The times., 1901-04-07


That this fruit on the Tree OF knowledge
ripened too quickly is seen from the fact
that all the descendants of Mendessohn,
Friedlander. and others led astray by
this cosmopolitan spirit and the philo-
sophie presentation of Christianity By
schIeiermacher. have all become devoted
members of the Lutheran Church and
have been completely lost to Judaism
1t was natural that these new infu-
cnces should influence also the training
of the modern rabbis. Secular education
had been introduced into primary schools,
and in some places-as. for instance
Lombardy. in 1S20-the Government de
manded a certain amount OF secular
knowledge from the candidates for rab-
| bnical 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
F'uerth. Metz. Hamburg. and HaIber-
dents. The need of modern seminary
was felt quite early during the century:
and in 1899. Lehrer-Seminar was found
ed in CasseI. The earliest regular semi
nary for the training of rabbis. however.
was founded in Padua In 1923. In Ger
many attempts had been made in the
year 1S40 but these attempts were unsuc-
cessful. The first modern seminary was
not founded in Germany until the year
1854 (Breslau). Then followed Berlin, in
1872; Cincinnati. in 1873: Budapest. in 1876.
Similar institutions exist now in London,
Paris, and Vienna.
In the first commissions of the Mendels-
sohn period the way was paved for the
second period of the Reform movement
which covers the first quarter of the nine
teenth 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, so many ad-
ditional prayers and songs and hymns
had been added that the ritual was large
ly overburdened, and often tended rather
to stihe 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 infIu
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, so also did it
carve out it's 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 vernaeular into the service and into
the sermon. private synagogues were
opened by small coteries in Cassel dS09l.
Seesen 0S10) Dessau IS12), and Berlin
Oslo. In Southern Germany the use of
the vernacular was introduced between |
the years 1917 and 1918. also in Hungary |
through the influence Of Abraham Chorin.
In some countries the Government gave !
it's active aid In Vienna, in 1920, Ger |
man was made obligatory. and as early |
as 1914 Danish in Copenhagen. The great |
est changes. however, were made in the !
Hamburg temple (under kley and Salo- |
mon, 1873, where not only the service |
was made more aesthetic and the German |
language introduced, but certain prayers
referring to the Messianic time were !
either omitted or altered. No wonder, !
then, that the Orthodox rabbis in Ger !
many, with the support of the rabbis in !
various other countries, protested against |
such a course. The Government even
looked askance at these Reform proceed
ings. and in 1871 and 1893 ordered a 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 it's way into Berlin. Hamburg
Frankfort, Cassel, Copenhagen, etc.
This aesthetic revolution in the syna-
gogue could not, however, long remain |
the only outward sign of the new life
The great weakness of the Reform move
ment has been that it 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 piilosophic
basis upon which the reform stood, or to
provide a 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 its 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 MendeIssohn 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 a Journal, with l. Zunz
as editor. Though it only lived during
the years 1922 and 1928 it was the fore