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CHAPTER VIII THE REFORMIST· VERSION OF JUDAISM The needs of the age taken into account by Reformist Judaism-The platform of the Pittsburgh Conference-The God-idea regarded as the fundamental element in J udaism-The attributes Judaism ascribes to God-The election of Israel reinterpreted in the light of the spiritual conception of history-Revelation reinterpreted as referring to Israel's genius for religion-Jewish nationhood surrendered and replaced by the ideal of the Jewish mission-The concept of "Torah" replaced by the concept of "moral law"-The function of religious ceremonies. REFORMIST Judaism represents the first deliberate and organized effort to adjust traditional Judaism to the exigencies of modern political and economic conditions and to reckon with the modern world-outlook. Reformism takes for granted that, in spite of the recrudescence of reactionary tendencies, the changes which in modern times have taken place in the social and intellectual life of mankind mark a definite spiritual advance on the past. It considers democratic nationalism, which has bestowed citizenship on the Jew and has granted him political and civic rights-though it asks, more or less insistently, for the surrender of his nationhood-as an important phase of the moral progress which mankind has made within the last century or two. The Jews, think the Reformists, should be the last to impede that progress by refusing to surrender their historic status as a nation. That status, in their opinion, is bound to give rise to misunderstanding of the purpose for which the Jews choose to remain a distinct group. Reformism sees in the shifting of the center of gravity from interest in the hereafter to interest in transforming the world we live in, and in the substitution of the authority of reason for the • The term "Reform Judaism" has r~mained a Germanism despite its frequent use. "Reformed Judaism" does not convey what the originators of the German expression "Reform ludentum" had in mind. They implied that in their interpretation of the Jewish religion the process of reform was recognized as legitimate, necessary and continuous. The term "Progressive Judaism" would have been a more exact equivalent of "Reform ludentum." "Liberal Judaism," if not a happier designation, is at least good English. The Reformists in England call themselves "Liberals," and their Judaism "Liberal Judaism." On the other hand, the term "Liberal" is used by German Jews of the Conservative wing.' 91 JUDAISM AS A CIVILIZATION authority of tradition, permanent and ineluctable gains of the human spirit. It therefore assumes that Judaism should welcome the necessity which compels it to readjust itself and to reconstruct its teachings in the light of the new developments in human life. For only by meeting these needs of contemporary life can Judaism progress intellectually and spiritually. "The need of the time," declares Samuel Hirsch, the philosopher of the movement, "is the highest law in Judaism.... The Jews of the present day must, before all else, participate in the work of the age with all their powers; for their work is the object of Jewish history. Yes, it is the be-all and end-all of Judaism." • The Reformist movement has had its rabbinical synods and conferences called mainly with the view of dealing with the problem of Jewish adjustment. It has by this time formulated a creed; it is articulated in a definite theology, and it has radically transformed the contour of Jewish life. Inaugurated in Germany, it has witnessed a phenomenal growth in America. "The tangle of politico-national and religous ideas," writes Max L. Margolis, "in which our past is enmeshed and which is especially manifested in the doctrine of the Law and the Messiah, has at last been unraveled and the Gordian knot cut: the task has been performed by Geiger's scholarship, Holdheim's logic, Samuel Hirsch's philosophic erudition, Einhorn's inspiration, above all by the foresight, undaunted courage and indomitable will of Isaac M. Wise." • If the success of a movement is to be measured by results in organization and prestige, Reformism would have to be pronounced successful. Over four hundred of the largest and most influential congregations of this country are federated into a well organized body which yields sufficient income to carryon various activities and to maintain the machinery necessary to its functioning. But these are not criteria by which to appraise a spiritual movement. A movement which is intended to bring order into men's inner life should be measured by the extent to which it succeeds...

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