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Liberal Judaism remained absent in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century but finally became successful in the early 1930s under the influence of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London and the establishment of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in 1926. It had a specific Dutch character which was more radical than the German refugees who joined in were used to. The Shoah barely left survivors of the prewar congregations, but Liberal Judaism made a remarkable comeback in the Netherlands and had a key role position for Liberal Judaism on the continent of Europe. In a much smaller Jewish community than the French one, the Dutch Progressive congregations for a considerable period formed the largest Progressive community on the continent, next to France. Even today, while comprising ten congregations, it still has a growing membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Haskalah", i.e., the Jewish Enlightenment, denotes a movement that was established in Western Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Its purpose was to make Judaism conformable with the conditions of changing and developing world, to diffuse the European culture among the Jews and to integrate them into the societies in which they lived. Through the Haskala movement, which arose in parallel with the European Enlightenment, the Jews broke their crusts and began to assimilate the language, culture, knowledge, and ideals of the European society. Emerged in Western Europe, it later spread to Eastern Europe, and finally in Russia, when the Jews were accused of the assassination of Alexander II, leading to a violent anti-Semitism, it transformed to the Zionist movement. Therefore, the Haskalah movement had a key role not only in the emergence of the Jewish Reform movement but also in the rise of the Zionist thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]