| Abstract: | Despite the progress of Emancipation in the nineteenth century,German Jews were required to to legally recognized Jewish communities.Even after this requirement was lifted, Jewish communal liferemained strong. The community structure that the Prussian stateexpected the Jews to implement was modeled after German civiladministration. This framework, however, resembled both medievalGerman and medieval Jewish models. Thus, German Jews, whilemodernizing their own communal institutions, continued to maintainboth their own and their German neighbors' political traditions.The German Jewish communal constitutions attest to a Jewishpolitical tradition of adaptation to prevailing gentile norms,as well as retention of ancient Jewish elements. |
