Continuing with Professor Cherry's lecture:
SEVERAL DECADES AFTER THIS PROCESS OF EMANCIPATION REALLY BEGINS, WE HAVE ANOTHER PHENOMENON CALLED "THE HASKALAH" WHICH IS JEWISH ENLIGHTENMENT. THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT BEGINS A HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER. BUT WITHIN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY THE HASKALAH BEGINS WITH A SMALL BAND OF EUROPEAN JEWS, FIRST IN FRANCE AND GERMANY IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. THEN EXPANDING TO EAST EUROPE TOWARDS THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. AND THESE 'MASKILIM" FROM THE WORD "HASKALAH" - THESE ENLIGHTENED ONES, THEY WERE READY TO EMBRACE THE FRUITS OF MODERNITY.
IF THE GATES OF THE UNIVERSITIES WERE THROWN OPEN TO THEM, THEY WANTED TO LEARN, NATURAL SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, FOREIGN LANGUAGES, FOREIGN LITERATURE, HISTORY, ARCHEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY; THEY WANTED THOSE THINGS THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO LEARN IN THE TRADITIONAL JEWISH EDUCATION, WHICH FOR THE MOST PART WAS TALMUD, TALMUD, TALMUD, AND THEN, TALMUD COMMENTARIES, AND TALMUD COMMENTARIES, AND TALMUD COMMENTARIES. ALL OF A SUDDEN THIS NEW WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE WAS AVAILABLE TO THEM. THEY WERE VERY AGGRESSIVE IN PURSUING THIS NEW WORLD OR UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGE.
EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, EUROPEAN LITERATURE WERE STUDIED. NATURAL SCIENCE BECOMES MORE POPULAR, AND OTHER ACADEMIC SUBJECTS, EVEN WITHIN THE JEWISH EDUCATION SYSTEM THERE WERE CHANGES. LESS TIME WAS DEVOTED TO THE TALMUD AND TALMUD COMMENTARIES, AND MORE TIME WAS DEVOTED TO THE BIBLE AND JEWISH ETHICS. NOW THAT THERE WAS MORE INTERACTION BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES, THE RABBIS DID NOT WANT THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES TO BE PERCEIVED AS IN ANY WAY LESS ETHICAL SENSITIVE THAN THE GENTILE NEIGHBORS.
NOW THE MASKILIM, PROPONENTS OF THE "HASKALAH" - THEY ENCOURAGED CERTAIN REFORMS THROUGHOUT THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES. AMONG THEM WERE ALSO THE REFORMS PROMULGATED IN THE "EDICT OF TOLERANCE," MAINLY TO MOVE THE JEWISH LABOR POOLS INTO DIFFERENT AREAS. WHILE THEY HAD BEEN CONCENTRATED INTO COMMERCE AND FINANCE, THE JEWISH LABOR POOL SHOULD BE DIVERSIFIED AND INCLUDE AGRICULTURE AS WELL AS CRAFTS.
OTHER REFORMS THAT THE MASKILIM WERE PROMOTING INVOLVED HAVING SERMONS IN THE SYNAGOGUE SERVICES. NORMALLY, THOUGH THIS IS SURPRISING TO CONTEMPORARY JEWS, NORMALLY, UP UNTIL THE 19TH CENTURY THERE WERE ONLY SERMONS BY RABBINICAL FIGURES TWICE A YEAR; AROUND PASSOVER AND ON THE SABBATH BETWEEN ROSH ASHANA AND YOM KEPUR. OTHERWISE PEOPLE WOULD GO TO THE SYNAGOGUE AND THEY WOULD DOVAN AND PRAY THE DAILY PRAYERS AND HOLIDAY PRAYERS, AND THEN GO HOME AND EAT.
BUT IN ORDER TO MODEL THEMSELVES LIKE THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN GERMANY, WHERE THE CLERIC OR PASTOR WOULD GIVE AN EDIFYING SERMON IN GOOD GERMAN; THE MASKILIM ALSO WANTED DEMANDED THAT THEIR RABBIS START GIVING SERMON, AND NOT ABOUT TRADITIONAL LEGALISTIC THINGS ABOUT THE HALAKAH, AND WHAT YOU CAN OR CAN NOT DO ON THE SABBATH, BUT ABOUT SPIRITUAL EDIFYING MATTERS, TO RAISE UP OUR SPIRITUAL LEVEL, AND AWARENESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES AND IN THE WORLD. AND FURTHER, THE SERMON SHOULD NOT BE DONE IN YIDDISH, THE TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE OF THE JEWS, BUT IN THE VERNACULAR, IN THIS CASE IN HIGH GERMAN.
ALSO THEY SAID SYNAGOGUES SHOULD HAVE GREATER DECORUM. THIS WORD "DECORUM" WILL COME UP AGAIN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE REFORM MOVEMENT.
IN TRADITIONAL SYNAGOGUES YOU'VE GOT KIDS RUNNING BACK AND FORTH, YOU'VE GOT PEOPLE TALKING DURING SERVICES EVEN TODAY, MORE SO SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AGO FROM WHAT I'VE BOON TOLD AND FROM WHAT I'VE READ. THE PROTESTANT SERVICES WERE MUCH MORE "BUTTONED-UP" AND THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE CHILDREN TALKING, CERTAINLY THERE WERE NO ANIMALS RUNNING AROUND; DON'T KNOW IF THERE WERE ANIMALS RUNNING AROUND IN JEWISH SERVICES, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA, THE JEWISH SERVICE WAS NOT WELL ORCHESTRATED IN THE SENSE OF HAVING EVERYONE IN THEIR PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME, AND EVERYONE ELSE BEING SILENT. THERE WAS MORE OF A FREE FLOW IN TRADITIONAL JEWISH SERVICES. BUT IN ORDER TO EMULATE THE PROTESTANT WAY OF WORSHIP, DECORUM WAS PROMOTED.
NOW BY THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY THE HASKALAH HAD MOVED TO EASTERN EUROPE AND RUSSIA, AND WE BEGIN TO SEE NOT SO MUCH CHANGE IN THE SYNAGOGUE, WE BEGIN TO SEE HOW THE MASKILIM BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND JUDAISM, AND THE HISTORY OF JEWISH PRACTICE, AND THE HISTORY OF JEWISH THOUGHT.
RATHER THAN GOING INTO HOW THE HASKILAH UNFOLDED IN EACH EUROPEAN COUNTRY AT DIFFERENT TIMES IN THE 19TH CENTURY, LET ME JUST EMPHASIZE THAT THE HASKILAH HAD A DIFFERENT SET OF CHARACTERISTICS, AND A DIFFERENT INTERNAL DYNAMIC, DEPENDING ON WHETHER WE ARE LOOKING AT FRANCE OR GERMANY OR HUNGARY OR THE PALE OF SETTLEMENTS IN THE UKRAINE, AND WHITE RUSSIA AND FATHER EAST TO RUSSIA ITSELF. SO IT REALLY DEPENDS ON THE INTERNAL DYNAMICS TO UNDERSTAND THAT PROCESS OF HASKILAH OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN EACH INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY.
AMONG THE MASKILIM IN GERMANY THERE WAS ALSO A DESIRE TO USE THESE NEW UNDERSTANDINGS AS A RESULT OF THE SECULAR EDUCATION, AND TO USE THEM TO PRESS FOR CERTAIN REFORMS WITHIN JUDAISM ITSELF. NOT JUST ABOUT THE SERVICE, NOT JUST ABOUT MORE DECORUM, BUT ALSO CHANGING CERTAIN TRADITIONS, AND MODIFYING THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HALAKAH, AND OF TRADITIONAL JEWISH LAW.
THESE CHANGES BEGAN IN THE SYNAGOGUE AS I'VE DESCRIBED. CHANGES ON THE GROUND PRECEDE THE MORE IDEOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THOSE CHANGES. BUT BY THE TIME WE GET TO THE 1820s WE REALLY HAVE A SMALL GROUP OF ENLIGHTENED JEWS, WHO WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE LEADERS OF THE REFORMED MOVEMENT.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS THEY STARTED OUT BY SAYING WAS ORDER AND DECORUM SHOULD INDEED PREVAIL IN THE SYNAGOGUE. THEY ALSO EMPHASIZED SERMONS SHOULD BE EDIFYING RATHER THAN LEGALISTIC, AND DELIVERED IN THE VERNACULAR. BUT THEY SAID MORE THAN THAT.
THEY SAID SYNAGOGUE SERVICES WERE TOO LONG. THERE WERE TOO MANY WORDS. AN AVERAGE SATURDAY SERVICE CAN LAST FOR 2 AND 1/2 TO 3 HOURS. AND SO THESE REFORMERS SAID, "YOU KNOW WHAT, LET'S SHORTEN THE SERVICE. NOW THE ONLY WAY TO SHORTEN THE SERVICE IS TO TAKE OUT LARGE PORTIONS OF THE TRADITIONAL THINGS SAID." THIS UPSET THOSE WHO WERE MORE TRADITIONAL IN THE CONGREGATION, AND GREATLY UPSET THOSE WHO WERE TRADITIONAL BUT NOT PART OF THE CONGREGATION.
THEN THE REFORMERS, LOOKING AT THINGS GOING ON IN PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS, WANTED TO INTRODUCE MUSIC, SPECIFICALLY ORGAN MUSIC. NOW MUSIC HAD NOT BEEN PART OF THE JEWISH SERVICE SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN THE YEAR 70. WELL NOT ENTIRELY TRUE, FOR DURING THE MIDDLE AGES WE SEE ALL KINDS OF MUSIC DEVISES BEING USED. BUT BECAUSE MUSIC HAD BEEN SUCH AN INTRICATE PART OF TEMPLE SERVICE WHEN THE TEMPLE WAS STILL STANDING, IT WAS FELT AS IN-APPROPRIATE FOR THERE TO BE MUSIC DURING THE INTERIM PERIOD BEFORE THE TEMPLE IS REBUILT.
BUT NOW WE BEGIN TO HAVE THE IDEOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF EMANCIPATION. THE REFORMED JEWS STARTED SAYING, THIS EARLY GROUP STARTED SAYING, "NOW WAIT A SECOND, IF WE'RE GERMAN JEWS, AND WE WE'RE NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, AND THE RE-BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, THEN WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE MUSIC. WE'RE NO LONGER HONORING THE LOSS OF THE TEMPLE BY NOT PLAYING MUSIC, FOR WE'RE NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO REBUILDING THE TEMPLE."
SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED IS MUSIC WAS INTRODUCES AND THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP, OF THESE EARLY REFORMED COMMUNITIES ARE CALLED TEMPLES.
SO TODAY IF YOU DRIVE THROUGH A CITY YOU'LL SEE SOME JEWISH HOUSE OF WORSHIP CALLED - TEMPLE-BETHEL OR TEMPLE-BETHON. AND THERE ARE OTHER JEWISH HOUSES CALLED CONGREGATION YAHUDAH OR CONGREGATION AHLOT, THEN SOME CALLED SYNAGOGUE BETHAL, SYNAGOGUE BETHON. WELL ACTUALLY THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TEMPLE AND A SYNAGOGUE. ALMOST ALL THE TEMPLES YOU'LL BUMP INTO ARE REFORMED INSTITUTIONS, BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TEMPLE BEING REBUILT IN JERUSALEM AND THE RE-INTRODUCING OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES, BUT THE TRUTH IS I DON'T THINK MANY JEWS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RE-INTRODUCING OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE TEMPLE.
BUT NEVERTHELESS, IT'S PART OF REFORMED IDEOLOGY THAT THEIR NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TEMPLE BEING REBUILT AND THE RE-INTRODUCTION OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES. SO THEY CALL THEIR HOUSE OF WORSHIP TEMPLES.
IN THE MORE TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES AND MORE TRADITIONAL CONGREGATIONS THEY TEND TO NOT USE THAT WORD TEMPLE, BECAUSE THEY CONTINUE TO PAY AT LEAST LIP-SERVICE, TO THE IDEA THAT EVENTUALLY IN SOME MESSIANIC FUTURE, THERE WILL BE A TEMPLE REBUILT. WHETHER THAT TEMPLE IS UNDERSTOOD AS BRICK AND MORTAR, OR AS THE TEMPLE OF GOD IN YOUR SOUL, THAT'S UP TO THE INTERPRETIVE CAPACITIES OF EACH INDIVIDUAL WORSHIPER.
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TO BE CONTINUED
DID YOU CATCH IT? NEAR THE END! PROFESSOR CHERRY DOES NOT THINK MANY JEWS ARE LOOKING TOWARDS ANIMAL SACRIFICES BEING DONE AGAIN. I GUESS NOT, FOR IF SUCH A THING WAS EVER TO HAPPEN BEFORE JESUS RETURNS, YOU CAN BET THE ANIMAL RIGHT GROUPS WOULD BE OVER THERE TO STOP IT, TO BURN DOWN, BLOW UP, TRASH, ANY SUCH STRUCTURE AND ANY PHYSICAL KILLING OF ANIMALS IN SOME RITUALISTIC RELIGIOUS CEREMONY. THE ANIMAL RIGHT GROUPS WOULD NOT STAND FOR SUCH RELIGIOUS CUSTOM TO EVER BE DONE, AND PROBABLY THE SECULAR STATE OF ISRAEL GOVERNMENT WOULD NOT ALLOW IT EITHER. FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS VERY SECULAR, NOT RELIGIOUS AT ALL. MOST OF ITS PEOPLE ARE SECULAR, NOT RELIGIOUS. IT'S ONLY A VERY SMALL MINORITY OF JEWS IN THE HOLY LAND THAT ARE RELIGIOUS, AND A BUNCH OF RELATIVELY SMALL GROUPS OF CHRISTIANS, SOME AS FANATICAL IN TEACHING AS SOME SMALL JEWS SECTS.
Keith Hunt
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