Trudy Gold
The Image of the Jews in France
Summary
The traditional image of the Jew in France was with notable exceptions that of Christ-killer and pariah. The Enlightenment of the late 17th and 18th century brought a gradual change in some attitudes. This presentation will examine how some of the great philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot viewed the Jews. Were they ever to be worthy of acceptance?
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
Yes, I know you are Judith and you are doing wonderful work. But I used to be involved a long time ago, and as you well know, I’ve become much too cynical to get involved in that kind of work. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe you should go on trying, and that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of awfully good people who are religious Christians as well. But I mean, if you think about the Methodists, they have become so violently anti-Israel that I have a real problem with that. The Methodists who were low church, who were such advocates of human rights. It’s complicated story.
Nothing negative came out of it. Monty. The downside of the Enlightenment is human nature wasn’t up to it. The human nature it presuppose that knowledge would lead to reason and we would learn to be more reasonable. You know, Moses Mendelssohn, the Jew in Germany who saw himself as a figure of the Enlightenment, when he was asked why didn’t he convert, he had the audacity, or may I say chutzpah to say, “If I met a Solon, would I convert him?” He said, “There are many paths to the truth and I’m a Jew, so I follow the Jewish path.” That’s the Enlightenment. There are many paths to the truth. Should I convert a Christian? Of course I shouldn’t. Should I convert anybody? Of course I shouldn’t. That’s not my belief. But unfortunately, the Enlightenment … The late great Robert Wistrich, the last conversation I ever had with him, I took him to the airport before he went to Israel. He died a couple of months later and we had a big round as we often did about ideas. And he said, “Trudy, the Enlightenment is a blip. I’ll see you in Israel.” I don’t want to believe that there won’t be another Enlightenment. I know many, many people who are enlightened.