‘Gimme That “Old Time (Jewish) Religion’+”‘
It’s hard to say what “that old time Jewish Religion” was. Abraham’s religion of 4,000-years ago is far different than ours. Abraham heard God commanding him. However, he never created a theology anything like our understanding of monotheism. In fact, even in the Book of Exodus, ( written 3200 years ago-?) Moses sings in Shirat HaYam, the “Sea of Reeds Ode”,“mi kamocha b’alim Adonai?” “ Who is like You among the gods.”
Deuteronomy teaches the centralization of worship. God must be worshipped in one, central location. It was a good try but much of the later entries in the Tanakh attest to the fact that the Israelite people wanted an altar close by which they could see and touch when they needed to find their God.
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, in the first (Christian) Century revolutionized Judaism as he created a religion which, of necessity, was no longer Temple, sacrifices and Jerusalem- centered. There are, and have been many versions of Jewish thought and practice.
For me, the “Golden Age” of modern Jewish thinking and observance is found in the middle of the 20th Century. At that time, we had four major approaches to Jewish thinking which still have much to teach and inspire us. At the Jewish Theological Seminary, where I studied both as an undergraduate and Rabbinical School student, one of my favorite classes was taught by Professor Seymour Siegel. It was a study in contemporary Jewish thought in which he brought to JTS scholars from various divisions within the Jewish community including Rabbis Norman Frimer and Yitz Greenberg ( Orthodox) and Eugene Borowitz (Reform) who shared their understanding of “which Judaism” speaks to them.
I believe that contemporary Jewish life has lost much as this “golden age” has passed. Orthodox Judaism, in the mid- 20th century, emphasized “Torah u’Madah,” Torah learning along with science. Orthodox synagogues of that era would allow mixed dancing at their synagogue celebrations and “separate but (almost) equal” seating for men and women at prayer -without calls for a more opaque mehizah separating women from men during services. Rabbinic Israel Bonds leadership included a revolving leadership between Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbis. They each socialized with each other and prayed together on Israel Bonds missions.
Reform Judaism of that era emphasized “Prophetic Judaism.” A Judaism which hears God’s voice and internalizes His message into Jewish action and practice. Prophetic Judaism is more than Tikun Olam, perfecting the world. It’s a call to conscience in one’s personal and communal life; a way of bringing God into the universe which He created.
Reconstructionist Judaism in the mid-20th century saw Judaism as an evolving religious civilization which required a knowledge of Hebrew language and literature, the further development of Jewish musical and dance traditions as well as the creation of new religious rites and rituals. Prayers, which could no longer be recited because they represented an intellectual and philosophical disconnect with contemporary life, were changed and re-written.
In the Conservative Movement, “tradition and change” was the byword. Conservative Judaism taught an appreciation for what we inherited religiously and culturally, but a willingness to change organically as our understanding of the needs of the day have changed. Halachah and Agadah; both Law and Ethics had an equal voice in mid-20th century Judaism. The Jewish Theological Seminary, the fountainhead of the Conservative Movement at that time, had on its faculty both the world-famous Talmudist Saul Lieberman, who represented a very traditional approach to Jewish thought and observance, along with Abraham Joshua Heschel, a teacher of Jewish ethics and mysticism who translated Judaism’s beliefs into social action. Mordecai Kaplan’s intellectualism and Louis Finkelstein’s conservative religious stance could be represented on the same faculty in creative tension.
Have the internal Jewish changes which we have experienced over the course of the last 50-plus years of Jewish life enriched the major approaches to Judaism in the United States or eroded our heritage? In my opinion, we have lost more than we have gained.