Solomon Dubno, first worked with Mendelssohn but withdrew after rabbonim opposed him
Introduction: The Past As A Guide To The Present
Originally published early in 1995, this review of the early days of the Reform movement has not lost its interest or relevance.
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Part I
The Reform Movement, which has wrought such devastation amongst American Jewry, has for some years been trying to gain a foothold in Eretz Yisroel, without much success. The public has also been slow to join their congregations. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate has always been under the control of men who agreed that Reform was beyond the pale, and traditionally the government has officially recognized only Orthodox rabbonim and institutions. In the United Kingdom too, official Jewry has been Orthodox, though the Reform movement has been trying to become more established (see the Forum this week).
Reform institutions have always eyed the Israeli government support and recognition received by traditional institutions covetously. Now, under the patronage of the current anti-religious government, they have been receiving official encouragement for the first time, and financial support.
Although the ordinary Israeli's mindset is far from the outlook of these deviant groups, he is nevertheless unaware of the extent to which their edifice is built upon rotten foundations. Christianity served as their model for a refurbished Judaism. Early reformers were driven by the desire to assimilate and to disown all the spiritual glory of their own nation's past, goals that they share to some extent with secular Jews.
The cornerstone of their ideology was the ambition to tear down the barriers that separated Jews and gentiles and to stop being `a nation that dwells alone.' The following survey of the destructive work of the pioneers of the Reform Movement—as well as of the retrenchment work conducted by some of their Orthodox opponents—outlines the real extent of the Reform Movement's break from true Judaism and introduces the reader to the fatal danger which this movement poses.
Foreign Images In The Sanctuary
The Reform Movement has always been regarded by traditional Orthodox Judaism as out of bounds. As impossible as it is for Orthodoxy to become reconciled with a situation in which most of the Jewish nation never sets foot inside a beis haknesses, those who attempt to erect foreign images inside the batei knesses arouse much, much more indignation.
The Reform and Conservative Movements profaned the `miniature sanctuaries' of Klal Yisroel by introducing alien elements, while continuing to present them as sanctuaries on a par with their counterparts throughout the European Diaspora. That is, they attempted to provide a substitute beis knesses and not an alternative to the beis knesses as some secular movements. Our leaders' fear, when these movements were first founded, that in time, these temples could become accepted as representing simply `another' branch of Judaism, is well founded. No such fear ever existed with regard to secular Judaism, which never sought to incorporate any alien theology as an alternative to Orthodoxy.
The worst of these fears have been born out by sad experience in the United States. It seems that especially in a non-Jewish environment, where a Jew naturally seeks some kind of link to his heritage, Reform has been able to flourish by offering Jews at least a token connection with their religion that is necessary for their own self identity.
Reform's communal activities are encountered often in the responsa works of the rabbonim in America. A look through these works reveals discussions of the validity of kiddushin performed by a Reform rabbi or of Reform conversions, as well as whether or not it is permitted to enter a Reform temple for the sake of maintaining harmonious relations, or for other reasons.
In Eretz Yisroel however, where the need for a tenuous link to Judaism can be met in other ways, Reform have hitherto been unable to put down lasting roots. Although their local counterpart, the Movement For Progressive Judaism, maintains several cultural institutions and places of worship, these have always been run on a purely independent basis. Even though they were left free to operate as they wish, thanks to the freedom of religion and worship which the State of Israel allows all its citizens, they did not receive any positive backing from the authorities. So it was at least, until the arrival of Shulamit Aloni and Amnon Rubinstein at the Ministry of Education. Today's left-wingers are not satisfied with a simple spiritual vacuum, as the previous officials at this Ministry were. They prefer to concoct a new brand of Judaism—erecting foreign images in the temple.
Two hundred years have passed since the first stirring of the Reform Movement in Europe. It is hard to pinpoint a particularly significant date or event that marked a watershed in the traditional way of life of European Jewry. The Movement took shape over a period of time, as the result of a series of events and a trend towards reaching out to, and acceptance by, the surrounding gentile society.
Professor Gershom Scholem, the well known researcher of the Shabsai Tzvi episode, argued that the roots of the Haskalah and the Reform Movements can both be traced to the messianic Sabatean movement. He searched for similarities between these two movements. While they were both certainly responsible for plenty of bitter suffering which befell the core of faithful Jewry, his theory seems difficult to accept, seeking as it does, correspondences between Sabateanism and Reform, two movements which in many respects, stood in diametric opposition. The early maskilim, who waved aloft the banner of unadulterated rationalism, as they saw it, were far removed from the world of Messianism and Kabalah. From their intellectual standpoint, the Sabatean version of the messianic ideal was as bewildering as it was to Orthodoxy.
Those Who Led The Way
The first influential name that comes to mind is that of Moses Mendelssohn, the Jewish philosopher who irked the rabbonim of his age. It is not possible however, to regard Mendelssohn, may the name of the wicked decay, as the father of the Reform Movement. Mendelssohn's prime objective was the intellectual, rather than the religious, integration of his Jewish contemporaries within the broader context of European culture. He did not advocate the wholesale remodeling of his own religion.
He was responsible though, for felling the language barrier which separated Jews and gentiles in publishing his translation of the Chumash. His cultural activities thus paved the way for the implementation of the reforming ideas which came later.
Following the publication of the "Edict Of Tolerance" by the Austrian Emperor, Franz Joseph II, Mendelssohn and his colleague Naftali Herz Wessely, issued a stirring call for general studies to be included in the curriculum of the traditional Jewish education. Hame'asef, a journal published by Mendelssohn's students, stated that its aim was merely to widen the Jews' cultural horizons. However, only a brief period elapsed before a new, different kind of spirit began to waft from its pages. This was due to the influence of the Jewish radicals, who had begun to agitate for concrete changes in the observance of the commandments that govern the Jewish religion. The calls for compromise with the "spirit of the times" grew more and more vociferous.
Those advocating religious reform advanced `historical precedents' for their proposals such as the enactment of prusbul, which they saw, in their ignorance, as `a legal fiction' for circumventing `an ancient edict' which had grown `out of date.' They were utterly ignorant of the fact that the gemora itself discusses the issues relating to the adoption of these enactments.
They were just knowledgeable enough to quote pesukim, for example, `It is a time to act for Hashem, they have annulled Your Torah,' which they invoked as a `support' for abolishing halochos in accordance with the spirit of the times. They also quoted sayings of Chazal like, `They are both the words of the Living G-d,' as support their desire to reinstate halachic opinions that had been overruled. They thus entirely removed these teachings from their proper context and invested them with meanings that had never been intended by those who uttered them.
The main synagogue in Dresden, completed 1840
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How did the movement appear then, at the dawn of its reforming days? Bernhard Behr, one of the scholars of Dresden, has left us a written account which includes a precise description of the amendments which were introduced by Zechariah Fraenkel following the dedication of the new Communal Temple of Dresden.
One passage refers to Shavuos 5600 (1840.) A choir had been positioned in the synagogue whose adult and juvenile male members sang in harmony with the cantor who stood next to the aron hakodesh. Many of the festival's additional prayers had been dropped, with the exception of the well known Akdomus Milin, which was probably left intact so as not to annoy the more conservative members of the congregation.
After the Torah had been read, the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Fraenkel, spoke about the festival's spiritual message, as he saw it: the transmission of G-d's word from generation to generation through its metamorphosis into the property of all of mankind.
This idea, by the way, was a leitmotif of all the early reformers. They viewed Judaism as a `universal' religion. This alone was enough for them to justify dropping any positive or negative commandment that highlighted the Jewish nation's destiny as a people that dwells alone.
After his speech on Shavuos, Fraenkel presided over a ceremony of confirmation. This was supposed to correspond to the ceremony of entering religion that was performed by the Christians. This ceremony was also customary among the Orthodox congregations since the country's law required every young boy and girl to make an official declaration of their religion when they reached maturity.
We possess a fascinating document which sheds light upon the way the Orthodox conducted the ceremony. This document contains a speech given by HaRav Yaakov Ettlinger during a ceremony of confirmation. In his address, HaRav Ettlinger, who was rav of Altoona, author of the work Oruch LeNer and one of the leading fighters against Reform, took pains to stress that the ceremony was merely a legal requirement, and that according to Judaism, no such declaration was necessary since the failure to accept one's Jewish identity in no way absolved one of its obligations.
Fraenkel, for his part welcomed any step in the direction of similarity between temple and church. On that Shavuos, two boys and five girls were called for examination on the principles of the Jewish faith and the practical commandments. After Fraenkel had conversed with each of them and given them his blessing, the ceremony continued with the singing of a German anthem, in which a number of the Christians who were present participated.
The innovations were not yet over. When it was time in the service for the cohanim to ascend the platform to bless the congregation, the folding doors of a side hall were opened and fourteen cohanim, dressed all alike in black, with white surplices and skull caps, entered with slow, measured steps. "Tears of the deepest emotion poured from my eyes," Behr relates. "It was a surprise for the many Christians who were present, for they had expected nothing of this sort."
