The Religions Book

192

J

ewish emancipation in

Europe began in Germany in

the 18th century. Previously,

Jews had been restricted in where

they could live, and had been

barred from entering universities

and the professions, but the force

of European Enlightenment led to

them being given equal rights as

citizens. Yiddish-speaking Jews

learned German, became part of

the modern world, and began to

feel the freedom of individuality.

Many Jews started looking to

secular education—rather than

Jewish tradition—as a means

of achieving their potential.

Progressive Judaism, which

began with the Reform movement

in Germany, was a response

to these changes, to modernity,

and to the new freedoms.

The earliest and most visible

reforms emerged in Berlin and

Hamburg. They concerned the

synagogue service: the sermon

would be given in German, and

men and women would sit together

rather than being segregated. More

radically, the impact of modern

biblical scholarship led some Jews

to question the divine authority of

the biblical texts, and the traditions

that had kept them apart from

society. The authority of the classical

rabbis was now seen to be a

function of its time, and was

also called into question.

Some, faced with this new

insight and the opportunities

it gave rise to, abandoned their

Judaism in favor of secular

nationalism. Others sought instead

to modernize Judaism in the

light of historical, academic study

of the religion (Wissenschaft des

Judentums). The pace of change

was too rapid for some, and various

Abraham Geiger Abraham Geiger was born in

Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany,

in 1810. He was educated in the

Jewish and German classics, and

studied Arabic for his dissertation,

“What Did Muhammad Take from

Judaism?”. A passionate advocate

of Wissenschaft des Judentums,

the academic study of Judaism, he

set out to distill Judaism’s eternal

spiritual and ethical core through

groundbreaking scholarship. He

sought to modernize Judaism

as a whole rather than to create

a separate movement, rejecting

practices if their historical reason

was no longer relevant. When he

was appointed as second rabbi

in Breslau, in 1838, Geiger found

his authority disputed by the

existing, traditionalist rabbi:

both were officially rabbis of the

whole community, but eventually

each served his own faction.

Geiger later presided as the

rabbi in Frankfurt and then in

Berlin, and also taught at the

new Reform Academy for two

years before his death in 1874.

Key works

1857 The Original Text and

Translations of the Bible

PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

IN CONTEXT

KEY MOVEMENT

Progressive Judaism

WHEN AND WHERE

19th century,

Europe and US

BEFORE

19th century The German

Enlightment offers Jews the

possibility of secular education

and participation in society.

AFTER

1840 The West London

Synagogue is established.

1872 The Reform Academy

Hochschule für die Wissen-

schaft des Judentums is

established in Berlin.

1885 Reform Judaism

flourishes in the US. The

Pittsburgh Platform defines

the principles of Reform.

20th century Progressive

synagogues and communal

organizations are established

throughout the world.

The Talmud speaks with

the ideology of its own time,

and for that time it was right.

I speak for the higher ideology

of my own time, and for

this age I am right.

Extreme reformers in

19th-century Germany