The Mission of Reform Judaism

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THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM

SAMUEL S. COHON
Chicago, Illinois

ABSTRACT

Reform Judaism represents the latest phase in the evolution of Jewish religious
thought. It grew out of the post-Mendelssohnian intellectual endeavor to adapt the
historic faith of Judaism to the changed conditions in Jewish life, following the French
Revolution. Its pioneers, Jacobson, etc., were called upon to fight apostasy on the
one hand and rigid orthodoxy on the other. Originating in Germany, the Reform
Movement spread to other West European countries, and found an especially congenial
home in democratic America. Its theology, as formulated by Abraham Geiger and
his followers, is based on reason and on the scientific study of the Bible, Talmud, and
Jewish tradition. Through its renewed emphasis on the ethical side of life, Reform
Judaism has added new vigor to the age-old religion of Israel.

Jewish history since the close of the Bible has run in three
main channels. The foremost tendency of Jewish life was that
of unquestioned adherence to the various practices transmitted
by former generations, a tendency which produced the law-
books of the Bible, the Mishna, and the Shulchan Arukh.
The Jewish spirit, however, was not confined within the channel
of legalism. By the side of law, there was the stream of
rationalism, which found expression in the philosophic works
of Philo, Saadja, Gabriol, and notably of Maimonides. The
emotional side of religion manifested itself in the mysticism
of the Cabala. None of these is entirely devoid of at least a
tinge of the other. It has been the pride of Judaism that it
combines the appeal to reason and the longing of the heart
with the daily Mitzwoth or duties. As a matter of fact these
three tendencies have not often been at peace with one another.
Legalism frequently waged war on mysticism and rationalism;
the Cabala made little effort to conceal its impatience with
law and with pure thought; and philosophy, also, looked upon
Cabala as a filmy vapor which must dissolve before the sun of
enlightenment, and upon legalism as a dry system which is
lifeless without the stimulus of reason. The upper hand in

27

28 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

Judaism belonged to the representatives of the law. Their
attacks on the spirit of rationalism form the darkest pages
in our history. They were no more successful in removing
reason from religion than they would have been in trying to
tear out the brain from the head of a living man. Despite the
burning of the great work of Maimonides, the excommunica-
tion of Spinoza, and the condemnation of Mendelssohn, the
spirit of rationalism reasserted itself in the Reform Movement
at the early part of the nineteenth century.

The word "reform" summons varied lines of thought to
the minds of different people. To conservatives, who are ever
" cross at the agony of a new idea, " it appears as the death-
knell of the order of religion, social life, or politics to which
they are chained by force of habit. Other men and women,
who are temperamentally chronic radicals, delight in reform
because it bears the mark of novelty. Normal persons refuse
to regard reform as either a toy or a dreadful specter, but as a
policy, which occasionally comes as a compelling necessity, of
changing the old appearance of things for a new and more
attractive one, and of substituting a living for a dying social
or religious order. No sane person will pull down a building
just for the sheer delight of destruction; neither will any man,
in his senses, refuse to repair or rebuild his house if its roof is
torn, and its walls, doors, and windows broken. In social and
religious life, too, people, though clinging with all their might
to inherited institutions and customs sometimes find themselves
compelled to renovate them in order to save them from decay.

A condition of this nature presented itself to the Jewish
people in Western Europe about a century ago, when the walls
of the Ghetto began to crumble. It is well known that almost
throughout the Middle Ages the Jews were forced to live in
separate quarters, which came to be known later as Ghettos.
While this was the case in Mohammedan Spain and Turkey,
it is in Christian countries that the Ghetto became a unique
institution. In Italy, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Hungary,

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 29

Germany, and Poland, the Jews were, as a rule, quarantined
like lepers in separate sections of each city. These Ghettos
were organized at different times and under varied local condi-
tions. They were maintained not only by the desire on the
part of the Jews to live together, a desire which deserves the
highest praise, but mainly by the intolerant and narrow church
policy of treating all those out of her pale as inferior beings.

For centuries the Ghetto constituted the "fatherland" of
the Jew, offering him a friendly environment in the midst of a
hostile world, a veritable oasis with laughing fountains and
fruit-bearing trees in the midst of the barren wilderness.
Every big city had such a little Jerusalem, where the Jew led his
own, distinctly Jewish, life, which appeared all the more charm-
ing because of the sickly atmosphere of the cramped surround-
ings. The Jews were permitted to have courts of their own
with full jurisdiction in almost all save criminal cases. They
maintained elementary and high schools, where their sacred
literature constituted the main subject of study. Living in
seclusion, they developed their own dialects. In Teutonic
countries, the German vernacular was tinged with Hebrew
words and phrases and grew into Yiddish-Deutsch. This lan-
guage — unjustly ridiculed by philistines as a contemptible
jargon, as if most languages were not jargons — was lovingly
preserved among the Ashkenazim or German Jews even when,
after their expulsion from their country, they settled in Poland.
To this day Yiddish forms the medium of expression of more
than seven million Jews.

The Ghetto was by no means wholly covered with somber
clouds. Often the sun shone upon it in full brilliance. Light
and shade mingled in its many-sided life. Despite great odds,
entailing heavy sacrifices, the Jews cheerfully observed their
religious regulations. Their souls were uplifted to their Maker
on the Sabbaths and holidays. Young and old eagerly
participated in the pleasures of the joyous seasons and occa-
sions. There were indeed moments in the life of the Ghetto

30 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

Jew when, in the words of Heine, he was no longer bewitched
into a dog, but stood erect as Prince Israel, God beloved.
The morality of the people was very high. As the eyes of the
whole community were upon each individual, the incentive to
right living was strong. The author of the article on the
"Ghetto" in the Jewish Encyclopedia writes that "the
Bohemian chroniclers of the sixteenth century designate the
Ghetto of Prague as a 'rose garden,' and add that when the
gates of the Ghetto were closed at night there was not one
woman inside whose reputation was in the least tarnished."

In most respects the Ghetto formed a state within a state.
Only it lacked the political defenses of a state. At any time
bigots could make their way into the peaceful Jewish quarter,
and destroy the fruit of Jewish labor, and even expel inhabi-
tants from their "fatherland." No wonder that the Jews
regarded themselves as living in Galuth, in exile, and prayed
for a speedy return to their historic fatherland, where they
would again enjoy the blessings of peace, and worship God in
freedom. It was not a mere formula which the Jew recited at
the conclusion of his morning prayers: "I believe with perfect
faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he tarry,
I will wait daily for his coming." Patiently the Jew waited
for the hour upon which the Shofar of the Messiah would
resound, proclaiming to him the good tidings of liberty from
persecution and from the spirit of intolerance. The eyes of
great numbers of our people grew dim, straining to look into
the future, and often mistook a will-o-the-wisp for a shining
star, in the deep darkness that enveloped them. Many a
pretender to the messiahship found ardent followers among
the masses and was hailed as the long-expected Redeemer of
the scattered tribes of Israel.

Toward the middle of the eighteenth century the trumpet
did resound, but it was not the Shofar of the Messiah. It was
the French Revolution, sounding the message of freedom,
equality, and fraternity. To the Jew no less than to the other

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 31

members of the human family this message brought new life
and new hope. In Germany as well as in France the spirit of
liberalism found strong champions. Among these a place of
eminence belongs to the famous dramatic poet Lessing, who
exalted the Jew before the world, through his delightful
comedy Die Juden and his masterpiece Nathan der Weise.
Herder, too, must be singled out in the vast chorus of singers
who heralded the dawn of religious toleration, which exerted
a tremendous effect upon the life of the Jewish people.

The full significance of the spirit of liberalism and the direc-
tions into which it was tending may be seen in the life-story
of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86). Born under dark skies,
this favorite of God went to Berlin in pursuit of knowledge.
There he won the friendship of Lessing and of other men of
note, and gained universal recognition as a profound writer
on aesthetics and philosophy. As a master of German style
and as a devout Jew, he felt the need of translating the Tor ah
(the Pentateuch) into pure German. The effect of this seem-
ingly small service upon the cultural and religious life of the
Jews assumed far-reaching proportions. On the one hand it
promoted the study of Hebrew grammar, a subject hitherto
neglected; and on the other it opened the door of German
literature to those that were confined to the Ghetto walls
and to talmudic learning. While some Orthodox leaders
favored Mendelssohn's translation, the majority of rabbis
opposed it as a revolutionary act which would strike the heart
of Jewry. They felt more keenly than their opponents that
with the substitution of pure German for Yiddish-Deutsch the
whole institution of the Ghetto was endangered. Having no
hope of erecting a palace, they naturally defended their hovel.
They placed Mendelssohn's translation under the ban, but their
opposition proved futile. The friends and followers of Men-
delssohn devoted themselves to the task of remodeling the
Jewish school system and of enlightening the masses. Regard-
ing all the troubles from which the Jews suffered, as the result

32 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

of ignorance, they looked upon enlightenment as the chief
remedy. They established modern schools in Berlin and in
Breslau, in Seesen, in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and in Wolfen-
biitel, in Brody, and in Tarnopol, in Riga, in Odessa, and in
Warsaw. They published periodicals for the dissemination of
the new ideas, and extended the frontiers of the Haskalah, or
enlightenment movement, as far as Russia-Poland.

Everywhere enlightenment spelled political emancipation
to the enthusiastic followers of Mendelssohn. With joy they
hailed the Patent of Toleration of the humane Emperor
Joseph II for the Jews of Lower Austria, which, in part,
established the civic equality of his Jewish subjects. In
France, the home of the Revolution, Count Mirabeau, Count
Clermont Tannere, and the Abbe Gregoire championed the
Jewish cause. The first-born child of the French Revolution,
the republican government of the United States of America,
made the doctrines of equality of all men before the law
without distinction of race or creed, the foundation of its con-
stitution, thus guaranteeing also the rights of the Jews. When
on September 27, 1791, the National Assembly enfranchised
all the Jews of France, an Alsatian deputy significantly wrote
to his constituents that Judaism in France thus became
" nothing more than the name of a distinct religion." In other
words, the political emancipation of Jewry demolished the
whole institution of the Ghetto as far as France was concerned.
The Jews no longer formed a state within the state but became
the equals of their Christian neighbors in citizenship.

The example of France stimulated the Jews of other lands
in their struggle for equality. There were some men like the
rabbis of Pressburg who considered the desire for political
equality on the part of Jews as sinful and inconsistent with
Israel's messianic hopes. For the Jewish people to have followed
such teaching would have necessitated turning backward the
wheels of the chariot of time. The spirit of the age demanded
that the Jews range themselves on the side of progress.

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 33

The aspiration for political equality on the part of the Jews
in Germany involved: (1) a change of attitude toward the
Galuth; for as full German citizens, they could no longer con-
sider themselves to be strangers, expecting to be delivered
from bondage by a Messiah; (2) the removal of the Ghetto;
for as German citizens they could no longer continue to form
a special Jewish state within the larger German Empire; and
(3) the abandonment of Yiddish; for the children, drawn into
the cultural and political currents of Germany, neither could
nor would maintain a dialect of their own, particularly in view
of its close resemblance to the language of the country.

The more unyielding the older generation was to these
changes the stronger the feeling grew among the younger people
that an inseparable barrier separated Judaism from European
culture. Furthermore, as the profession of the Jewish faith
disqualified men from public office in many sections of Western
Europe, Judaism became a burden and a misfortune to men
who set their career above their honor. Without the strength
of conviction that impelled the Jews of former ages to martyr-
dom for their faith, these men readily consented to be sprinkled
with the waters of the baptismal font to gain admittance into
society or political life. Under these conditions a veritable
conversionist epidemic broke out among the German Jews.

Far-seeing leaders beheld the danger signal. They recog-
nized that in order to save Judaism, the young generation had
to be impressed with the truth that to be a German in culture
and in politics was not inconsistent with being a loyal Jew,
that Judaism as a living faith must be distinguished from the
forms in which it is expressed, and that the spirit of Judaism
was still young and vigorous, capable of producing noble souls.
Their own Moses Mendelssohn served them as the best illus-
tration of the possibility of uniting the best in European culture
with Judaism. Mendelssohn also served them as an object-
lesson. While in his strength of character and deep Jewish
devotion, he could observe all the details of the old law, his

34 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

children failed to reach his high standard and fell away from
Judaism altogether. What alienated them from their father's
religion was not its beautiful spirit, striving after truth and
holiness, but rather certain unattractive, and, in some in-
stances, outlandish forms. It, therefore, became evident to
these men of vision that the only power that could stem the
evil of apostasy was, as Dr. Kaufmann Kohler expressed it,
"the inner reform of Judaism which would again imbue the
Jew with self-respect while disclosing to him his historical
mission in the world."

With this aim in view, Israel Jacobson (i 768-1 828) estab-
lished the first Reform service in connection with his school
at Seesen and later at Cassel. Impressed with the success of
his attempt, he built, at his own expense, the first Reform
Temple at Seesen and dedicated it on July 17, 1810. He
supplied his temple with an organ, introduced prayers in
German, in addition to those recited in Hebrew, also German
hymns, sung by the boys. In 181 1 he confirmed the first class
of Jewish boys. Political conditions compelled him to remove
to Berlin in 1815. There he opened his home for weekly
religious services, the chief feature of which was the sermon,
preached in German. Among the preachers were Zunz, Kley,
and Auerbach. The Orthodox elements denounced these
services to the government and succeeded in stopping all Re-
form activities in Berlin for some time. In the meanwhile
Kley went to Hamburg, to supervise the Jewish Free School,
where he organized a Reform society and erected the famous
Hamburg Temple (1818). A special prayer book was prepared
for use in the temple which strove "to re-establish the external
conditions of devotion without clashing too much with the
current views on prayer, and to remove such passages as were
in conflict with the civil position of the Jew." The Orthodox
Jews of Hamburg tried to repeat the work of their brethren in
Berlin, but this time they failed. The temple remained open
and steadily grew in influence under the leadership of Kley

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 35

and his associate preacher Gotthold Solomon. In 1829 the
Hamburg Temple established a branch at Leipsic, where
services were held during the busy annual fairs, with Auerbach
as preacher. The merchants from all parts of the world that
visited these fairs became acquainted with the temple services
and carried its spirit to their home cities. Soon Reform con-
gregations sprang up in different parts of Germany, Austria
and Hungary, France, Denmark, and England.

Though originating in Germany, it is in America, where
the congregations were new and, therefore, freer from anti-
quated usages, that Reform took deep root and soon grew into
a greater power than in the old European communities.
Under the influence of its liberal spirit, the German Jewish
settlers led by men like Isaac M. Wise, Max Lilienthal, Samuel
Adler, Samuel Hirsch, David Einhorn, B. Felsenthal, S. K.
Guttheim, K. Kohler, and others laid the foundations of a
noble type of Judaism in this land of freedom. Stately
synagogues were dedicated to the worship of God. Schools
and charitable institutions were established. The Union of
American Hebrew Congregations was launched to unite the
congregations throughout the land for concerted religious
effort. The Hebrew Union College was established in Cincin-
nati under the auspices of the Union, under the leadership of
Dr. Isaac M. Wise, to train rabbis for American Jewish
pulpits. Further to unite American Israel, the rabbis of the
country organized themselves into a Central Conference of
American Rabbis, that the counsel of all may be brought to
bear upon the vexing questions that arise from year to year.
The Central Conference has had as its object the removal of
the tendency toward individualism in religious life, which
came by way of reaction toward the severe suppression of all
private judgment under Orthodoxy. This has, in a great
measure, been achieved through the publication of the two
volumes of the Union Prayerbook which have helped to stand-
ardize the Sabbath and holiday worship in the synagogues

36 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

throughout the land. The Central Conference of American
Rabbis together with the Union of American Hebrew Congre-
gations have not only fostered Judaism in the hearts of our
people but have endeavored to present it in the right light
before the non- Jewish world and thereby to form the right
basis for mutual respect and co-operation.

In the temple at Vienna the famous cantor Solomon Sulzer
regenerated the old music of the synagogue. Out of the sighs
and groans of long ages of martyrdom and out of the heart-
throbs of countless generations, he constructed the soul-
stirring songs of triumph of the new synagogue. He was
followed by Naumbourg at Paris, by Lewandowski at Berlin,
and by Kaiser, Stark, Schlessinger, and by hosts of others on
both sides of the Atlantic, who enriched the Jewish ritual with
their glorious song. In the words of Gustav Karpeles, this
"band of gifted men disengaged the old harps from the willows,
and once more lured the ancient melodies from their quivering
strings."

The early Reformers limited their constructive work to the
external side of Judaism. They firmly believed that it could
be regenerated through the removal of the old abuses from the
synagogues and through the modernization of its mode of wor-
ship. It was left to their successors to see that the whole struc-
ture of Judaism needed thorough renovation. Many petty
regulations such as the prohibition of shaving, the requirement
that women wear Scheitels (wigs) the institution of the Mikvah
(ritual bath) as an adjunct of the synagogue, and customs
like Tashlikh (propitiatory rite based on the literal interpreta-
tion of Micah 7 : 19 b) and Kapparoth Schlagen (substitution of a
fowl for a human being as a means of atonement) lost all
religious meaning and appeared ludicrous. Many laws regulat-
ing family life, particularly in regard to marriage and divorce,
grew increasingly burdensome. Zangwill's Children of the
Ghetto and Judah Leon Gordon's Hebrew poems (Kozo Sbel
Yod and Shomeres Yovom) present some of the tragic conse-

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 37

quences of the outworn marriage and divorce laws. The
regulations of Sabbath and holiday observance, too, often
became irksome, turning at least for some people feasts into
fasts, and days of joy into days of mourning. In Russia-
Poland and in Galicia no less than in Germany a revision of
the laws governing Jewish life was strenuously urged, but the
leaders of Orthodoxy turned a deaf ear to all such demands.
Their adamantine rigor further alienated the progressive
element from Judaism. It therefore became the task of the
leaders of Reform to grapple seriously with the whole problem
not alone by removing the abuses from Jewish life but by
finding justification for their action in Jewish tradition.
Their task was a double one: to redefine Judaism and to
defend it from the attacks of skeptics and agnostics as well as
to ward off the assaults of their Orthodox opponents.

Extraordinary caution was needed in their work. At first
the early Reformers, like Aaron Chorin, tried to justify them-
selves on the ground of rabbinic law, often using talmudic
authority for cutting down talmudic regulations. Soon they
found this method wholly inadequate. The more they were
attacked on the basis of the Talmud the stronger grew the
belief among some of them that Judaism to be truly revived,
must be purged of Rabbinism and of the Talmud and re-
established on the foundations of the Bible. A dangerous line
of cleavage was thus drawn between so-called "Mosaism" and
"Rabbinism." In this spirit the Frankfort Society of Friends
of Reform issued the following declaration of principles (1843) :
"(1) We recognize the possibility of unlimited development
in the Mosaic religion. (2) The collection of controversies,
dissertations, and prescriptions commonly designated by the
name Talmud possesses for us no authority, from either the
dogmatic or the practical standpoint. (3) A Messiah who is
to lead back the Israelites to the land of Palestine is neither
expected nor desired by us; we know no fatherland except that
to which we belong by birth or citizenship."

38 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

Reform Judaism entered upon a more fertile phase of its
development with the labors of the great systematic thinker
Abraham Geiger, whose motto was: "Aus der Vergangenheit
schoepfen, in der Gegenwart leben, fuer die Zukunft arbeiten."
Drawing his inspiration from the past, he saw no reason for
discarding the Talmud and the whole body of Rabbinic
thought. He belonged to the group of distinguished Jewish
scholars who set themselves to the task of rehabilitating
Judaism in the eyes of the learned world by applying the
scientific methods, acquired in the universities, to its history
and literature.

The results of their labors led to an almost revolutionary con-
ception of Judaism. It showed that the law of evolution which
Goethe and Darwin discovered in the organic and inorganic
world is operative also in the domain of religion, that instead of
being the product of supernatural revelation, it is the outgrowth
of man's eternal quest for God. Judaism, as a careful study of
its history shows, is not a religion that was established at any
one time in the past, either by Moses or by any other man or
group of men, but a body of truth, a growing tree of life.
Moses took the kernel of the belief in one God, which came
down to him from Abraham and planted it in the hearts of
the newly liberated Israelites. The prophets, priests, and
sages fostered its growth. From the first commandment,
declaring the unity of God, they developed the whole moral,
civic, and ritual law. Their words, embodied in the Bible,
were further amplified by the rabbis in the Talmud and in
the Codes of Law. Naturally not everything that was evolved
in the course of the ages, whether in the biblical or in the
talmudic periods, was progressive. Some things were indeed
retrogressive. But at no time was there any complete break
between what some called "Mosaism" and "Rabbinism."
The same spirit that created the Bible also created the Talmud
and the Schulchan Arukh. Throughout our history the spirit
of Judaism related itself to the conditions of our people's life,

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 39

to their needs and hopes. Like the rose it drank in not only
the sunshine, but also the moisture of the soil in which it grew.
That accounts for the varied forms which it assumed in the
course of different ages and in different lands. This law also
explains the rise of the Reform Movement, the latest link in
the long chain of development of historic Judaism.

Judaism, being an ever-growing body of truth, aiming in
each age to help man find his place in life, not merely gives us
the right but imposes upon us the duty to adapt its religious
truths to the changed conditions of the present day. The
flower that blossomed last year was fresh and fragrant, but
today it is faded and withered. In our love for the flower, it
is not enough to press it between the pages of a book or to turn
it into perfume; it is necessary to plant its seeds anew that the
old flower may blossom again in the new one. If Judaism is
dear to us — and dear it must be to thinking men and women,
because it is one of the noblest faiths of modern times and one
of the finest products of the spirit — we must transplant its
noble truths into the hearts of modern men and women.

The pioneers of Reform labored in the belief that Judaism
is not a thing of the past, confined to the Ghetto, but a living
spirit for today and tomorrow, equally as needed in and equally
as applicable to the new conditions in lands of freedom. As
the fires of the French Revolution devoured the structure and
foundation of decayed European politics and religion, these
men with Maccabean zeal rescued the sacred oil of the syna-
gogue to feed the flames of the Menorah. Largely due to then-
labors the light of Judaism has been kept alive in Germany,
France, England, and America. Isaac D 'Israeli, the distin-
guished English author and father of the even more distinguished
statesman, Benjamin DTsraeli, is reported to have said to one
of the founders of the Reform synagogue in London: "Had
these changes been introduced at an earlier period, neither I
nor my family would have seceded from the Jewish com-
munity." To this the Rev. Isidore Harris adds that "it is

40 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

undoubtedly true that English Reform has been the means of
keeping within the fold many who otherwise must have been
lost to us, as happened in the case of some of the chief families
of the Bevis Marks Synagogue." What is true of England is
true of all other lands, where the walls of the Ghetto fell and
where the Jew was drawn into the general social, cultural, and
political life around him. There Reform appeared as a beacon
light to the perplexed, guiding them in the faith and in the
idealism of our fathers. Many congregations that at one time
repudiated Reform ideas in principle have been compelled by
circumstances to adopt them in practice. Prayers and sermons
in the vernacular, mixed choirs, instrumental music, family
pews, confirmation of girls as well as of boys have become part
of conservative congregational life. In fact New-Orthodoxy or
conservative Judaism follows tardily and timidly where Reform
has bravely led the way. In their "Orthodoxy," its leaders
are more "Reform" then the avowed Reformers of a couple of
generations ago. Reform has bridged the gap between Judaism
and the new political, social, and cultural life of our people in
Western Europe and in America, and has developed under the
loving care of rabbis and laymen into a magnificent body of
religious truth that cheers the heart, delights the mind, and
crowns Israel with new glory.

Reform Judaism does not claim to be a new religion. It is
in every respect a mere link in the chain of Israel's historical
continuity. It does not separate itself from the body of Israel.
Despite differences of religious interpretation of life, we, of the
Reform wing, lay strong emphasis upon the ideal of Jewish
spiritual — as distinguished from political or geographical —
unity. The Children of Israel constitute a religious brother-
hood. Reform Judaism as the outgrowth of long ages of
religious development is bound to Jewish tradition. We
celebrate the holidays that have come down to us from the
past. It is only in accommodation to the new conditions,
under which the Jews are now living in lands of freedom, that

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 41

some congregations instituted a Sunday service, but none have
substituted Sunday for the historical day of rest. The Second
Days of the Festivals (see the Jewish Encyclopedia for their
origin) were abrogated not only because our people found it
extremely difficult to observe them, but also because they have
no scriptural basis. With the exception of Rosh Hashana,
they are not observed even by the strictest Orthodox Jews of
Palestine. Of the old ceremonials we try to keep all those
that are vital to the life of the Jew. We look with deep rever-
ence upon our religious literature. But we do not regard it
as the sole source of authority in our religion. The Bible is
the foundation but not the whole structure of Judaism. The
Bible did not create Judaism; but Judaism created the Bible.
For our religious knowledge we do not depend exclusively
upon tradition, the Bible, the Talmud, or the philosophic
writings of earlier days. With the great teachers of the
past, we believe that in a limited way our reason and our
conscience can help us fathom some of the mysteries of God's
existence. If with all our minds and with all our hearts we
truly seek Him, we shall truly find Him. Our sacred literature
and traditions must guide us on our way; but we ourselves
must search after God. Modern science which has disclosed the
wonders of earth and sky has revealed to us in a new light the
majesty of our God, of that "Mekor Chayim "—source of all
existence, whose life throbs in star and flower and heart of man,
through whom we live and move and have our being. He is
not a mere blind force that vitalizes matter, but a self-conscious,
reasoning Being, who knows the needs of the world, of nations,
and of individual men. To Him we can turn in prayer and be
strengthened in our weakness, comforted in our sorrow, and
restored from the selfishness and filth of sin to a holy and
pure life. Humanly speaking, we can find no more sacred
word by which to stammer forth His great name than that of
"Father." In His hands we intrust our spirit, in life and in
death.

42 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

In former ages our people made much of the resurrection
of the body and of the bliss of the soul in the hereafter. Men
like Maimonides long ago came to look upon the Gan Eden and
Gehenna as mere desires on the part of man but not names of
actualities. And the saintly man, whom the late Professor
Schechter quotes in one of his essays, even exclaimed in prayer
unto God: "I have no wish for thy Paradise, nor any desire
for the bliss in the world to come. I want thee and thee alone."
Death can have no terror for us. When we are estranged from
God our very life is death; but with God even death is life to
us. The righteous live even after death. Their work remains
behind them; their noble spirits, their hopes, their prayers
and — what is greatest of all — their examples live on as bles-
sings. It, therefore, follows that our whole life depends upon
the way we spend our energies while moving in the midst of
the duties, of the heat and the struggle of the day, upon the
patience with which we endure our trials and the fortitude
with which we bear our burdens. We consider it insufficient
to say: "God's in his heaven; all's right with the world."
Our ideal should rather be this: "Because God's in his heaven,
we must see that all's right with the world." We, as men and
as Jews, must promote the cause of justice on earth, defend
the weak, and relieve the oppressed. To teach and, through
our lives, to exemplify these truths, and thus to bring mankind
nearer to the spirit of God, we consider to be the holy vocation
or mission of our people.

The ideals of Reform Judaism are expressed clearest in its
liturgy. The following paragraphs are typical of the Union
Prayerbook:

Almighty and merciful God, Thou hast called Israel to Thy service
and found him worthy to be Thy witness unto the peoples of the earth.
Give us grace to fulfil this mission with zeal tempered by wisdom and
guided by regard for other men's faith. May our lives prove the
strength of our own belief in the truths we proclaim. May our bearing
toward our neighbors, our faithfulness in every sphere of duty, our

THE MISSION OF REFORM JUDAISM 43

compassion for the suffering and our patience under trial show that
He whose law we obey is indeed the God of all goodness, the Father of
all men, that to serve Him is perfect freedom and to worship Him the
soul's purest happiness.

O Lord, open our eyes that we may see and welcome all truth,
whether shining from the annals of ancient revelations or reaching us
through the seers of our own time; for Thou hidest not Thy light from
any generation of Thy children that feel after Thee and seek Thy guid-
ance.

We pray for the masters and teachers in Israel that they may dispense
Thy truth with earnestness and zeal, yet not wanting in charity. May
the law of love be found on their lips, and may they by precept and
example lead many in the ways of righteousness.

Bless, O God, all endeavors, wherever made, to lift up the fallen,
to redeem the sinful, to bring back those who wander from the right
path and restore them to a worthy life. Truly, God, we long to adore
Thee in the temple of holiness, at the altar of truth and with the offerings
of our love. O satisfy us early with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice
and be glad all our days.

The eternal hope of Israel is expressed in the Prayer of
Adoration from which we quote the second part:

May the time not be distant, O God, when Thy name shall be wor-
shipped in all the earth, when unbelief shall disappear and error be
no more. We fervently pray that the day may come when all men
shall invoke Thy name, when corruption and evil shall give way to purity
and goodness, when superstition shall no longer enslave the mind, nor
idolatry blind the eye, when all inhabitants of the earth shall know that
to Thee alone every knee must bend and every tongue give homage.
O may all, created in Thine image, recognize that they are brethren, so
that, one in spirit and one in fellowship, they may be forever united
before Thee. Then shall Thy kingdom be established on earth and the
word of Thine ancient seer be fulfilled: The Lord will reign forever and
ever.

On that day the Lord shall be One and His name shall be One.