Transcript PowerPoint: Religious Adaptation - Part 2

Review Questions
1.
2.
3.
How could European Jews be Jewish and
participate in the modern world? Why
was this a new question for Jews?
Who was Israel Jacobson and why is he
significant?
What was the Hamburg Temple Prayer
Book and why was it controversial?
Emerging Patters of
Religious Adjustment
Part II
Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810-1874)
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Born in Germany
Traditional Jewish
education
PhD, University of Bonn
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Believed in studying
Judaism scientifically
Jewish history – Rashi,
history of Pharisees and
Saducees
Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810-1874)
Saw German Jews leaving Judaism
 Philosophy
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Believed that the Torah was written by human
beings
Judaism had adapted to the needs of the
Jewish people throughout its history.
Appointed Chief Rabbi of Berlin
Rabbinical Conferences
Individual congregations making changes
 Need for a unified position on key issues
 Calls for a series of Rabbinical Conferences
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1837 – Not successful
1840s – more successful
Issues create schisms that lead to 3 Jewish
movements
Reform Rabbinical Conference
at Brunswick (1844)
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Issue Under Discussion: Patriotism
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Rabbis endorse the position of the French
Sanhedrin on Jewish Patriotism
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Do the Jews consider Frenchmen as their brethern or
as strangers?
French Jews are the brethren of Frenchmen
Why is this significant?
Reform Rabbinical Conference
at Frankfurt (1845)
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Issue Under Discussion:
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To what degree is the Hebrew language
necessary for the public prayer service?
To what degree must the dogma of the
Messiah and anything pertaining to it, be taken
into consideration in the liturgy?
Rabbi Samuel Holdheim (1806-1860)
“The Talmud speaks with the ideology of its
time, for its time it was right. I speak from
the higher ideology of my time, and for
my time I am right.”
Rabbi Zecharias Frankel
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Scholar
Attends Rabbinic
Conference in 1845
Breaks with Reform over
Hebrew and Halachah
Historical Positivism
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
(1808-1888)
Yafeh Torah Im Derech
Eretz
 “Religion Allied to
Progress” (1854)
 Neo-Orthodoxy
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Drawing Conclusions
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What is the religious impact of
Emancipation on the Jews of Germany?
For Next Week:
Read pages 207-248.
 Special attention to documents #1, 3, 5,
7, 8, 9, 11, and 12.
 Think about:
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Why do we study Jewish history today?
What were the goals of studying Judaism
scientifically?
What were some of the tensions between the
different goals?