Initially, there were two extreme responses to the problems that emancipation posed for Judaism. Those who rejected it completely proposed that Jews continue their traditional way of life, isolated from the outside world, as if they had never left the ghetto. They feared that contact with this new world would alienate them from Judaism. This insistence that Judaism could not adapt to modern times ironically produced the other extreme response: many Jews simply chose to convert to Christianity. These Jews argued that one could be modern or Jewish, but one could not be both at the same time. A middle path was needed, one that did not reject emancipation and did not reject Jewishness.

To achieve this, the traditional forms of the Jewish faith had to be adapted to the new conditions of the time. The Haskalah, the movement that brought the Enlightenment to Judaism, of which Moses Mendelssohn was a leading figure, grappled with this problem, but initially chose to leave traditional norms more or less intact. However, it was the Reform movement that ultimately introduced innovations into synagogue services and Jewish religious life.

Reform-minded thinkers within German Jewry, such as Israel Jacobson, Abraham Geiger, Samuel Holdheim, and Leopold Zunz, sought to modernize Jewish practices and beliefs. They convened synods to discuss the issue, but did not formally establish an independent rabbinical organization or body. However, the reform effort changed when the German government allowed the establishment of new institutions within the Jewish community. Between 1840 and 1850, independent Reform congregations were established in two major Jewish centers, Frankfurt and Berlin.

In 1870, an even more important step was taken: the creation of a rabbinical seminary and research center. Rabbi Abraham Geiger suggested that the way of observing Jewish life could change to make it more appealing to young people. Geiger, a scholar expert in both biblical studies and German cultural studies, was also a researcher of the history of Judaism. He maintained that Jewish life was always in a state of constant change. Old practices were modified and new ones were introduced, resulting in a Jewish life quite different from what it had been 1,000 or 2,000 years earlier. He realized that these changes were intended to adapt the practice of Judaism to the historical moment in question. Geiger concluded that the process of change needed to continue so that Judaism could face modernity without losing its essence.

At that time, Darwin proposed his theory of the evolution of living beings and said that change, not permanence, was natural. Similarly, the Reform movement maintains that Judaism has changed since its beginnings. Because evolution is natural, even in Judaism.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: Explaining Reform Judaism, by Eugene B. Borowitz and Naomi Patz and other sources.