16. REFORM JUDAISM. Reform Jun daism in America finds its roots in the begin ning of the reform movement that took place in Germany in the first quarter of the 19th century. The cause of the religious advance of the Jew in Europe was the breaking up of the Ghetto in the latter half of the 18th century. As long as the Jew was excluded from the its ts culture and its opportunities, he found his greatest comfort in his Hebrew studies and in his religion. The latter, veloped only along its own narrow lines and was protected from every admixture of for eign elements. The Jew, as it were, built a `fence around the law.° When the bars of the Ghetto fell and the Jew was initiated into a new world of thought, language, literature and activity, he found the old religion incongruous with modern life and the rabbinical law too rigid for the new conditions. Reconciliation between the two was difficult. A bitter struggle ensued between the old religion and the new life. A compromise was the only solution. Judaism was equal to the demand.. Heart burnings, personalities, domestic schism, often followed in the wake of innovations. The wheels of progress, however, could. not be stayed.
Moses Mendelssohn translated parts of Bible into German and thus opened up a field of study for the Jew. This was followed by a translation of the prayerbook into Ger man by David Friedlander. The Talmudic reg ulations were either openly violated or inter preted in a liberal spirit. Religious schools for instructing the younger generation in the prin. ciples and practices of Judaism as well as in the literature and history of Israel were insti tuted and conducted according to modern peda gogical methods. Religious services in many synagogues were modified, rituals were short-. ened, objectionable features were omitted, and prayers, sermons and hymns in the vernacular were introduced. Israel Jacobson was the first who established reformed religious schools and services in Germany and later built a Reform temple at Seeien, which was conse crated 17 July 1810, This Reform movement soon spread to Berlin and Hamburg and before. long it reached America and found expression here in 1824 in the city of Charleston in the, organization of the °Reform Society° of Israel ites, which instituted divine services that con sisted of a short ritual with sermons, eta., in English and the abolition of offerings during the divine service. A great ecclesiastical battle resulted and many questions of Reform were delayed for several years. An organ was pur-, chased and the system of family pews adopted in spite of much opposition. It may here be mentioned to the everlasting credit of Re form Judaism, that it instituted family pews and gave to woman the right to worship in the same pew with her husband and sons. The practice of the orthodox wing, which still pre vails in many congregations, of isolating women in a screened gallery, is both improper and without warrant in this age of enlightenment. Reform differs further from Orthodoxy in the interpretations put upon the Scriptures and the Talmud and the authority with which they are severally credited. Orthodoxy gives to both Scripture and Talmud a binding authority over Jews without regard to circumstances of time and place. Reform seeks to set up a higher standard of authority than merely the literal texts and to find a way of reconciling ancient laws, and traditions, if possible, with modern re quirements. The usual custom of Reformers is to be reasonable and to discriminate between the essentials and the non-essentials of Judaism. Reform Judaism has discarded belief in bod ily resurrection, in the coming of a personal Messiah, in the national restoration of Pales tine and the reinstitution of the ancient temple with its Levitical cults. Reform Tudaism is also manifested in a refusal to abide by the rigorous enforcement of the Mosaic and Rab binical dietary laws and in certain changes in the ritual and religious observances. The Re
form instituted at Charleston soon spread to the North where in the city of New York the Temple Emanu-El was organized in 1845 under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Leo Merzbacher who formed his own ritual for the congregation. Temple Emantt-E1 has led the van of the Re form Jewish congregations of America for over half a century and has given much im petus to the progress of Israel. Under Dr, Samuel Adler and Dr. Gustav Gottheil this congregation made vast strides and is now the largest and wealthiest Jewish congregation of the world. Its place of worship is situated at the corner of Fifth avenue and 43d street, and its present rabbis are the Rev. Drs. Joseph Silverman and Hyman G. Endow. Har Sinai congregation was soon organized in Baltimore under the banner of Reform and adopted the prayesbook of the Hamburg Temple. Some of its noted rabbis were Dr. David Einhorn, Dr. Samuel Sale, Dr. D. Philipson and Dr. F. Shan f ashen The present incumbent is Rabbi Charles Rubenstein. A stronger note than all these, however, was sounded in the early days of reform at Albany where Rev.q*Dr. I. M. Wise officiated from 1846 to 1854. He had come from Germany, impregnated with the new spirit of progress, and at once carried his cherished ideals into practice in this country. He fought some of the early battles of Reform in America which went far beyond the expecta tions or desires of the Reformers of Europe. He contended for choir and organ and for a prayerbook in the vernacular and his Mishag America (the American ritual) was acceptable to most American Reform congregations for almost 50 years. It later became the basis of the Union Prayerbook now generally in nse. Wise was not alone in his strenuous battles for progress. Leo Merzbacher, Max Libienthal Samuel Adler, David Einhorn and Samuel Hirsch ably entered the lists and contributed valuable aid to the new movement. These men were later reinforced by such valiant Reform leaders as B. Felsenthal, J. K. Gutheim and Gustav Gottheil. Rev. Dr. Isaac M. Wise, rightly called the father of American Reform Judaism, gave to this movement a greater im petus than it had ever received, when in 1873 he organized the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and under its auspices, in 1875, the Hebrew Union College, a theological sem inary for the training of American rabbis. A great drawback to the progress of the reform element was the lack of leaders and rabbis with modern scholastic education who could enter into the spirit of American conditions and the needs of Israel in this country. In the last 35 years over 200 graduates of this col lege have found pulpits in reform congrega tions where, with their modern culture and the ability to appeal to the younger generation, they have had eminent success, and have given Reform (or Progressive Judaism, as it is sometimes called) a 6rrn foothold on American soil. The Union of American Hebrew Cotigre gations is now actively engaged in providing circuit preachers for small congregations and in organizing congregations and religions schools in communities where none exist. Another source of active strength to Reform. Judaism has been the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which the late Rev. Dr. I. M. Wise called into existence in Detroit in July 1889. This had been preceded by several Reform Rabbinical Conferences from time to time distussed burning ecclesiastical and questions. The most noted of the conferences was the Pittsburgh Conference held in Novem ber 1885, at which the following platform of Reform Judaism was adopted and which in the main has been approved by nearly all Re-. form rabbits and teachers and been generally accepted by the laity: Act 1.—Judaism conveys the highest con ception of God and of his relation to Man. God is the Creator and Ruler of the world, Father and Educator of the human race.