Konflikt – wyobcowanie – wrogość – obojętność w środowisku żydowskim w Europie Wschodniej w XIX-XX wieku w zwierciadle literatury, publicystyki i pamiętnikarstwa

Abstract

The author describes how the age-long foundations of traditional Jewish society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were radically shaken twice or even partially destroyed. The creation and development of Hasidism are considered here as the first element of destruction. This is because Hasidic emotional exaltation, simplicity, youthfulness, naivety, irrationalism, and mysticism were in contradiction with the traditionally recognized values – authority, wisdom, scholarship, rationalism, and finally with the authorities of the East European Jewish community. The effect of the emergence of this new wave was a clear division that touched the Jewish community and caused a clear conflict of generations within it. The researcher considers the spread of Haskalah as the second element of the destruction of the old order. Both elements were reflected in contemporary literature, i.e., diaries, journals and fiction. And even though the authors of the texts analyzed here tried to diagnose both phenomena, they failed to fill the ditches and restore the generational and ideological unity of the Jewish community.