THE RELIGION-SCIENCE CONFLICT DURING HASKALAH: APPROVAL DOCUMENTS, SCIENCE BOOKS AND THE RABBINIC CLERGY

The emergence and expansion of the printing house since the 15th century led to a rapid rise in the book market. The decisions of the Christian rulers about the published works also affected the Jews living in these areas. Jews had taken some measures to protect their own religious beliefs and traditions as well as not to experience conflict with the rulers of the countries in which they live. One of them was the provision of the certificate of approval in the publication of Hebrew books. The Haskalah movement, which emerged as a result of the Enlightenment period in Europe and aimed at the modernization of the Jewish community, produced many publications in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, science continued to be a field of conflict between the Rabbinic clergy and the Maskilim. The effect of the Haskalah movement was tried to be minimized by the Rabbinic clergy especially in the early periods, through a system that rejects the issuance of approval documents for the publication of Hebrew science books that were accepted as potentially dangerous. It is observed that this attitude started to change in later periods