CONTINUING with Professor Cherry's lecture:
BUT THE THRUST OF THE EARLY REFORMS, WERE TO BE REALLY IDEOLOGICALLY CONSISTENT; SINCE WE'RE GOOD GERMANS AND NO LONGER FEEL WE'RE IN EXILE, WE'RE NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO ISRAEL, TO RE-ESTABLISH THE TEMPLE, THAT THAT SHOULD BE REFLECTED IN OUR LITURGY.
AND SO THEY DELETED THOSE TRADITIONAL BLESSINGS THAT TALKED ABOUT GOING BACK TO ISRAEL, THAT TALKED ABOUT THE RE-ESTABLISHING OF THE TEMPLE, AND ALSO THAT LINE ABOUT BEING EXILED FOR OUR SINS; WELL THEY DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THEY WERE IN EXILE ANYMORE.
SO HOW DID THEY GO ABOUT ADDRESSING THEIR PRESENCE IN, WHAT IS NOW CALLED THE DIASPORA - THEY BEING DISPERSED RATHER THAN BEING EXILED. WHAT THEY DID WAS TO REHABILITATE AN IMAGE FROM THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 4:6.
"FOR GOD HAS SAID, IS IT TOO LITTLE THAT YOU SHOULD BE MY SERVANT, AND THAT I RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB AND RESTORE THE SURVIVORS OF ISRAEL? I WILL ALSO MAKE YOU A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS, THAT MY SALVATION SHALL REACH TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH."
THIS IDEA OF BEING A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS BECOMES THE REFORM MISSION. AND IT'S THEIR EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THERE IS A DISPERSION. IT'S NOT THAT WE'RE IN EXILE ANYMORE, BUT WHAT OUR JOB IS, IS TO DEMONSTRATE ETHICAL AND MONOTHEISM, IN ALL THE LANDS THAT WE HAVE BEEN DISPERSED TO. WHY? IN ORDER TO SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE TO THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD, AS TO HOW PEOPLE SHOULD BEHAVE. THE PRINCIPLE OF ETHICAL MONOTHEISM, SHOULD CHARACTERIZE OUR BEHAVIOR, AND INFLUENCE OUR NON-JEWISH NEIGHBORS. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH POSTALIZING OR MAKING OUR NON-JEWISH NEIGHBORS CONVERT TO JUDAISM, BUT RATHER INFLUENCING THEIR BEHAVIOR, NOT NECESSARILY THEIR RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION.
IN THE PRAYER BOOK OF THE BERLIN REFORM ASSOCIATION, WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING LINES:
"YOU HAVE CALLED US O LORD, TO FOUND THE KINGDOM OF LOVE AND TRUTH ON THE WHOLE EARTH; FRO THIS YOU DID DISPERSE US." THE LANGUAGE OF DIASPORA, DISPERSION. "AND FOR THIS YOU DID DISPERSE US, THAT THE SPARKS OF YOUR LIGHT MIGHT FLY TO ALL NATIONS. TO DISPEL DARKNESS OF DELUSION FROM THE FURTHEST CORNERS OF THE GLOBE."
SO YOU GET THE SENSE NOW. THAT HISTORY IS BEING RE-WRITTEN; WE WERE NO LONGER EXILED AS A RESULT OF DIVINE PUNISHMENT, BUT IN ORDER TO SPREAD GOD'S LIGHT. THIS IS THE REFORMED MISSION.
THE AUTHOR OF THAT STATEMENT IN THE PRAYER BOOK OF THE BERLIN REFORM ASSOCIATION, WAS PROBABLY SAMUEL HOLDHEIM. HE WROTE IT IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY. AND HE'S AN INTERESTING FIGURE IN THE EARLY REFORMED JUDAISM, BECAUSE SAMUEL HOLDHEIM WAS A RADICAL. AND HE ADVOCATED A COUPLE OF REFORMS IN ORDER TO TO BE IDEOLOGICALLY CONSISTENT. THAT JUDAISM IS JUST A RELIGION THAT DOESN'T HAVE AN ETHNIC OR NATIONAL COMPONENT.
ONE OF THE THINGS HE SUGGESTED TO DO, WAS TO MOVE SHABBAT TO SUNDAY. AND INDEED IN THE UNITED STATES, THERE WERE A HANDFUL OF REFORMED TEMPLES, IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, THAT ALSO HAD SHABBAT LIGHT SERVICE ON SUNDAY.
BUT REFORMERS IN GENERAL DID NOT AGREE WITH SAMUEL HOLDHEIM'S IDEA THAT SHABBAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO SUNDAY; SHABBAT WAS SATURDAY AND THAT'S WHAT WAS GOING TO STAY, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A NUISANCE. IT'S MUCH EASIER TO HAVE YOUR SABBATH CELEBRATIONS, YOUR DAY OF REST, WHEN THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION HAS THEIR DAY OF REST. WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO DO IF YOU WERE A STORE OWNER OR AN EMPLOYEE? ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE OFF ON SATURADAY AND THE STORE IS CLOSED ON SUNDAY? SO AS A WAY OF MAKING THE CELEBRATION OF SABBATH EASIER FOR PEOPLE, HOLDHEIM SUGGESTED THE DAY BE SHIFTED TO SUNDAY. NOT WIDELY ACCEPTED.
ALSO, AND VERY RADICALLY, HE PROMOTED THE IDEA THAT THE "BRIT-MILAH" - OR THE CIRCUMCISION OF MALE BABIES ON THE 8TH DAY, SHOULD BE ABOLISHED!
IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGIOSITY, IT DOESN'T INCREASE OUR AWARENESS OF GOD IN THE WORLD. IT'S A MARK OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION, AND BECAUSE JUDAISM IS NO LONGER ABOUT ETHNICITY OR NATIONALITY, WE SHOULD GET RID OF THE "BRIT-MILAH." BUT AGAIN, THAT WAS NOT WIDELY ACCEPTED, ONLY VERY FEW PEOPLE STOPPED CIRCUMCISING THEIR SONS ON THE 8TH DAY.
OTHER EARLY SCHOLARS IN THE REFORM MOVEMENT WERE LESS RADICAL THAN SAMUEL HOLDHEIM. AND ONE OF THE MORE FAMOUS, EARLY FOUNDERS OF THE REFORMED JUDAISM IN GERMANY WAS ABRAHAM GEIGER. AND WHAT HE DID AS A SCHOLAR WAS TO DEMONSTRATE THAT JEWISH LAW, JEWISH PRACTICE, JEWISH THOUGHT, HAS ALWAYS CHANGED, FROM THE BIBLE TO THE RABBINICAL PERIOD, TO THE MEDI-EVIL PERIOD, TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD.
HE DID THE WORK AS A SCHOLAR, BUT WITH THE IDEOLOGICAL AXE TO GRIND; THAT WHAT REFORMED JUDAISM WAS DOING, IS BEING FAITHFUL TO THE IDEA OF THE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE JEWISH LAW. AND THEY'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE RABBIS OF THE TALMUD DID IN THEIR DAY.
SO THIS WAS SCHOLARSHIP IN THE SERVICE OF REFORMED JUDAISM.
AND SO THERE IS REALLY AN OVERLAP BETWEEN MASKILIM - THESE ADHERENTS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT, AND THE FOUNDERS OF REFORMED JUDAISM.
WHEREBY WE'RE NOT BEING FAITHFUL TO THE "CONTENT" OF JUDAISM WE'VE INHERITED, BUT WE'RE BEING FAITHFUL TO THE "PROCESS" OF JUDAISM, THAT'S ALWAYS TRIED TO GRAPPLE WITH ISSUES OF MODERNITY, IT'S ALWAYS TRIED TO ACCOMMODATE THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES THAT JEWS FIND THEMSELVES IN.
AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE LIKE ABRAHAM GEIGER WERE TRYING TO DO FOR THE GERMAN JEWISH COMMUNITY, IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY.
....................
TO BE CONTINUED
No comments:
Post a Comment