The Train Wreck part 6

Theodore Herzl (1860-1904) was an assimilated, German speaking Swiss Jew. As a journalist for a Swiss newspaper, he was assigned to cover the Dreyfus trial in 1894. Alfred Dreyfus was a captain in the French army. France had just lost a war to Germany. His superior officers, ashamed of their blunders, forged documents showing that Dreyfus, a Jew, had been giving military information to the Germans. Without him, France would surely have won the war. He was tried, dishonorably discharged, and sent to Devils Island under a life sentence. He was finally exonerated in 1906. Herzl was shocked at the sight of mobs running through the streets of Paris, crying "Death to the Jews!". Was this, then, the land of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity? If the Jews are not safe in Paris, where could they be safe? He tried, but failed, to have all Jews around the world, present themselves at their local churches, to be Baptised at the same hour of the same day, thus putting an end to antisemitism, by putting an end to the Jews. He had no success in this endeavor. Instead, he wrote a book, Judenstaat, in which he set forth a vision of a secular Jewish state. He organized the First Zionist Congress in 1897. He thought that Jews from all over would rush to the new cause. But Western European Jews, despite Dreyfus, felt reasonably comfortable in their adopted homelands. A responsive chord was struck among the oppressed Jews of the Russian Empire. These Jews were also secular, and sought to create a Jewish worker's Paradise. It was only at the Third Zionist Congress that some religious Jews joined in. They made it clear that they thought the planned State would be secular, but with provisions made for the religious to feel comfortable. They specifically denied that they saw the movement as in any way messianic or representing Divine Redemption. They only needed a country that would be a safe haven. Let us be clear. This was a longing for a secular peoples' G-dless redemption. It was right out of Franlist ideology. Nearly every rabbi in the world opposed the new movement. The Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe declared it to be "worse than Christianity." Herzl was a great organizer, but a very shallow ideologue. The latter position was filled by Max Nordeau. Nordeau proposed the following. The Jews are a nation, like any other. In order to bind them together, Moses gave them a religion. When they lost their country, the rabbis gave them more religion, in the form of the Talmud. That, it was hoped, would keep them together, even while they were scattered. Now, in the days of every ethnic group forming a nation state (which essentially lead to World War I), a good Jew now is one who works for a state for the Jews. Religion, at this point, only divides, and should be eliminated. I should point out that every major Israeli city has a Herzl and a Nordeau street or avenue. The new settlers in the Holy Land clashed with the Old Yishuv. It must be pointed out that the Hareidim didn't come to Israel, but rather Israel came to them. The irreconcilable differences in ideology are a sore point to this very day. The idea of "Religious Zionism" came in some thirty years later, in the person of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He boldly claimed that the Messianic redemption had begun. The institutions of the Zionist movement were "the foundation stones of the Divine Throne". What about the fact that the Zionists were not only secular, but deliberate, spiteful sinners. He "explained" that this, the final Redemption, was through "Rachamim Rabbim" (Great Mercies; Isaiah 54:7). The observance of Mitzvot, while still a good thing to do, was no longer a factor in Redemption. We had entered a new era. Sound familiar much?
Next time, well go back to the mid eighteenth century, to a dispute that divided Jewry (and still does), that still raises anger on each side. Guess what? It centers around Shabbaetai Tzvi.

The Train Wreck part 5

We have seen how Shabbatean ideas, through "the Enlightenment", had forged a national identity out of a large segment of East European Jews. Although this movement was secular, religious Jews were not immune. Two Shabbatean works became popular in Eastern Europe, neither being too obvious as to their origin. One was the main propagandist book of moderate Shabbateans, the Hemdat HaYamim ("Pleasantness of Days"), often considered the most beautiful book the Jewish people ever composed. It is a full compendium of Jewish life and ritual. It contains original prayers, some still recited in many synagogues. But it also contains stories, ostensibly about ARI and other great Tzaddikim, putting in their mouths praise for many abominations. Many of the prayers are clear references to Shabbetai Tzvi's life. (Please release him from prison, let him sit on his throne with "'Ateret Tzvi"; a beautiful crown, or "The Crown of Tzvi". This book is so insidious, that it is still revered in some North African communities. Another book that became very popular in Hasidic circles was "Sefer HaTzoref" (The Book of the Refiner). Herschel Tzoref was a Shabbatean rabbi, who ran a court similar to the Hasidic courts of a century later. The Baal Shem Tov possessed a copy. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Bardichev tried to have it printed, but the print house refused to touch it. Both of these books inspired many with the immediate need to go to the Holy Land, as the Mashiach was soon to come. Several late Eighteenth Century saw Hasidic leaders moving to Tiberias, anti-Hasidic (Mitnagdim), moving to Safed, as well as outright Shabbateans moving to Jerusalem. In the following century, many religious Jews formed a group called "Hevevei Zion", and left the Russian Empire for the Land of Israel. Their motives were primarily religious. But these motives would probably not have come about if not for the legacy of Shabbatean messianism. They formed what is known as "the Old Yishuv" (the old settlement). The ultra Orthodox communities in Jerusalem and elsewhere are the descendants of these communities, now boasting being nine or ten generations in the Land.  But secular nationalism was about to invade, heavily driven by the Frankist notion of a non halachah bound Judaism, Next time.

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.