December 24, 1943

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

I

REFORM: BASTION OF JUDAISM

By ALLAN TARSHISH

(Reprinted from Liberal Judaism)

In his Reminiscences, Rabbi
Isaac Mayer Wise, great leader of
Reform, tells us that shortly after
he came to this country in 18-IC
he noticed the sad state of Juda-
ism here. Thereupon he asked
Rabbi Isaac Leeser, foremost pro-
tagonist of Orthodoxy, "how it
happened that of all the Jews who
had emigrated to these shores be-
1620 and 1829 (when Orthodoxy
held sway), there were not two
hundred families left that be-
longed to congregations.... Thou-
sands of Jews had emigrated from
Holland, England, Germany, and
Poland during these two centur-
ies. Traces of them are clearly
recognizable in hundreds of Chris-
tian families; but scarcely two
hundred families of their number
are to be found within the pale
of Judaism."
Wise had hit upon the determin-
ing factor of early American Jew-
ish life: that Judaism might have
disappeared, or at least dwindled
to a tiny cult, precisely in this
modern land, had not the progres-
sive ideas of Reform come to in-
vigorate it, adjust it to the New
World, and bring it new flower-
ing. For there was a wide gulf
between the spirit of the land,

which was a spirit of change and
adjustment, and the mood of any
unchanging Orthodoxy. There were
freedom and progress in the new
country. A great nation was be-
ing built, men were ablaze with
new ideas and carrying them out
in ever area of life. A new world
of progress and democracy was
being born.
And the Jews who came here
fitted into this environment. Most
of them had come to escape perse-
cution and reaction, and were
likewise aflame with the American
dream of creating a new world.
They were welcomed by their fel-
low citizens and mingled with
them. They brought the wealth of
their ideals and skills to their
new homeland, and these suited
the new country But the Religion
of Judaism, as they practiced it,
did not seem to fit in. Most Jews
theoretically felt that they had
to observe every inherited detail
of the Judaism they knew. It was
believed that auctioning off the
Torah reading, wearing long coats
and beards, and other customs
were indispensable to the survival
of the Ten Commandments and
the great ethical teachings of pro-
phet and rabbi. For these people

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Orthodox rabbis like Morris J.
confused the crystullation of me- aside by life, ignored and deserted Raphall, Samuel M. Isaacs, and
by
the
majority
of
American
Jews.
dieval Judaism, fashioned by the
The thesis of Reform was that Isaac Leeser, and perhaps a num-
narrow life of the ghetto, with
all
religion had developed through ber of others; but the majority
the eternal ideals of the religion
of Orthodox leaders were want-
of Israel. So it was that the dis- the ages and that there was con- ing. On the other hand, the Re-
harmony between the progressive tinual revelation. This spirit was form movement had attracted
and enlightened spirit of the Amer- inherent in the progress that was many of the ablest men in Ger-
ican environment and the ' Old changing the slumbering giant of many, and a number of these were
World convention of their reli- the American prairies into the willing to come to America where,
gion caused their religion to suffer whirling dynamo of modern Amer- they felt, there was a chance for
by contrast, and many Jews drift- ican industrialism. It was in ac- their progressive ideas. So it was
cord with the scientific studies of
ed away.
that men of university back-
Now it is hard, even for Reform the period. the theory of evolution, grounds and deep knowledge of
and
the
cronomic
and
social
prog-
Jews, who view Orthodoxy with
Jewish tradition like Isaac M.
respect. with sympathetic emo- ress of America. Although Reform Wise, David Einhorn, Max Li-
originated
in
Germany,
it
really
tion, with an understanding of its
value us a balancing force in pre- found its most fertile soil in the lienthal, Leo Merzbacher, Samuel
serving Judaism, to realize the low United States. It was at home ih Adler, the Hirsches, Kaufmann
Kohler, Gustav Gottheil, and many
level to which it had fallen in the the American environment.
In every avenue of Judaism, the others, brought authority and
early days of our country We sec
it now, reinforced by knowledge Reform movement brought new life power to the Reform movement
and inspiration from abroad and and vitality. It brought competent
See REFORM—Page 12
by progress that Reform brought leadership. There were a few able
in. But then many of its leaders
were unlearned both in Judaism
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and in general knowledge, and its
masses were content to try to pre-
serve it as a cult, and actually re-
F. W. BASCOMB & SON
sented any attempt to harmonize
MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS
Jewish life and religious profes-
sion. The situation amounted to
HOGARTH 1868
9387 LIVERNOIS
this: they were really glad to es-
cape from the many restrictions
of European Orthodoxy, yet they
had a sense of guilt in forsaking
their religion. In ninny respects
TRUCKING INC.
their casual and inconsistent prac-
tice of religion was a sin-offering.
They spoke of the value of diet-
General Offices
ary laws, but habitually violated
them outside their homes. They in-
2940 MYRTLE STREET
sisted on all the punctilio of ob-
servance in the synagogue, but
DETROIT, MICH.
generally ignored the Sabbath and
most ceremonials. They were really
LA. 2530
afraid of the rabbi as a leader
but, as Wise tells us, preferred a
functionary who could be a reader,
EARL F. WINTERS, Pres.
cantor, teacher, butcher, circum-
cises, shofor blower, grave-digger,
secretary, and who would write
amulets for superstitious women,
bless everybody for a few cents
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and play cards to eke out a liv-
ing. In studying the pages of the
early Anglo-Jewish press, there
are many congregational advertise-
ments fof' such a religious func-
tionary, but rarely one for a
rabbi. Thus, outside the synagogue,
Judaism was often ignored, and
inside it was observed in slipshod
disorderly fashion. There were
poor Hebrew reading and lack of
decorum. Even on Yom Kippur
eve people actually came to blows
over the question of whether Adon
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Olam or the Yigdal should be sung
For Your Convenience, Branch at
first or at the end of the service,
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and the losing party had to es-
cape through the windows. Isaac
Leeser himself, the champion of
Orthodoxy, complained that people
came late to the service, that too
many people left early, that the
scroll of the law was read poorly
and that money offerings sur-
rounding its reading abused the
service (Occident, July, 1852, P.
177).
Such was the state of Jewish
life in America before Reform
came to the scene: most of the
religious functionaries were ig-
norant; there were practically no
textbooks for Jewish schools, no
union among congregations, no
seminary to train American rab-
in greeting the ancient and modern heroic
bis; ceremonies were honored in
the breach; and Jews themselves
Maccabecans .. .
felt that their religion was alien
to their new environment. Some-
thing was needed to save Judaism
from becoming an ancient ritual
cult observed only in memory of
some ancient grandeur, but pushed

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