Maskilic families in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

This article analyses the character of Maskilic families in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. The Ottomans regarded the family as a cornerstone of society and a tool for maintaining social harmony and preventing disorder. Accordingly, an analysis of the Maskilic family forms an important component in prosopographical research into the circle of Maskilim. The Ottoman Maskilim came from the heart of the 'traditional' rabbinical elite, and like other Muslim and non-Muslim reformers and intellectuals they underwent and generated processes of modernization with a relatively limited measure of secularization. Maskilic families continued to be essentially patriarchal, both in Maskilic thought and in everyday reality. At the same time, however, the Haskalah permitted the introduction of more modern patterns, such as the expansion of women's agency and liberty. These processes occurred without challenging the structure of the family or the father's supremacy.