The Train Wreck part 4

The effects of the teachings, or supposed teachings, of  Moses Mendelssohn were far reaching. The understanding of an antinomian (against Law) Judaism was shocking, but it resonated with those whose families had been Frankists. Many left Judaism. Most of Mendelsohn's children converted to Christianity. The two who didn't,  saw their children apostatize. In Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, Judaism was dying. In the Nineteenth Century, Abraham Geiger organized the new understanding into Reform Judaism. He didn't view this as a Denomination, but as an idea that would engulf all of Judaism. The emphasis was not on the Torah and its commandments, but on ethics. Each Jew was autonomous, deciding for himself what rituals to keep or not keep. In any case, the mitzvot were no longer seen as binding. Worship services were conducted primarily in the national language, with rabbis dressed very much like 19th Century Christian clergy. The organ was introduced into the synagogue. Even synagogue architecture was now made in the image of Renaissance churches. When Samson Rephael Hirsch, originally a friend of Geiger, formed an Orthodoxy that included some of these reforms, Geiger and his followers did all they could to destroy the new institutions, in order to allow the Reform ideology to reign supreme. A central observance that particularly irked the reformers, was Mikveh; with mobs coming with sledgehammers to destroy these pools. Interestingly, the Shabbateans had done the same thing in the Seventeenth Century. As Reform moved eastward, it took many forms. Some of these were more radical, others sought a compromise with tradition. When it hit Czarist Russia, a great shift took place. German Jews admired German culture. Nay, they adored it. Most Russian Jews were opressed by their government and their neighbors. An oxymoron emerged. Secular Judaism. This had never existed before. The secularists, as the name implies, were atheists. They did not seek a different form of synagogue worship. They saw their Judaism as a national identity, much like the many other national groups throughout the Russian Empire. Many turned to their linguistic treasure; the Yiddish language. It had existed for a thousand years, and was a rich compendium of medieval German, Hebrew, Polish, Ukrainian  and Russian. Theater groups wrote and performed plays in that language. Stories and novels, often with an anti-religious theme, were produced. Soon, a competing trend arose. The Hebrew language, long a vehicle for prayer and Torah literature, was now resurrected as a written language for a new, Jewish, secular culture. Socialism soon became the "religion" of East European Jews. In a sense, it was at once a Messianic and a Frankist development. When the old foundations of society fell, a new and greater world, characterized by peace, prosperity and justice, would arise. Let me reiterate. It's not that they were copying these ideas from Frankist literature, but rather that these ideas were features of popular culture since the Eighteenth Century. When the Russian Revolution came, Lenin's inner circle were mostly Jews. When Reform hit America, it was far more radical than it had been in Germany. Large segments switched to a Sunday Sabbath. Kosher laws were jettisoned. It was super nationalistic. A rabbi in Nineteenth Century Charleston, South Carolina, said at the dedication of his synagogue "We neither expect nor seek a return to Zion. This land is our Zion, this city our Jerusalem, this building our Temple." One hundred years later, when the City of Charleston wanted to commemorate the founding of the Reform Synagogue (called "Temple" after that speech), they sought descendants of the original founders. Not one was still Jewish. Next time, I'll go into more offshoots of the "Enlightenment",  and their roots in Shabbateanism and Frankism.