The Unconventional Jewish Life & Thought of
Solomon Yom Tov Bennett
Professor David B. Ruderman
University of Pennsylvania
Wednesday, January 5 | 7:30 p.m. | Via Zoom
Solomon Yom Tov Bennett [1767-1838] was a maskil, a Jew committed to the Enlightenment. His odyssey, from Belarus to Copenhagen to Berlin and London, includes his training in the arts and his career as an engraver, his transformation into a scholar and translator in London and then into an English literary agent.
Bennett was a special kind of maskil, a rebel from Jewish rabbinic norms and institutions. He could not tolerate the arrogance and ignorance of the rabbinic establishment and acted defiantly against it, attempting to usurp its prerogatives and authority.
By examining the life and thought of Solomon Yom Tov Bennett, we will better understand an epoch.