Transformation of the Jewish Cultural Code of Sefer in the Social Strata of the Shtetl

Abstract

The subject of the study is the transformation of the main Jewish cultural code of the Sefer -Book, from stratum to stratum in the culture of Jewish shtetls. Shtetls were called urban-type settlements in Eastern Europe - the Jewish pale of settlement. The Sefer code, originally embodying the foundations of Jewish law and worldview, the written and oral Torah, pointed to the path to the Almighty through its study. The perception of the rules within each stratum differed in a number of features: the Misnageds, as well as the Karaites and Krymchaks, had strict adherence to the laws, and the Hasidim had an emotional perception. With the advent of the Jewish Enlightenment-Haskalah, and later the globalization of the twentieth century, the Sefer code began to personify the light of knowledge as a whole, as the main goal, including both religious and secular sources. Education in the religious stratum was perceived as the knowledge of God and his creations, and in the atheistic environment - as an end in itself, remaining the main goal in all strata. The obtained research results can also be applied to ethnocultural studies of other ethnic groups. The study applied the method of historicism in retrospect of the functioning of the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, the comparative method in the comparative characteristics of cultural and religious concepts of various Jewish communities, methods of analysis and synthesis in the formulation of the scheme of cultural codes and their conjugations. The study for the first time characterizes the author's universal morphological scheme of Jewish cultural codes, from which the hierarchy and interrelationships of the main groups of symbols, as well as the key meanings and the main meaning, which is the center of intersection of all codes, are understood. Conclusions: 1. The cultural area of the Eastern European shtetl towns was distinguished by stable patterns associated with the compact residence of the Jewish population and traditional occupations, as well as a worldview based on the Jewish religion. After the disappearance of the shtetls due to globalization, the cultural and ideological foundation became the basis of the activity and thinking of scientists, literary and artistic figures who emerged from it. 2. The Sefer cultural code embodies not only the Torah and its derivatives, but also identifies the main goal - the acquisition of knowledge, which is the same for representatives of all social strata of the Shtetl - Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Jews, Karaites, Krymchaks, Misnageds, Hasidim, representatives of Haskalah, and later atheists and agnostics.