ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a broad consideration of the changes that helped transform medieval Jewish culture into early modern Jewish culture. It explains the Jews from the west and the establishment of new centers of Jewish life in the east changed the contours of Jewish culture in the early modern age. The culture of Renaissance Italy influenced them but they also defined their own Jewishness in conscious distinction from their environment. The impact of Renaissance culture on Jewish literature is the revival of historical writing, especially in Italy, in the sixteenth century. The Polish-Lithuanian and the Ottoman Jews left their imprint on the Jewish culture of the early modern period. An important role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge and its transformative impact on early modern Jewish culture was played by doctors. Political changes in Christian Europe further transformed Jewish life and reversed the trend of expulsion from the west by the end of this period.
