The Origins of Jewish Secularization in Eighteenth-Century EuropeThroughout the eighteenth century, an ever sharper distinction emerged between Jews of the old order and those who were self consciously of a new world. As aspirations for liberation clashed with adherence to tradition, as national, ethnic, cultural, and other alternatives emerged and a long, circuitous search for identity began, it was no longer evident that the definition of Jewishness would be based on the beliefs and practices surrounding the