Haskalah adherents’ views on the Jewish female education in Prussia in the second half of the 18th century

Abstract

In the present article, an attempt was made to demonstrate a contribution of Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) activists to the development of the concept of Jewish female education in Prussia in the second half of the 18th century.
The author of the paper considers the educational activity of the Haskalah brightest representatives – Moses Mendelsohn, David Friedländer, Naphtali Herz Wessely and Marcus Herz. The author focuses on the main project by Jewish enlighteners – the reform of traditional Jewish education.
Modernization of Jewish women‘s education was an integral part of Haskalah educational strategy. Based on a set of personal and publicistic sourses, the author makes an attempt to reconstruct Jewish enlighteners’ views on the issue of Jewish women’s education under the conditions of general secularization of the Prussian society and the intensive growth of JewishChristian communications in the second half of the 18th century.
She also investigates the origins of Haskalah movement in Prussia. The paper analyzes such issues as the social and legal status of Prussian Jews in the indicated span of time, the emergence of philosemitic discourse among Prussian intellectuals.
The work deals with particular instances of the implementation of the concept of Haskalah secular female education and with some consequences of female involvement in public sphere.