Wed. Reformers:

Be prepared to discuss why Reform Judaism arose and how.

How is it a reaction to modernity?

Others: be prepared to comment on Haskalah, Mendelssohn’s impact,Friday: Ortho. Conservative, can

describe their positions, etc.

What to do when the world changes?

• Nothing.

• Embrace Change: Discontinuity with past

• Negotiate a compromiseAdaptation on certain terms

• Resist change with your last dying breath

Life as a minority

• Abandonment of identity as a minority

• Assimilation

• Accommodation

• Abandonment of outside world.

BeshT on Messiah: 2 theories.

• His teachings were a prelude to redemption by Messiah.

• Downplays “eschatology” (end of the world)

• Reaction to false messiahsSees eschatology as allegory of

personal transformation.

Legend

• 1747 BeshT sees Messiah“When will you come?”

• “When every Jews is as spiritual as you”

• Mission: to bring the Messiah.

Modern Denominations

Is Messiah a person

or

Is there only a “messianic period” when justice will prevail?

Successors

• Tzaddik “righteous”

• “Rebbe”

• Disciples of BeshT who form their own schools.

• Became dynastic

R. Zalman of Ladi1745-1812

• Habad (Chabad)– Lubavitch Hasid

• Integrated Mysticism with renewed emphasis on Oral Torah

Rebbe M. Mendel Schneersond. 1994

Lubavith Chabad

Messiah?

Backlash

• Rabbinic Elite challenges Hasids

• “Mitnagdim”

• Elijah ben Solomon Zalman 1720-97

“Gaon of Vilna”

Modernity

• Hasidic Judaism: many groups anti-modernist in many respects.

• Return to tradition, and Judaism as a special people

Irony

• Mitnagdim taught Hasidism was a dangerous innovation

• Hasidism rejected modernity and became a force for orthodoxy.

• BOTH objected to reformers.

Changes 18th - 20th century• Political

– Democracy– Nation-states / citizenship– Human rights.

• Economic– Capitalism / Communism– Industrialization

• Religious– Biblical truths questioned– Religious leaders loose political power– Science

Baruch Spinoza 1632-1677

• Studied with Christians

• Rejected Halakhah

• Excommunicated

• Radical discontinuity with the past.

Spinoza

• Bible is product of human politics

• Not divine revelation

• Not eternal

• Not unchangeable

Spinoza

• Biblical claims are relative to Israelite culture

• God chose Israel, not others:– Says more about Israelites’ thoughts, not

God’s.

Jewish self-identity

“Chosen” people.

• Social status: Inferior

• Theological status: Superior to non-Jews.

Questions

• How did these attitudes get entrenched in Jewish thought?

• What are the implications of this for social change?

Spinoza’s new world

• Gov. must make people Happy.

• Gov. must dissociate itself from religion.

Spinoza

• Religious convictions are irrelevant to modern states.

• Total freedom from politics for philosophers

Spinoza

• Some parts of Jewish tradition are valuable symbols of identity: circumcision

• Zionists praise Spinoza for this.

• BUT: Spinoza favored pluralistic states with no overt religious component.

Spinoza

• Civil Religion: A Government guided by principles of human happiness.

• Basis for Zionism

Mendelssohn 1729-1786

• Hoped Jews would attain citizenship as individuals: equal to all other people.

• “JERUSALEM” book Religion necessary to the stateDiversity is necessary

Mendelssohn

• Traditional Jewish life valid

• But, taught that Jews should reject Ghetto life and sense of superiority.

• Jews should see themselves as full members of society

Mendelssohn

• Jews should adopt customs of larger society.

• Jews should retain Judaism at home.

Mendelssohn

• “I do not understand how those who are part of the household of Jacob can with a good conscience not fully observe the Jewish Law.”