Samuel Holdheim
Encyclopedia
Samuel Holdheim was a German rabbi
and author, and one of the more extreme leaders of the early Reform Movement in Judaism
. A pioneer in modern Jewish homiletics
, he was often at odds with the Orthodox
community.
in South Prussia
in 1806. The son of rigidly traditional parents, Holdheim was early inducted into rabbinical literature according to the methods in vogue at the Talmud
ical yeshiva
s. Before he was able to speak German
with even moderate correctness he had become a master of Talmudic argumentation, and his fame had traveled far beyond the limits of his native place. This reputation secured for him employment as teacher of young boys in private families both in Kempen and in larger cities of his native province. It was while thus engaged that he began to supplement his store of rabbinical knowledge by private studies in the secular and classical branches.
Holdheim went to Prague
and subsequently to Berlin
to study philosophy
and the humanities
; and his keen intellect, combined with his eagerness to learn, made it possible for him to reach his goal in an incredibly short time, though the lack of preliminary systematic preparation left its imprint upon his mind, to a certain degree, to the last. Under Samuel Landau of Prague he continued also his Talmudical studies. While still a young man it became his ambition to occupy a rabbinical position in a larger German town; for he desired to show the older rabbis that secular and philosophical scholarship could well be harmonized with rabbinical erudition. But he had to wait until 1836, when, after several disappointments elsewhere, he was called as rabbi to Frankfurt (Oder)
. Here he remained until 1840, encountering many difficulties, due both to the distrust of those within the congregation who suspected the piety of a rabbi able to speak grammatical German, and who was a graduate of a German university, and to the peculiar legislation which in Prussia
under Frederick William III regulated the status of the Jewish congregations.
mainly charged with the duty of answering she'elot (ritual questions) and inquiries concerning dietary laws. He insisted upon the recognition of the rabbi as preacher and teacher, who at the same time gives attention to the practical requirements of his office as the expert in Talmudical law.
While in Frankfurt, Holdheim scrupulously decided every question according to the halakha
. In his pulpit discourses belonging to this period the intention is plain to steer clear of mere rationalistic moralizing, on the one hand, and dry legalizing and unscientific speculation (in the style of the old derashah), on the other. Holdheim thus deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneers in the field of modern Jewish homiletics
, who showed what use should be made of the Midrashim and other Jewish writings. He also repeatedly took pains to arouse his congregation to help carry out Abraham Geiger
's and Ludwig Philippson
's project of founding a Jewish theological faculty. Judaism even then had ceased for Holdheim to be an end unto itself. He had begun to view it as a force in the larger life of humanity.
Israelitische Annalen). Among his articles two especially are worthy of note. One (in Allg. Zeit. des Jud. ii, Nos. 4-9) discusses the essential principles of Judaism, arriving at the conclusion that Judaism has no binding dogmas; the other (Jost's Annalen, 1839, Nos. 30-32) treats of the oath demanded of Jewish witnesses in criminal procedures. In the former of these papers Holdheim formulates the principle which is basic to his position and that of other Reformers: Judaism is not a religion of dead creed, but of living deeds. In the latter essay he utilizes his Talmudic juridical erudition to demonstrate the injustice done to the Jews by the Prussian courts. Another of his Frankfurt publications bears the title Der Religiöse Fortschritt im Deutschen Judenthume, (Leipzig, 1840). The occasion which called forth this booklet was the controversy waging around Geiger's election as rabbi in Breslau. Holdheim pleads for progress, on the ground that at all times the Torah
has been taught, in accordance with the changing conditions of succeeding ages; but this progress he holds to be a gradual development, never a noisy opposition to recognized existing standards.
In the meantime Holdheim had received the degree of Ph.D.
from the University of Leipzig
, and had come to be looked upon by congregations as well as by Jewish scholars as a leader (see Orient. Lit. 1840, No. 35 et passim; Jost's Annalen, 1840, No. 39). Frankfurt having become too restricted a sphere for him, he accepted a call to Schwerin
as Landesrabbiner, leaving Frankfurt on August 15, 1840.
, "Yad", Tefillah, xi.9). Among the many rejoinders which Ḥakam Bernays' excommunication
of this prayer-book evoked, Holdheim's deserves to be ranked as the most thorough and incisive.
in Orient. Lit., 1843, No. 44). The importance of this book is attested by the stir it created among German Jewish communities, many members of which found in its attitude the solution of the problem of how loyalty to Judaism could be combined with unqualified allegiance to their German nationality. Evidence of its incisive character is furnished also by the polemic
al literature that grew out of it. In these discussions such men as A. Bernstein, Mendel Hess
, Samson Raphael Hirsch
, Zacharias Frankel, Raphael Kirchheim
, Leopold Zunz
, Leopold Löw
, and Adolf Jellinek
took part.
The foundation of the Reform Verein in Frankfurt am Main led to another agitation in German Jewry. Einhorn, Stein, Samuel Hirsch, and others deplored the rise of the Verein as a step toward schismatic separation. The obligatory character of the rite of circumcision
was the focal issue discussed by no less than forty-one rabbis. Holdheim, in his Ueber die Beschneidung Zunächst in Religiös-Dogmatischer Beziehung (Schwerin and Berlin, 1844), takes the position that circumcision is not, like baptism
, a sacrament of initiation, but is merely a command like any other. Nevertheless he classifies it not as a national but as a Jewish religious law, and pleads for its retention. Indeed, he was not unreservedly an adherent of the program of the Frankfurt Reform Verein. This is clear from his Vorträge über die Mosaische Religion für Denkende Israeliten (Schwerin, 1844). While the Verein assumed unlimited possibilities of development, according to Holdheim the Mosaic element, after the elimination of the national, is eternal. Religion must be placed above all temporal needs and desires. To yield to the spirit of the age would make that spirit the supreme factor and lead to the production of a new 19th century Talmud as little warranted as was the Talmud of the 5th century.
Mosaism as contained in the Bible is the continuous religion of Judaism. The belief in this revelation is the constant factor in all variants of Judaism. This is also the main thesis of his Das Ceremonialgesetz im Messiasreich (Schwerin and Berlin, 1845). He shows the inconsistency of Talmudism, which, assuming the inviolability of all Biblical laws, still recognizes the suspension of many. Hence the Talmudic insistence on the restoration of the Jewish state. Some ceremonial laws were meant to assure the holiness of the people; others to assure that of the priests. These ceremonies lose their meaning and are rendered obsolete the moment Israel no longer requires special protection for its monotheistic
distinctness. As soon as all men have become ethical monotheists, Israel is nowhere in danger of losing its own monotheism; nor is its distinctness further required. Hence in the Messianic time the ceremonies will lose all binding or effective force. This book, too, called forth much discussion, in which Reform rabbis like Levi Herzfeld
took a stand opposed to Holdheim's. Answering some of his critics' objections, Holdheim insisted upon being recognized as an adherent of positive historic Judaism. The doctrines, religious and ethical, of Biblical Judaism are, he claimed, the positive contents of Judaism; and a truly historical reform must, for the sake of these positive doctrines, liberate Judaism from Talmudism.
(1844), Frankfurt am Main (1845), and Breslau (1846). The stand taken by the last with regard to the Sabbath
did not satisfy him. He rightly held it to be a weak compromise. For him the essential element of a true Sabbath was not worship, but rest (see his Offene Briefe über die Dritte Rabbinerversammlung, in Israelit, 1846, Nos. 46-48). The debates at these conferences had touched on vital subjects. Holdheim felt prompted to treat some of these at greater length, and therefore in quick succession he published the following essays: Was Lehrt das Rabbinische Judenthum über den Eid? 1844; Ueber Auflösbarkeit der Eide, Hamburg, 1845; Vorschläge zu einer Zeitgemässen Reform der Jüdischen Ehegesetze, Schwerin, 1845; Die Religiöse Stellung des Weiblichen Geschlechts im Talmudischen Judenthum, ib. 1846; Prinzipien eines dem Gegenwärtigen Religionsbewusstsein Entsprechenden Cultus, 1846.
Holdheim, consulted among others when the Jüdische Reformgenossenschaft was founded in Berlin, was called to be its rabbi and preacher in 1847. As leader of the Reformgenossenschaft he had a share in the editing of its prayer-book
. He instituted the radical rejection of keeping Saturday as the Jewish Sabbath
, and instead moved its observance to Sunday to keep the behavior of Reform Jews in line with Christian thought. Under his rule the observance of the second days of the holy days (except the second day of Rosh ha-Shanah) were abolished.
He officiated at so-called "mixed" marriages (see his Gemischte Ehen Zwischen Juden und Christen, Berlin, 1850). He had to defend his congregation against many attacks (see his Das Gutachten des Herrn L. Schwab, Rabbiner zu Pesth, ib. 1848). Though engaged in many ways in the development of his society and in the organization of its institutions, during the thirteen years of his stay in Berlin he wrote a text for schools on the religious and moral doctrines of the Mishnah (Berlin, 1854), a criticism of Stahl (Ueber Stahl's Christliche Toleranz, ib. 1856), and a catechism
(Jüdische Glaubens-und Sittenlehre, ib. 1857). He also wrote a history of the Reformgenossenschaft (Gesch. der Jüdischen Reformgemeinde, 1857) and a more ambitious work (in Hebrew
) on the rabbinical and Karaite interpretations of the marriage laws (Ma'amar ha-Ishut, 1860).
Holdheim died suddenly at Berlin
on August 22, 1860. Sachs objected to his interment in the row reserved for rabbis in the Jewish cemetery, but Oettinger granted permission for the burial. Holdheim was laid to rest among the great dead of the Berlin congregation, Abraham Geiger
preaching the funeral oration.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and author, and one of the more extreme leaders of the early Reform Movement in Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
. A pioneer in modern Jewish homiletics
Homiletics
Homiletics , in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist....
, he was often at odds with the Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
community.
Early life
Holdheim was born at KempenKepno
Kępno is a town in Poland. It lies on the outskirts of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, as it borders on Silesia and the Łódz Land, at the crossing point of two transport routes: north to south and east to west . As of December 31, 2009 Kępno had a population of 14,760...
in South Prussia
South Prussia
South Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1793 to 1807. It was created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland and included in 1793*the Poznań, Kalisz and Gniezno Voivodeships of Greater Poland;...
in 1806. The son of rigidly traditional parents, Holdheim was early inducted into rabbinical literature according to the methods in vogue at the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ical yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
s. Before he was able to speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
with even moderate correctness he had become a master of Talmudic argumentation, and his fame had traveled far beyond the limits of his native place. This reputation secured for him employment as teacher of young boys in private families both in Kempen and in larger cities of his native province. It was while thus engaged that he began to supplement his store of rabbinical knowledge by private studies in the secular and classical branches.
Holdheim went to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and subsequently to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to study philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
; and his keen intellect, combined with his eagerness to learn, made it possible for him to reach his goal in an incredibly short time, though the lack of preliminary systematic preparation left its imprint upon his mind, to a certain degree, to the last. Under Samuel Landau of Prague he continued also his Talmudical studies. While still a young man it became his ambition to occupy a rabbinical position in a larger German town; for he desired to show the older rabbis that secular and philosophical scholarship could well be harmonized with rabbinical erudition. But he had to wait until 1836, when, after several disappointments elsewhere, he was called as rabbi to Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
. Here he remained until 1840, encountering many difficulties, due both to the distrust of those within the congregation who suspected the piety of a rabbi able to speak grammatical German, and who was a graduate of a German university, and to the peculiar legislation which in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
under Frederick William III regulated the status of the Jewish congregations.
Attitude toward government
To bring about a change in this state of affairs was the purpose of Holdheim. In the preface to his Gottesdienstliche Vorträge (Frankfurt (Oder), 1839) he appealed both to the government to accord the modern rabbinate the dignity due to it, and to the congregations to cease regarding the rabbi as an expert in Jewish casuistryCasuistry
In applied ethics, casuistry is case-based reasoning. Casuistry is used in juridical and ethical discussions of law and ethics, and often is a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning...
mainly charged with the duty of answering she'elot (ritual questions) and inquiries concerning dietary laws. He insisted upon the recognition of the rabbi as preacher and teacher, who at the same time gives attention to the practical requirements of his office as the expert in Talmudical law.
While in Frankfurt, Holdheim scrupulously decided every question according to the halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. In his pulpit discourses belonging to this period the intention is plain to steer clear of mere rationalistic moralizing, on the one hand, and dry legalizing and unscientific speculation (in the style of the old derashah), on the other. Holdheim thus deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneers in the field of modern Jewish homiletics
Homiletics
Homiletics , in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist....
, who showed what use should be made of the Midrashim and other Jewish writings. He also repeatedly took pains to arouse his congregation to help carry out Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...
's and Ludwig Philippson
Ludwig Philippson
Ludwig Philippson was a German rabbi and author, the son of Moses Philippson.He was educated at the gymanasium of Halle and at the University of Berlin, and maintained himself by tutoring and by doing literary work...
's project of founding a Jewish theological faculty. Judaism even then had ceased for Holdheim to be an end unto itself. He had begun to view it as a force in the larger life of humanity.
Progressive Views
Holdheim now became a contributor to the Jewish periodicals (e.g., Philippson's Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums and Jost'sIsaak Markus Jost
Isaak Marcus Jost was a Jewish historical writer.He studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In Berlin he began to teach, and in 1835 received the appointment of upper master in the Jewish commercial school at Frankfort-on-the-Main...
Israelitische Annalen). Among his articles two especially are worthy of note. One (in Allg. Zeit. des Jud. ii, Nos. 4-9) discusses the essential principles of Judaism, arriving at the conclusion that Judaism has no binding dogmas; the other (Jost's Annalen, 1839, Nos. 30-32) treats of the oath demanded of Jewish witnesses in criminal procedures. In the former of these papers Holdheim formulates the principle which is basic to his position and that of other Reformers: Judaism is not a religion of dead creed, but of living deeds. In the latter essay he utilizes his Talmudic juridical erudition to demonstrate the injustice done to the Jews by the Prussian courts. Another of his Frankfurt publications bears the title Der Religiöse Fortschritt im Deutschen Judenthume, (Leipzig, 1840). The occasion which called forth this booklet was the controversy waging around Geiger's election as rabbi in Breslau. Holdheim pleads for progress, on the ground that at all times the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
has been taught, in accordance with the changing conditions of succeeding ages; but this progress he holds to be a gradual development, never a noisy opposition to recognized existing standards.
In the meantime Holdheim had received the degree of Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, and had come to be looked upon by congregations as well as by Jewish scholars as a leader (see Orient. Lit. 1840, No. 35 et passim; Jost's Annalen, 1840, No. 39). Frankfurt having become too restricted a sphere for him, he accepted a call to Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
as Landesrabbiner, leaving Frankfurt on August 15, 1840.
Hamburg Temple Controversy
In his new field Holdheim gave his first attention to the founding of schools for Jewish children. The Hamburg Temple controversy led him to take part in the discussion (see Annalen, 1841, Nos. 45, 46). He hailed the new movement as an important augury of the quickening influences of modern views. He defended the Hamburg program as thoroughly founded in Judaism and in the very line of the synagogue's own history, though he was not blind to its inconsistencies. Yet, even though authority of tradition was denied and recognized at one and the same time, the movement stood for the differentiation of the Jewish national from the Jewish religious elements. He also wrote an opinion (Gutachten) on the prayer-book of the Hamburg Temple (Hamburg, 1841), justifying its departures from the old forms by appealing to Talmudical precedents (Soṭah vii.1; Ber. 10a, 27b, 33a; MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, "Yad", Tefillah, xi.9). Among the many rejoinders which Ḥakam Bernays' excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of this prayer-book evoked, Holdheim's deserves to be ranked as the most thorough and incisive.
More controversies
Soon after, the most important work by Holdheim appeared under the title Die Autonomie der Rabbinen, (Schwerin and Berlin, 1843). In this he pleads for the abolition of the antiquated Jewish marriage and divorce regulations mainly on the ground that the Jews do not constitute a political nation. The Jewish religious institutions must be rigidly kept distinct from the Jewish national ones, to which latter belong the laws of marriage and divorce. The laws of the modern states are not in conflict with the principles of the Jewish religion; therefore these modern laws, and not the Jewish national laws of other days, should regulate Jewish marriages and divorces (see Samuel HirschSamuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch, was a major Reform religious philosopher and rabbi.-Biography:Born in Thalfang , he received his training at Metz...
in Orient. Lit., 1843, No. 44). The importance of this book is attested by the stir it created among German Jewish communities, many members of which found in its attitude the solution of the problem of how loyalty to Judaism could be combined with unqualified allegiance to their German nationality. Evidence of its incisive character is furnished also by the polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
al literature that grew out of it. In these discussions such men as A. Bernstein, Mendel Hess
Mendel Hess
Rabbi Mendel Hess was a German rabbi.He was one of the 1st Jewish theologians to combine a university education with Talmudical training. From 1828 until his death he was chief rabbi of the grand duchy of Weimar, residing first at Lengsfeld and later at Eisenach...
, Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
, Zacharias Frankel, Raphael Kirchheim
Raphael Kirchheim
Raphael Kirchheim was a German Jewish scholar.-Life:Kirchheim was of a pugnacious disposition and took a very active part in the general attack on the Amsterdam administration of the Ḥaluḳḳah in 1843-44, which was especially directed against Hirsch Lehren of Amsterdam, president of the board of...
, Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz was a German Reform rabbi and writer, the founder of what has been termed "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies" , the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual...
, Leopold Löw
Leopold Löw
Leopold Löw was a Hungarian rabbi.-Biography:Born in Černá Hora, Moravia, he received his preliminary education at the yeshibot of Třebíč, Kolín, Lipník nad Bečvou and Eisenstadt , and then studied philology, pedagogics, and Christian theology at the Lyceum of Bratislava and at the universities...
, and Adolf Jellinek
Adolf Jellinek
----Adolf Jellinek |Drslavice]], nearby Uherské Hradiště, Moravia - December 28, 1893, Vienna) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar...
took part.
The foundation of the Reform Verein in Frankfurt am Main led to another agitation in German Jewry. Einhorn, Stein, Samuel Hirsch, and others deplored the rise of the Verein as a step toward schismatic separation. The obligatory character of the rite of circumcision
Brit milah
The brit milah is a Jewish religious circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day old male infants by a mohel. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal .-Biblical references:...
was the focal issue discussed by no less than forty-one rabbis. Holdheim, in his Ueber die Beschneidung Zunächst in Religiös-Dogmatischer Beziehung (Schwerin and Berlin, 1844), takes the position that circumcision is not, like baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
, a sacrament of initiation, but is merely a command like any other. Nevertheless he classifies it not as a national but as a Jewish religious law, and pleads for its retention. Indeed, he was not unreservedly an adherent of the program of the Frankfurt Reform Verein. This is clear from his Vorträge über die Mosaische Religion für Denkende Israeliten (Schwerin, 1844). While the Verein assumed unlimited possibilities of development, according to Holdheim the Mosaic element, after the elimination of the national, is eternal. Religion must be placed above all temporal needs and desires. To yield to the spirit of the age would make that spirit the supreme factor and lead to the production of a new 19th century Talmud as little warranted as was the Talmud of the 5th century.
Mosaism as contained in the Bible is the continuous religion of Judaism. The belief in this revelation is the constant factor in all variants of Judaism. This is also the main thesis of his Das Ceremonialgesetz im Messiasreich (Schwerin and Berlin, 1845). He shows the inconsistency of Talmudism, which, assuming the inviolability of all Biblical laws, still recognizes the suspension of many. Hence the Talmudic insistence on the restoration of the Jewish state. Some ceremonial laws were meant to assure the holiness of the people; others to assure that of the priests. These ceremonies lose their meaning and are rendered obsolete the moment Israel no longer requires special protection for its monotheistic
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
distinctness. As soon as all men have become ethical monotheists, Israel is nowhere in danger of losing its own monotheism; nor is its distinctness further required. Hence in the Messianic time the ceremonies will lose all binding or effective force. This book, too, called forth much discussion, in which Reform rabbis like Levi Herzfeld
Levi Herzfeld
Levi Herzfeld was a German rabbi and historian.- Life :Having chosen the rabbinical career, he studied under Chief Rabbi Abraham Bing at Würzburg, and under District Rabbi Samuel Egers at Brunswick...
took a stand opposed to Holdheim's. Answering some of his critics' objections, Holdheim insisted upon being recognized as an adherent of positive historic Judaism. The doctrines, religious and ethical, of Biblical Judaism are, he claimed, the positive contents of Judaism; and a truly historical reform must, for the sake of these positive doctrines, liberate Judaism from Talmudism.
At Rabbinical Conferences and his sudden death
Holdheim took part in the rabbinical conferences at BraunschweigBraunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
(1844), Frankfurt am Main (1845), and Breslau (1846). The stand taken by the last with regard to the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
did not satisfy him. He rightly held it to be a weak compromise. For him the essential element of a true Sabbath was not worship, but rest (see his Offene Briefe über die Dritte Rabbinerversammlung, in Israelit, 1846, Nos. 46-48). The debates at these conferences had touched on vital subjects. Holdheim felt prompted to treat some of these at greater length, and therefore in quick succession he published the following essays: Was Lehrt das Rabbinische Judenthum über den Eid? 1844; Ueber Auflösbarkeit der Eide, Hamburg, 1845; Vorschläge zu einer Zeitgemässen Reform der Jüdischen Ehegesetze, Schwerin, 1845; Die Religiöse Stellung des Weiblichen Geschlechts im Talmudischen Judenthum, ib. 1846; Prinzipien eines dem Gegenwärtigen Religionsbewusstsein Entsprechenden Cultus, 1846.
Holdheim, consulted among others when the Jüdische Reformgenossenschaft was founded in Berlin, was called to be its rabbi and preacher in 1847. As leader of the Reformgenossenschaft he had a share in the editing of its prayer-book
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
. He instituted the radical rejection of keeping Saturday as the Jewish Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, and instead moved its observance to Sunday to keep the behavior of Reform Jews in line with Christian thought. Under his rule the observance of the second days of the holy days (except the second day of Rosh ha-Shanah) were abolished.
He officiated at so-called "mixed" marriages (see his Gemischte Ehen Zwischen Juden und Christen, Berlin, 1850). He had to defend his congregation against many attacks (see his Das Gutachten des Herrn L. Schwab, Rabbiner zu Pesth, ib. 1848). Though engaged in many ways in the development of his society and in the organization of its institutions, during the thirteen years of his stay in Berlin he wrote a text for schools on the religious and moral doctrines of the Mishnah (Berlin, 1854), a criticism of Stahl (Ueber Stahl's Christliche Toleranz, ib. 1856), and a catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
(Jüdische Glaubens-und Sittenlehre, ib. 1857). He also wrote a history of the Reformgenossenschaft (Gesch. der Jüdischen Reformgemeinde, 1857) and a more ambitious work (in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
) on the rabbinical and Karaite interpretations of the marriage laws (Ma'amar ha-Ishut, 1860).
Holdheim died suddenly at Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on August 22, 1860. Sachs objected to his interment in the row reserved for rabbis in the Jewish cemetery, but Oettinger granted permission for the burial. Holdheim was laid to rest among the great dead of the Berlin congregation, Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...
preaching the funeral oration.
External links
- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=845&letter=H - Jewish EncyclopediaJewish EncyclopediaThe Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...