Jewish Emancipation

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This work offers a comprehensive history of how Jews achieved citizenship and civil rights in the modern world, emphasizing that the Holocaust and the founding of Israel, while significant, are part of a broader narrative of Jewish emancipation. David Sorkin aims to reorient Jewish history by detailing the complex journey of Jews gaining, maintaining, losing, and regaining rights from the mid-sixteenth century to the early twenty-first century across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Israel. Emancipation is portrayed as a multifaceted, non-linear process marked by setbacks and advancements rather than a singular event tied to the Enlightenment or the French Revolution. For instance, American Jews engaged politically in the nineteenth century and again in the twentieth century to reclaim civil rights. Similarly, Israel has faced ongoing challenges in establishing equality among its diverse population. By illuminating this foundational yet overlooked aspect of Jewish history, the narrative reveals the intricate dynamics of Jewish rights and identity over the past five hundred years.