Structural Transformations of Jewish Communities in Europe: From Ghetto Isolation to the Dilemma of Citizenship (Late Eighteenth to Late Nineteenth Century)

Abstract

The issue of identity is among the most critical challenges accompanying the structural transformations of modern Europe, which redefined patterns of belonging and the relationship between individuals and the state, particularly for Jewish communities that transitioned from isolation to citizenship. This study analyzes those transformations since the eighteenth century and how they produced a complex identity crisis.  It adopts a historical-analytical approach, tracing the transition from the ghetto system to legal emancipation and then to the modern nation-state, highlighting the contradiction between legal inclusion and social exclusion. The findings indicate that Jewish identity formed within structural isolation as a cohesive yet closed identity, which later fragmented with the Enlightenment and legal emancipation without the emergence of a stable alternative. This led to an identity crisis characterized by tension between religious affiliation and national belonging. Modern antisemitism and European nationalism reproduced exclusion despite the granting of citizenship rights, thereby deepening the structural nature of the crisis. The study recommends analytical approaches that move beyond single-factor explanations by emphasizing the interaction between structural and historical factors. It also calls for expanded comparative studies of identity crises in modern societies, contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between identity and the nation-state.