ABSTRACT
Encouraged by political conditions supporting the cause of reason, Jewish intellectuals ventured to prepare the cultural and educational background necessary for emancipation. Thus, Jewish intellectuals were abundantly represented in European liberal movements as well as in many movements perceived to be devoted to enlightened causes ever since. In the 1840s Jewish intellectuals actively supported czarist educational measures perceived by the Jewish masses as a form of religious oppression. Paradoxically, intellectuals' restlessness vis-a-vis the state seems to be typical of national movements in which struggle for political independence turns out to be successful. Committed as they were to the national cause and to independence, they were the first to sense the inevitable gap between the goals of the national movement and the reality of the new state. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
