The Power of Assimilation

From 1700 onwards, the world understanding of life changed. People became rational, a set of religious. And the Jewish people went through the same upheaval. The people dropped religion. There were some sort of moves from the nations where we resided to make us equal with the unstated understanding that we become Polish and we become regular citizens. We become French and we acknowledge as full Frenchmen. They hit a brick wall and they realized that no matter what, they still don't want you. So Jews seek different avenues to find themselves as normal people but still the strong, blatant sense of being Jewish is special. That's the way we looked at it so traditionally and it was very strong and very powerful