Download Carthage College The Reform Movement and Abraham Geiger

Carthage College
The Reform Movement and Abraham Geiger
Henry Kruger
Judaism
Bisciglia
11/20/13
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“Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad”. This is the central prayer
in Judaism and is often the first prayer you learn as a Jew. In Judaism there are
three main movements; the Orthodox, the Conservative, and the oldest, the Reform
movement. The Reform movement was founded around 1870 by the German rabbi
Abraham Geiger. Through my research it will be seen why there was a need for a
new movement, who Abraham Geiger was, how the movement was made and how
it is being used today.
In Judaism there are three main sects orthodox, conservative, and reform.
Orthodox, being the most strict by following the rules and guidelines (Being Jewish
Goldman). This group is the oldest and view themselves as the only way to
properly practice Judaism. They have very serious restrictions on things like diet,
clothing, and worship to name a few. All of theses practices separated them from
other cultures and were very obvious to see. The conservative movement is a
newer branch of Judaism that lessened certain laws that seemed to be unnecessary
and too strict. At the time of the conservative movement these changes seemed
massive but not much was really change when looking back on the laws that were
created. These two movements were created after the Reform Movement as a
response to the changes they made. Both Orthodox and Conservative in there own
way evaluated the laws of the Torah and followed it more strictly. The oldest and
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most progressive branch of Judaism is the reform movement. The reform
movement is the most revolutionary and least restrictive of all the movements. In
the reform movement each Jew get to make their own decision on what rules they
would apply to their everyday life. They had the choice of how involved and
activity practicing they want to be in their religion, something that they were never
given previously. The reason that this branch of Judaism was created was because
over changing times in society’s not controlled by Jews (The Chosen People in
America, Eisen). To have a job you need to work on Friday or dress a certain way
for work. There was an assimilation or modernization that needed to happen if the
Jewish members wanted to keep people practicing as a part of the Jewish
community. There were many laws that needed to become more lenient that made
reform Judaism what it is. One of the laws that had to be put aside was the dietary
restriction. Before this Jews only ate foods that were kosher. Kosher foods were
foods that followed the regulations of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws). Some of these
laws include only eating meat with cloven hoofs. It is said in Leviticus, “you may
eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud” (Lev. 11:3). Along with
eating only these animals you must make sure these animals are killed as humanly
as possible. This goes along with other laws like not drinking the blood of animals;
all animals must be drained of their blood after butchering. The meat also needs a
blessing to be said over it by a rabbi for it to be kosher. Another example of a
dietary law is not mixing meat with dairy. This is said in the Torah in Ex. 23:19 not
to “boil a kid in its mother's milk." This doesn’t mean just mixing it together, it
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means using different plates and cups, and washing and storing said plates in
different sinks and cupboards. And any grape products, like wine, that are not
made by Jews cannot be used at all. This is because some byproducts that are
mixed with the grapes are not kosher and mixing in with the grapes make said
wine unfit for Jews to drink. Another example of laws that seem outdated to
modern Jews is the laws prohibiting clothing. For example the practice of wearing
a kippah all day. A kippah is a small skullcap that is worn at all times on the top of
male Jews heads. Female Jews wear something called sheitel, which is a wig, or
cloth that is worn over their head. By doing this you are demonstrating respect and
reverence for God. Other rules like covering all parts of your body and not mixing
different materials make it hard for modern Jews to try to assimilate to modern
culture (Settings of Silver, Wylen). The difficulty of practicing these laws in modern
society was that the Jewish population has been so vastly spread out that Jewish
community’s became even more of a minority and were very small. Not nearly
enough people to support what needed to be done to live that strict to the Torah.
This made choosing a place to live for Jews even harder because to follow these
laws you’d have to be surrounded by other Jews.
The creation of the Reform Movement was not an easy one. Its roots trace
back to the early nineteenth century in Europe. And gave birth to liberal thoughts
of modernity, universalism, and a philosophical examination of the religion itself. It
all started during the enlightenment period in Germany. A first they did not want
to create a new branch, they simple wanted to make some changes to modernize
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Jew laws. But once the German state allowed separate structures or braches
different Reform organizations started creating synagogues and congregations. In
the 1840s and 1850 there became many of these congregations popping up in
populous cities in Germany such as Berlin and Munich. The movement took an
even bigger step when they opened up the first rabbinical school for rabbis to
study Reform Judaism.
One of the men responsible for creating this branch of Judaism was rabbi
Abraham Geiger. At that Geiger was born German Jews, felt separated and were an
outcast from society. In turn they looked to move to a more conformed
nationalism. They felt that leaving their religion and if they immersing themselves
into popular culture that they would have a better life, by getting immersed in
science, art, and philosophy. Geiger saw that the most intellectual and freest
thinking Jews were making a leave from the religion in search of “secular
nationalism”. Geiger saw this as a huge loss and that gave birth to the idea of a
more relaxed and modern Judaism that allowed Jews to be a part of modern
society as well as being Jewish.
Abraham Geiger was born May 24 1810 in Frankfurt Germany (Abraham
Geiger's Liberal Judaism, Koltun-Fromm). As Geiger was growing up he was
starting to doubt some of the religious and traditional understand with Judaism.
He first saw this as he started to compare and see contradictions in claims in the
bible of divine authority and his studies in history. He began writing seriously
when he started writing about the comparison between Talmudic law and the legal
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style of Mishnah. Geiger then attended for one semester at the university in
Heidelberg where his main studies centered on Philogy, which is the study of
language in written historical sources. He then transferred to Bonn University. At
Bonn Geiger did an intense study of Arabic and the Karen and wrote a prizewinning essay. This published essay earned Geiger a doctorate at the university of
Marburg. At this time there were no university professorships open for Jews in
Germany, so Geiger sought out a position as a rabbi in the community of
Wiesbaden. As a Rabbi he continued academic publications and became know very
highly of for his exception writing on historical and theological studies. Along with
his studies Geiger began reforming and making changes in his synagogue, most
drastically in the abolishment of certain prayers. Along with pioneers like Samuel
Holdiem, Israel Jacobson, and Leopold Zunz, Geiger was seen as one of the
founding fathers of reform Judaism in early 19th century Germany. Being so history
based in his studies one of the main points Geiger tried to really connect with
Reform Judaism was that the reform movement would be a study of Jewish history
and dispelling any notion that the Jewish text was divinely written. Geiger and his
associates saw that Judaism needed to make changes to survive. They knew that if
modernization and assimilation to surrounding cultures would keep people
practicing and have Jews still maintaining a Jewish identity then changes were
needed to keep their religion alive.
The Reform movement today is very much alive and well. There are reform
temples all over the world and many in the United States. In 1873 Rabbi Isaac
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Mayer Wise founded the Union of American Hebrew congregation, which is now
referred to as the union for Reform Judaism. It initially stated with 34
congregations in 28 cities to now more then 900 congregations. These
congregations are not only found in the United States but in countries like Canada,
the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It is the largest Jewish movement
in North America and Represents an estimated 1.5 million Jews. Reform Judaism
has always been about making adjustment to changing times, so every 50 years a
conference is held by reform Jews to discuss changes or reforms that should be
made to this branch of Judaism. This is crucial for reform Judaism to make sure
that the laws and teaching they hold are still seen as important and needed in
modern Jewish culture. In Judaism the phrase Tikkun Olam means repairing the
world, and in Reform Judaism they strive to bring freedom and peace to all people.
The reform movement is very much into the idea of inclusion rather then
exclusion. Since 1978 the reform movement has been reaching out Jews-by-choice
and interfaith families, encouraging and supporting them to embrace Judaism
(Gender and Covenant in Judaism, Cohen). Reform Jews consider children to be
Jewish if they are the child of a Jewish father or mother, so long as the child is
raised Jewish. Another very important thing that the reform movement has done is
making a commitment to the equality of women in all areas of Jewish life. They
were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, have female cantors, and elect
Jewish presidents of our synagogues. Reform Jews also encourage the full
participation of gays and lesbians in all aspects of Jewish practice and life.
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The Reform movement was started because there was need for a
new and progressive movement. Abraham Geiger laid the foundation for this
movement and it is still being used today. The reform movement is hard to define
because it is so ever changing. But it can be seen as the branch of Judaism that is
always looking forward and will forever be looking to bring Judaism into the
future.
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Bibliography
Koltun-Fromm, Ken. Abraham Geiger's Liberal Judaism: Personal Meaning
and Religious Authority. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2006. Print.
Wylen, Stephen M. Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism. New York:
Paulist, 1989. Print.
Eisen, Arnold M. The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious
Ideology. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983. Print.
Cohen, Shaye J. D. Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised?: Gender and
Covenant in Judaism. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print.
Goldman, Ari L. Being Jewish: The Spiritual and Cultural Practice of Judaism
Today. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Print.