ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the general evolution of Bohemian Jewish society in the context of Hapsburg and Bohemian policy with regard to Jews and to the promotion of social and economic development. It examines the major external catalysts of change in the Bohemian Jewish life, the reforms of the 1780s and 1790s. The chapter looks at the redirection of Jewish cultural concerns in Prague under the impact of the Haskalah. It deals with the reception of the Haskalah in Prague, the contribution of Prague Jews to the program of the Haskalah, and the overall impact of the so-called Berlin school in the determination of both the tenor and the content of the Prague Haskalah. The chapter explores the practical application of one of the major cultural reforms of the period: the establishment of a secular Jewish school system.
