From Conservative Value to Liberal Ideals

The reason Socialism emerged out of the Orthodox Jewry of Eastern Europe has everything to do with the division of labor, class, and social position.  From the time when the Jews were invited to the region by  King Boleslav of Poland in 1264(found on the compressed timeline handed out in class), to the beginning of industrialization Jews never were not integrated into their host countries and consequently looked inward for social progress. Orthodox Jewry viewed the emergence of Hasidism as a threat (found on the compressed timeline) but at the same time Socialism was being fostered by the Orthodox women and the working classes without expressly   oppositional views from the Orthodoxy.  Like Socialism Hasidism too used Yiddish as its main language opposed to Hebrew (Dawidowicz pg.9).

While Socialism was intent on the radical transformation of the division of labor and social position it did not seem to register a threat to the elitist Hebrew leaders.   Socialism is beast characterized by the slogan found and lived out on many Kibbutzim (socialist farms in Israel) “From those according to their ability to those according to their need”.  It is a philosophy of extreme equality that no one is to get more than anyone ells.  People who practiced this would often live communally and vote on every group decision.  This characterization grew out of the starkly contrasting rigid social roles found in Orthodox Jewry were men and women respectively knew their well defined social roles. 

In Orthodox Jewry women were relegated to the home, domestic tasks, and responsibilities such as raising children.  And men’s role were to head out and make a living, while also spending some time at the study of religious affairs, and leaning Hebrew. For men industrialization diminished their ability to make a living doing things described in Dawidowicz’s The Golden Tradition (pg.7) like:

“ controlled the Kingdom’s export trade, the import trade, and the domestic trade through the fairs. The Jews sometimes leased the royal lands and sometimes lands of the nobility, tax farming their meadows, woodlands, and fish ponds. The Jews planted crops, bred livestock, fished, lumbered, and manufactured flour and spirits. They leased inns and taverns where the peasants came to drink and carouse. They developed their own crafts in competition with the Christian craft guilds… the ready-made clothing industry.”