Arguably the most important intellectual, cultural, and religious movement in modern Jewish history, the Jewish enlightenment transformed the Jewish world. The breading ground of new ideas and a novel Jewish experience, the Enlightenment gave rise to many major social, political movements, including: secular Judaism, Reform Judaism, Hebrew culture, and Zionism. The course will focus on the ideological novelties of the enlightenment: its critique of orthodox religion and of Jewish diasporic existence, the return to history and rejuvenation of a secular Jewish culture, and the reinvention of Judaism as a national cultural and political affiliation.