Awake My People!

Between 1750 and 1880, Jews were at the forefront of literary, visual, material, musical, and intellectual culture, introducing new techniques, innovative approaches, and fresh ways of looking at the world.

Jewish poets throughout Europe and the Americas created in the languages of their native tongues, allowing us access to voices and moments, particular and collective, that we would otherwise not hear. 

Jewish writing in the period spanning 1750–1880 reflects the profound changes that confronted Jews in modernity. Some writers self-consciously broke with traditional and religious models; others definitely embraced it.