I had written on this before, as part of another post, but I wanted to separate this idea out.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s your brief journey into the history of Judaism for the day, courtesy The Story of Judaism, by Bernard J. Bamberger, which I pulled off the basement bookshelf (where books get exiled*), and past reading (and which may not be wholly correct, as I only skimmed the relevant sections of the Bamberger book and am relying quite a bit on my faulty memory).<\/p>\n
(* Today my husband and I were talking about how we\u2019d like more room in the house, but the number of years that we\u2019d really benefit from it are comparatively few, before we\u2019re empty nesters and can repurpose the rooms of moved-away kids. \u00a0So someday, he\u2019ll have his hobby room, and I\u2019ll have a sewing room, and we can move the exercise equipment up from the basement, and I\u2019ll also finally be able to buy a dozen more bookshelves, and as many books as I want without having to apply a \u201cone-in, one-out\u201d approach. \u00a0But anyway. . . )<\/p>\n
European Jews in the Middle Ages, as you likely know, did not have an easy time of it, what with getting blamed for the Black Death, and periodically getting expelled from one country or dukedom or another, whenever the ruler wanted to default on loans. \u00a0Ultimately large numbers of Jews were welcomed to Poland and Eastern Europe, but, in general, Jews were second-class citizens, or, rather, not even citizens at all, and subject to various restrictions and, in many cities, confined to ghettoes, from which they could travel freely, but were subject to curfews.<\/p>\n
And this state of affairs continued into the early modern period \u2014 the essentials of life were not much changed for Jews, in such a way that, in terms of European Jewish history, the \u201cmiddle ages\u201d is considered to extend to the 18th century, when the Enlightenment, the development of modern nation states, the politics of the Napoleonic era, and other factors combined together to bring about a movement of what was called \u201cJewish Emancipation,\u201d in which, country by country, Jews received full citizenship rights.<\/p>\n
And throughout the early 19th century, a reform movement began in Jewish practice and theology, primarily in Germany, which became known as the \u201cJewish Enlightenment.\u201d \u00a0In some respects, this was born of the same desire to assimilate, as also marked a marked trend towards Jews choosing baptism. <\/p>\n
The initial reform movement was led by laypeople, and one of the starting points was a movement towards modern education for children. \u00a0Part and parcel with the attainment of citizenship rights in their countries was an acceptance that they were, in fact, not citizens of Israel in exile, longing to return, so one of the first reforms was to remove prayers that referenced this desire, as well as the hope for a messiah to come. \u00a0Services were modernized, with the local language rather than Hebrew, and with organ-based hymns, the invention of a Confirmation ceremony for boys and girls, and even moving services to Sundays. \u00a0(When keeping Kosher and the strict Sabbath rules were abandoned, I don\u2019t see with my quick skim.)<\/p>\n
To quote Bamberger, \u201cin the spirit of the Enlightenment, it was asserted that the essence of religion is the belief in God, human freedom, and immortality, and the practice of the moral law. \u00a0Ceremonial is of secondary importance.\u201d \u00a0(p. 267)<\/p>\n
Bamberger later says, \u201cWriters often distinguish two stages in the history of German Reform Judaism \u2014 the early period, when laymen took the lead in modifying the externals of worship; and the second period, guided by rabbis, who dealt with more fundamental issues\u201d \u2014 that is, developing a theology that allowed Jews to still \u201cbe Jewish\u201d despite these innovations. <\/p>\n
The initial project was go to back to the Talmud and other sources to find interpretations that supported their new innovations, but new ways of understanding Scripture came to the fore (as for Christians, who began to abandon a literal interpretation of Genesis somewhere along the way, too). The scholar Dr. Abraham Geiger was key here. \u00a0Here are the key paragraphs:<\/p>\n
Instead of one fixed and changeless revelation at Sinai, Geiger proclaimed a progressive revelation, which continues to the present in the discoveries of science and the insights of wise men. \u00a0The Bible and Talmud are glorious and permanently valuable records of an early and decisive stage in this process. \u00a0But since the revelation came from God through men, all the documents of revelation are a mixture of the divine and the human, of the eternally valid and of the temporary and transient. \u00a0Judaism is a living, growing organism, evolving gradually from earlier and more primitive forms to the full flowering of its universal spiritual message.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Central and changeless is the belief in the one and holy God, who is to be served through righteousness and mercy. \u00a0God\u2019s law is basically ethical; ritual and ceremony, as the prophets declared long ago, are not the essence of the religion. \u00a0Moreover, historical study reveals that ceremonial practice has been constantly subject to change. \u00a0Ritual is, indeed, not without value: \u00a0it is a means of making religious truth more vivid and inspiring to the worshipper. \u00a0But the forms are not sacrosanct. If they fail to instruct and uplift those who practice them \u2014 still more if they repel or disgust \u2014 they may be modified or discarded. \u00a0(p. 281).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You can see what I\u2019m getting at by now, can\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
Islam is often said to \u201cneed a Reformation,\u201d but that\u2019s not really correct. \u00a0The Protestant Reformation was intended to return to \u201ctrue\u201d Christianity and discard all of the \u201cinnovations\u201d of the Catholics; the Catholic\/Counter-Reformation was more oriented around revitalization, elimination of corruption, and the education of the laity. \u00a0It is, in fact, often said that Islam has indeed already had a \u201cReformation\u201d \u2014 that what is happening now in the Islamic world, and has been happening for some time, a return to greater strictness, implementation of Islamic legal codes, and so forth, is an attempt to return to a \u201cpure\u201d Islam of a millenium ago.<\/p>\n
What Islam really needs is an \u201cEnlightenment\u201d such as Judaism experienced, as the genesis of Reform Judaism, and Christianity experienced in a less pronounced way that led to modern concepts of religious freedom and a more modern understanding of scripture (e.g., a non-literal reading) for most Christian denominations, and an abandonment of even more of \u201ctraditional Christianity\u201d for a few groups (endorsing gay marriage and abortion, and questioning the divinity of Christ).<\/p>\n
Now, of course, how to get from here to there is another question. \u00a0In the Middle East, this is made all the more difficult because Islam, being the state religion, has state-controlled governing bodies which effectively control theological interpretation. \u00a0Perhaps it\u2019s up to reform-minded, enlightenment-minded Muslims in the United States and in Europe (again, I will remind readers that I\u2019m taking the approach that such Muslims do exist, though their numbers may be in doubt), to come together as one unified group, rather than working at the margins.<\/p>\n
So now I\u2019ve said pretty much everything I have to say, and will go back to sulking at being prevented from commenting at National Review, and more generally, trying to figure out, as usual, how to communicate my thoughts the outside world.<\/p>\n