Post by TheRomanSlayer on Nov 15, 2019 6:36:08 GMT
Assuming that Poland-Lithuania had avoided the partitions by Russia, Austria and Prussia, what would Jewish culture be like under them? The OTL Partitions resulted in Russia acquiring the bulk of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe, and in the areas called the Pale of Settlement, Jews were a significant presence there. This unfortunately led to various pogroms that occurred under Russian rule, and the subsequent consequence of said pogroms was that the Jews began to organize themselves politically.
Historically, the Jews thrived well under Polish-Lithuanian rule and the religious tolerance policy of the government in Warsaw had benefited them enormously. Suppose that Poland-Lithuania didn't get partitioned as a result of either luck on their side or bad luck on the part of their enemies, how would Jewish culture look like? Would it have a significant Polish flavor or would it also adopt certain trappings of cultural Sarmatianism? Conversely, what kind of culture developed by other Jewish communities, particularly in the Austrian and Russian Empires, would be like without the partitions?
For instance, there could be a development of a hybrid Judeo-Polish language spoken by the Jews of the PLC (though it would be based on the extinct Knaanic, or the Judeo-Czech/Judeo-Slavic languages) with Polish as the main language, but with Hebrew and Yiddish words inserted into such a hybrid language, though Yiddish would remain the dominant language of the Jewish community in the PLC.
Historically, the Jews thrived well under Polish-Lithuanian rule and the religious tolerance policy of the government in Warsaw had benefited them enormously. Suppose that Poland-Lithuania didn't get partitioned as a result of either luck on their side or bad luck on the part of their enemies, how would Jewish culture look like? Would it have a significant Polish flavor or would it also adopt certain trappings of cultural Sarmatianism? Conversely, what kind of culture developed by other Jewish communities, particularly in the Austrian and Russian Empires, would be like without the partitions?
For instance, there could be a development of a hybrid Judeo-Polish language spoken by the Jews of the PLC (though it would be based on the extinct Knaanic, or the Judeo-Czech/Judeo-Slavic languages) with Polish as the main language, but with Hebrew and Yiddish words inserted into such a hybrid language, though Yiddish would remain the dominant language of the Jewish community in the PLC.
