The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07

to be destructive Of practical Judaism.
That this fruit on the Tree of knowledge
ripened too quickly is seen from the fact
that all the descendants OF Mendelssohn,
Friedlander. and others. led astray by
this cosmopolitan spirit and the philo-
sophie presentation OF Christianity by
Schleiermacher. have all become devoted
members of the Lutheran Church ana
have been completely lost TO Judaism.
ii was natural that these new Unfit
ences should influence also the training
of the modern rabbits. Secular education
had been introduced into primary schools.
and in some places-as. for instance,
Lombardy in iS20-the Government de-
manded a certain amount of secular
knowledge from the candidates for rab-
binical positions. The Jew also desired
that his leaders should have the same
training as he gave his children, that
| they should be educated in the same at
mosphere in which he himself had grown
up. The old rabbinical seminaries. or
Yeshibot, in which the instruction was
entirely on Talmudic lines, had already
run their course; the study had been
found insufficient by the pupils them
selves, and the schools of Frankfort,
Fuerth. Metz. Hamburg. and Halber-
stadt had all been closed for want of stu
dents. The need of modern seminary
was felt quite early during the century;
and in 1909. Lehrer-Seminar was found
ed in Cassel. The earliest regular semi
| nary for the training of rabbits. however.
was founded in Padua in 1929. In Ger
many attempts had been made in the
year 1S4O but these attempts were unsuc
mi No fraf
not founded in Germany until the year
1854 (Breslau). Then followed Berlin, in
lSi2; Cincinnati in 1873: Budapest. in 1876.
Similar institutions exist now in London,
Paris, and Vienna.
In the first commissions of the Mendeis-
sohn period the way was paved for the
second period of the Reform movement
which covers the first quarter of the nine
tenth century. The real issues touched
the central point of Jewish life, the syna
gogue. 1t is interesting to note that dur
ing this period the chief questions were
not so much theological as aesthetic. The
aesthetic side of life could not be largely
cultivated in the Ghetto; and the form
of the service had greatly degenerated
In the course of centuries, many ad-
ditional prayers and songs and hymns
had been added that the ritual was large
~ o1erburdened, and often tended rather
to stifle than bring out the religious sense
they were intended to conserve. Contact
with the outside world created and fos-
tered this aesthetic sense, and the influ-
ences of the writings of such men as Les
sing and Mendelssohn was largely in this
direction. As this aesthetic sense made
its way into the homes, also did 1t
carve out its way into the synagogue.
Demands were heard for a shorter serv-
ice; for the organ to accompany the
chanting of the reader: for the German
language in some of the prayers and for
the German sermon. Each point was bit
terly contested; for the Orthodox wing
had before it the wholesale apOstasy of
the Salon Jews. In order to introduce
the vernaeular into the service and into
the sermon. private synagogues were
opened by small lotteries in Cassel $500.
Seesen OSLO. Dessau Is12) and Berlin
Oslo. In Southern Germany the use of
the vernacular was introduced between
the years 1871 and 1878 also in Hungary
through the influence of Abraham Chorin.
In some countries the Government gave
its active aid. In Vienna, in 1920, Ger
as 1914 Danish in Copenhagen. The great
est changes, however. were made in the
Hamburg temple (under kley and Salo-
mon, 1s1St where not only the service
was made more aesthetic and the German
language introduced, but certain prayers
referring to the Messianic time were
s:ther omitted or altered. No wonder,
then that the Orthodox rabbis in Ger
many, with the support of the rabbits in
various other countries, protested against
such course. The Government even
looked askance at these Reform proceed
ings. and in 1877 and 1923 ordered num-
Der of these private synagogues to be
closed. A further cause for displeasure
was the introduction In 1914 of the confir-
nation of children in German. to re-
place or supplement the old Barmitzvah.
a clear imitation of the ceremony In the
Protestant Church of Germany. Despite
opposition. however the confirmation
found its way into Berlin. Hamburg
Frankfort, Cassel. Copenhagen, etc.
This aesthetic revolution in the syna-
gosue could not, however, long remain
the only outward sign of the new life
The great weakness of the Reform move
ment has been that 1t has lacked a phil
osophic basis; and, as in its first begin
nings, with the exception of Hamburg, it
took little note of the changed point of
view from which those who fought for
reform looked at the old theological
ideas. Aesthetic reform was the work |
largely of individual persons and indfvid- |
ual congregations No attempt had been |
made either to formulate the philosophic |
ba sis lIDOn which the reform stood or to /
provide body which should regulate the |
form which the new order of things was |
to take on. Two attempts were made to |
remedy these evils. both closely related |
one to the other.
The first was crystallized in what is
now known as the Science of Judaism"
by which is meant the untrammeled. sci
entific investigation of the past history of |
the Jews. The want of this was severely |
felt just in those centres where reform |
had taken up its abode: and those who
assisted at it's birth did so with the avow-
ed purpose of getting at the real kernel |
of Judaism by such investigation. and of |
freeing that kernel from the accretions
of ages. They saw also that some means
had to be found by which the result of |
these researches could be brought before |
the people. The Mendelssohn period had /
also felt this; but its organ had been writ
ten in Hebrew, and could not. therefore |
appeal to those who wished for the intel
lectual advancement of the Jews upon
modern lines. The Society for Culture and |
the Science of Judaism In Berlin found
ed 1870 started Journal with L. Zunz
as editor Though it only lived during
the wears 1872 and 1872 II was tha fore