The Growth of Modern Antisemitism and the Dreyfus Affair • The Rise of Zionism • Berlin and the Jews 1870-1900 • Vienna and the Jews 1870-1900 • The life and times of Theodor Herzl

Chief Executive and Senior Historian Trudy Gold is one of our most popular lecturers, specialising in all aspects of the last two hundred years of Jewish history. She was the editor-in chief of the acclaimed teaching pack ‘Lessons of the Holocaust’ and consultant for the book ‘The Timechart History of Jewish Civilisation’.

Wednesday mornings 8.15-9.15am