Emergence of Modern Denominations notes
‘Emergence of Modern Denominations’, The Jewish Religion: a Companion, L. Jacobs
Haskalah not anti-trad per se - many maskilim personally observant
→ but approaches to educ and trad fundamentally clashed
Maskilim introduced sec learning into curric, & rejected the trad method of teaching Jewish religion - through biblical commentary and Talmud - favoured return to the Bible without interpretation coloured by medieval exegesis
H also set scene for emergence of Reform Judaism
RJ - “posed the severest threat to the traditional way of Jewish life”
RJ aimed to embrace the best aspects of the modern world & reduce the numbers converting out. Judaism needed reformed to reduce the differences between Jew and Gentile
1st stage - changes to liturgy
→ removal of some prayers, inclusion of some new hymns in German, organi played in services, sermons, made more like Prot services
RJ abandoned goal of (and prayers for) restoration to Jewish homeland and restoration of Temple worship
→ Messianic hopes purely symbolic - longing for a better world (i.e. a more liberal word) - Judaism “ethical monotheism”, Jews to spread truth and justice by example, in Diaspora
This meant that laws that no longer served the function of spreading Jewish values could be discarded
→ dietary laws discarded as barrier to friendship between Jews and Gentiles
trad party became known as Orthodox
fierce fighting between the two sides
→ O considered R Judaism-lite, heretical
→ R considered O to be stuck in the past, failing to meet new challenges, threatening Jism’s viability
R became partic signif in USA - NB increasing return to tradition after WWII
Orthodox reaction two-fold:
1 - some denied secularism/the West had anything of value for Jews
Mitnaggedim and Chasidim pursued own methods of spiritual fulfilment, ignoring alien trends and developments
2 - Neo-Orthodoxy - Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-88), of Frankfurt
Married total commitment to Torah-observance with acknowledgment of some of the benefits of modern, Western life
Dressed in Western clothes, worked in secular jobs
Hirsch’s movement suffered during rise of Nazism in Germany - difficult to accept his enthusiasm for German culture in such a climate
→ drift towards Hasidism & Mitnaggedism
but also the forerunner of Modern Orthodoxy
Conservative Judaism (Masorti)
→ middle way between R&O
disagrees with theology of O & practice of R
loyal to tradition, accepts validity of halakha, more flexible in approach though
→ rejects Mosaic authorship of Torah - instead the product of generations of Jewish people striving for G-d
Halakha binding because it is the expression of inner religious life & commitment
Two important thinkers = Zachariah Frankel (“positive historic Judaism”) and Solomon Schecter “Catholic Israel” - authority ultimately rests within the Jewish people themselves
Reform Judaism
Took a while for Reform Judaism to organise itself as a distinct movement - origins in maskilim and cultured German Jews who wanted to live as Jews, but within the modern world
Attempts by these men to create new liturgy in line with Western values, from an early stage
First Reform Temple set up in Hamburg in 1818 - the Hamburg Temple
Temple - statement that there will be no third Temple, rejection of Messianic element of Judaism (except in symbolic sense). Took references to the rebuilding of the Temple and rebuilding of Jewish homeland etc out of their liturgy
Introduced German prayers and hymns to service, played organ in services
Orthodox response - a number of important traditional rabbis joined together to denounce the reformers
1844-6 - series of conferences where university-educated rabbis met and shared ideas - beginning of the Reform movement
leaders in Germany were Abraham Geiger & Samuel Holdheim
attempted to develop a new, Reform Judaism - stress on the universal
R spread across Europe - Vienna, Hungary, Holland, Denmark, England (1840)
Early 20thC in England new kind of Reform synagogues were set up, influence of Claude Montefiore → Liberal Judaism
Also spread to USA with German-Jewish immigrants
Isaac Mayer Wise was most important of the leaders (1819-1900)
1875 - Hebrew Union College established in Cincinnati - to train Reform rabbis
the “treyfah banquet” held to celebrate the graduation of the first cohort of rabbis (they served shellfish) alienated the more traditional rabbis - didn’t actually cause the split that resulted in Conservative Judaism, but it exposed the divisions within the movement
Orthodox Judaism
→ not homogenous - umbrella term for a variety of traditionalist groups
Orthodox a Christian term - started as a term of abuse, said by Reformers to those they thought failed to adequately react to the challenges of modernity
Appropriated by the traditionalists, to mean anyone faithful to the traditional observance of the Torah
“Torah-true” preferred by some
rejects the idea that Judaism needs to be ‘reformed’ to cope with the modern world - Torah eternal and unchanging
Rejects the Conservative position that changes can be made to halakha if done in the halakhic spirit - halakha must be observed to the letter
Changes in Orthodoxy not seen as changes at all, but as the application of old law to new situations (e.g. electricity)
Ultra-Orthodox - perjorative (and ignorant) term for Charedim (“those who fear God”, from Isaiah 66:5 - “Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble [ha-haredim] at his word”)
They include the Hasidim of all varieties, Mitnaggedim, Oriental and Sephardi Jews who maintain pre-modern traditional observance. Clearly a very heterogeneous group, with diverse traditions - common theme is belief in the binding nature of both the Oral and Written Torah and divine authorship of both, and distrust of the secular world
Neo-Orthodoxy/Modern Orthodoxy
Different from Charedim - accept the modern world, although stay true to traditional observance [in theory]
Majority of US and English Orthodox Jews belong to this group [I wonder if this is still true now?]
Orthodoxy heterogeneous, not a coherent group/movement - many different groups squabbling amongst themselves
Divided from Progressive movements over the issue of tradition and halakha - deny that either of these need revision, or even that they can be revised without betraying the Torah
More or less Judaism as it was in pre-modern period [well, in some respects]
Claude Montefiore
Claude Montefiore (1853-1938) - one of the founders of Liberal Judaism in the UK
Studied at Balliol College [see, all the best people study at Balliol!], disciple of Benjamin Jowett
Studied at the Hochschule in Berlin, and under Solomon Schechter
Founded Jewish Religious Union in 1902 - “radical” Jewish organisation
→ evolved into the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in 1911 (with CM as president)
anti-Zionist - attempted to prevent the Balfour Declaration being signed
Accepted biblical scholarship on the human origins of the Torah; saw Judaism’s main purpose as guarding monotheism in the world
Complex relationship to Christianity - saw Judaism as superior in that it was pure monotheism, but viewed Christianity’s supposed basis on Christian love as a superior basis to Judaism’s (justice). Tried to marry the two, introduce Christian ideas and ethics into Jewish religion
→ aroused the ire of Ahad Ha-Am; polemic against this blurring, arguing that justice and love cannot be reconciled.
[Here LJ complains that “in their characterization of the two religions both thinkers are two facile, since Judaism knows of love as Christianity knows of justice”. I’m inclined to agree.]