CONTINUING WITH PROFESSOR CHERRY'S LECTURE:
IT SURPRISES MANY OF MY STUDENTS THAT I TEACH ABOUT REFORM JUDAISM BEFORE I TEACH ABOUT ORTHODOXY.
AND SOME OF MY REFORMED STUDENTS ASK ME WHY. AND THE ANSWER IS: ORTHODOXY IS A RESPONSE TO REFORMED JUDAISM, AT LEAST THE MODERN ORTHODOXY THAT WE KNOW.
SOMETIMES MY REFORMED STUDENTS HAVE THE "IMAGE" PROBLEM THAT SOMEHOW REFORMED JUDAISM IS UN-AUTHENTIC, OR ILLEGITIMATE BECAUSE IT'S NEW OR NOT "GOOD OLD FASHIONED RELIGION." WHAT I TRY TO COMMUNICATE TO THEM IS THIS: THERE IS NO GOOD OLD FASHIONED RELIGION, IF WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT, IS THE KIND OF JUDAISM THAT EXISTED BEFORE EMANCIPATION, BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.
EMANCIPATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
SO WE'RE GOING TO START THIS LECTURE ON ORTHODOXIES IN JUDAISM BY LOOKING AT MODERN ORTHODOXY, AND AGAIN I WANT TO EMPHASIZE, MODERN ORTHODOXY DEVELOPED IN GERMANY. WHY? BECAUSE THAT'S THE SAME PLACE WHERE REFORMED JUDAISM DEVELOPED. AND SO, THE IDEA IS THAT REFORMED JUDAISM DEVELOPED AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE REACTION BY SOME OF THE TRADITIONALISTS, THAT BECOMES KNOWN AS NEO-ORTHODOXY, OR MODERN ORTHODOXY.
THE FIGURE-HEAD AS FOUNDER OF THIS MOVEMENT IS RABBI SAMSON RAPHAEL HIRSCH [1808-1888].
HE STROVE TO COMBINE ELEMENTS OF TRADITIONAL, AS WELL AS BRING IN NEW MODERN ELEMENTS. SO MODERN ORTHODOXY IS VERY MUCH A MODERN SELF-CONSCIENCE OF WHAT WE'VE SEEN IN THE LAST LECTURE OF EMANCIPATION, ENLIGHTENMENT AND REFORM, AS WELL AS A STRONG COMMITMENT TO HALIDAH. AND THIS BECOMES KNOWN AS ORTHODOXY.
THE BOOK THAT PUT SAMSON HIRSCH ON THE MAP, AS THE SPOKESMAN FOR THIS NEW GENERATION OF EMANCIPATION, THE JEWS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT RELATIONSHIP SHOULD BE BETWEEN JUDAISM AND GERMAN ETHNIC NATIONAL IDENTITY SHOULD BE, WAS WRITTEN BY SANSON HIRSCH IN THE 1830s.
IT IS CALLED: "NINETEEN LETTERS OF BEN UZIEL."
HE WRITES THIS BOOK AS A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THIS YOUNG MAN WHO SEEMS TO BE CONFUSED. HE USES A LITERATURE FORM THAT MAIMONIDES USED IN THE BEGINNING OF "THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED" WHERE HIS EPISTICAL DEDICATION, WHERE MAIMONIDES IS WRITING TO ONE OF HIS STUDENTS, WHERE THEY CAN NO LONGER VISIT FACE TO FACE, WHOSE HAS MOVED FAR AWAY, AND HE IS SAYING I'M WRITING THIS BOOK TO YOU, TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE THROUGH THESE VERY PERPLEXING TIMES.
AND SO WHAT HIRSCH IS DOING HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER IS USING SIMILAR KIND OF MECHANICS AS A NOD TO MAIMONIDES THAT WE ARE ALSO LIVING IN VERY PERPLEXING TIMES, AND HERE IS MY ATTEMPT TO NAVIGATE BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY.
SO I'M GOING TO READ A COUPLE OF QUOTES FROM THE DIFFERENT LETTERS OF THE 19 LETTERS THAT HIRSCH WROTE.
LETTER 2 - "THE TORAH, GIVEN BY GOD," ALREADY THE TORAH, IS GIVEN BY GOD, NO BIBLICAL CRITICISM, NO MULTIPLE AUTHORS OF THE TORAH, NO HUMAN AUTHORSHIP - TORAH WAS GIVEN BY GOD. NOW WHEN YOU SAY "GIVEN BY GOD" THAT'S A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN "WRITTEN BY GOD" - NEVERTHELESS MODERN ORTHODOXY INSISTS ON SOME MODEL OF DIVINE AUTHORSHIP OF THE TORAH, AND REJECTS BIBLICAL CRITICISM.
CONTINUING WITH HIRSCH, "THE TORAH GIVEN BY GOD, IS A GENERATOR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE IN US. WE MUST READ WITH A WAKEFUL EYE AND EAR, THE MIND TUNED TO THE DEEP SENSE, AND TO THE MORE PROFOUND MEANING THAT LIES BENEATH THE SURFACE."
SO THIS IS PART OF THE PROJECT OF GENERAL RELIGION IN GERMANY, THE PROTESTANT EMPHASIS ON INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUALITY. YOU CAN SEE HE DOES NOT WANT MODERN ORTHODOXY TO BE BEATEN OUT BY REFORM JUDAISM AS A RELIGION THAT STRIVES TO ENHANCE THE INDIVIDUALS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. SO HE USES THE LANGUAGE OF SPIRITUALITY, A LANGUAGE THAT HAD ALSO BEEN PROMOTED BY THE FAMOUS GERMAN THEOLOGIAN FREDRIC SHRIAMACER IN THE DECADES BEFORE HIRSCH WRITES HIS BOOK.
ANOTHER QUOTATION FROM HIS BOOK: LETTER 16 - "IT IS OUR DUTY TO JOIN OURSELVES AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE TO THE STATE WHICH RECEIVED US INTO ITS MIDST. TO PROMOTE ITS WELFARE, AND NOT TO CONSIDER OUR OWN WELL-BEING IN ANYWAY SEPARATE FROM THAT OF THE STATE TO WHICH WE BELONG. THIS CLOSE CONNECTION WITH STATES EVERYWHERE IS NOT AT ALL CONTRADICTORY WITH THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM. FOR THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL LIFE OF ISRAEL, WAS NEVER THE ESSENCE OR PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE AS A NATION, BUT ONLY A MEANS OF FULFILLING OUR SPIRITUAL MISSION."
THIS QUOTE IS PACKED WITH THE SAME KINDS OF SENTIMENTS THAT WE FIND IN REFORMED JUDAISM. WE ARE GOOD GERMAN CITIZENS, WE NEED TO BE LOYAL TO THE STATE, THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY CONCERN OR ANY FEAR OF DUAL LOYALTIES. WE'RE GOOD GERMANS. THE REAL ESSENCE OF JUDAISM IS NOT ABOUT GOING TO ISRAEL.
NOW WHAT MODERN ORTHODOXY WILL NOT DO, WHAT SAMSON HIRSCH WILL NOT DO, IS TO CHANGE THE TRADITIONAL PRAYERS, BY ELIMINATING THE BLESSING "THE HARMIDAH" - THE CENTRAL CORE PRAYER THAT TALKS ABOUT GOING TO ISRAEL, AND RE-ESTABLISHING A JEWISH PRESENCE, A RE-BUILDING OF A JEWISH TEMPLE. HE WILL NOT CHANGE THE FORMULATION OF THE PRAYER, BUT HE'LL SAY, "THAT'S NOT THE ESSENCE. WHAT THE ESSENCE IS, IS THIS MISSION," THE SAME MIND OF MISSION THAT WE SAW WITH ABRAHAM GEIGER, AND WITH SAMUEL HOLDHEIM IN EARLY REFORM FOUNDERS; OF A MISSION THAT INVOLVES THINGS OUTSIDE OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL, AND SPREADING ETHICAL MONOTHEISM ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE.
EVEN THOUGH HE'S NOT CHANGING THE BLESSING HE'S CERTAINLY CHANGING HIS LANGUAGE. NO LONGER TAKING ABOUT EXILE, BUT ALSO BEING IN DISPERSION.
THERE'S A SPIRITUAL MISSION HERE THAT HIRSCH WANTS TO PROMOTE.
..........
TO BE CONTINUED
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