Religion and Society in America The Emergence of Modern American Religious Life – Part 2 Week 7 – Lecture 2

The Emergence of Modern American Religious Life  Shifting Religious Configurations: Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy – Two examples of “Americanization” Summary of Judaism’s historical development in United States The Emergence of Reformed Judaism The Pittsburgh Platform

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1630 – 1654 Large population of Jews exiled from Spain living in Recife, Brazil  1654 – twenty-three Jews fleeing Portuguese harassment in Brazil arrived in New Amsterdam  Establish the Shearith Israel synagogue  “Sephardim” Jews

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1677 Second Jewish community lands in Newport, Rhode Island  1763 synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island is dedicated (only surviving Jewish structure in America of 18 th Century)  1802 First synagogue following the Ashkenazic rite (German, Poland, Amsterdam) is established in Philadelphia  1775 – 1815 immigration of German- speaking Jewish families (not necessarily congregations)

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1824 – The Reformed Society of Israelites is organized in Charleston, SC  1836 – First mass migration of Jews to United State from Bavaria  1838 – Rebecca Gratz establishes a Hebrew Sabbath School in Philadelphia  1840 – 15,000 Jews in America  1852 – First synagogue of East European Jews is founded in New York City

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1875 – Isaac M. Wise ( ) founds Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.  1881 – Mass movement of East European Jews to America  1880s – Notable social stratification of Jews in America (agrarian vs. urban)  20% accountants, bookkeepers, clerks; 10% salesman; 5% profession; 15% skilled labor

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1883 – First graduating class of rabbis from Hebrew Union College. Orthodox Jews in America (small in number) dismayed by violation of the laws of kashrut by class.  1885 – Reform rabbis meet in Pittsburgh, PA to adopt a statement of principles of Reformed Judaism in the United States  1886 – In response to Pittsburgh Platform, conservative Jews found the Jewish Theological Seminary Association which holds classes the following year

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  What are some aspects or characteristics of Reformed Judaism in America?  Judaism is an evolutionary faith capable of infinite development  “Tradition” stands for institutions, loyalties, sentiments which give structure to communities  Independent congregations and clerics in U.S. setting

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  Continual application of Halakah to maintain validity of Jewish law (Halakah = “path” – process of interpretation)  Mitzvah = biblical or rabbinic injunctions (613 traditional total) in Torah and also large number in Talmud (oral laws)  Orthodox Jews hold these are God-given laws which regulate life  Conservative Jews hold Halakah as “development” but inspired  Reformed Jews hold it as eternally binding

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  Reformed Judaism’s quest for “authentic” Judaism made two ideas attractive: Judaism had special mission to the world that helped explain dispersion not as punishment, but as calling Social justice proclaimed by the Hebrew prophets should be at the forefront of Jewish life and expended energies

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  Proselytism was least popular option for Reformed

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  Dietary laws no longer binding  Prayer Books, the Union Prayer-Book in particular, stresses social-mindedness and tolerance  Employment of organ and choir (sometimes mixed with Gentiles)  Reformed Judaism in America of late-19 th Century embodied a tenacious optimism  Dampen ritualistic aspects of Judaism

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  8 fundamental points declared in the “Pittsburgh Platform” in 1885  1. “We recognize in every religion an attempt to grasp the Infinite, and in every mode, source, or book of revelation held sacred in any religious system the consciousness of the indwelling of God in man. We hold that Judaism presents the highest concept of the God-idea…”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  2. “We recognize in the Bible the record of the consecration of the Jewish people to its mission as the priest of the one God, and value it as the most potent instrument of religious and moral instruction. We hold that the modern discoveries of scientific research in the domain of nature and history are not antagonistic to the doctrines of Judaism, or the Bible reflecting the primitive ideas of its own age…”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  3. “We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only its moral laws…”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  4. “We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress, originated in ages, and under the influence of ideas, entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  5. “We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect…[and] Israel’s great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  6. “…Christianity and Islam being daughter religions of Judaism, we appreciate their providential mission to aid in the spreading of monotheistic and moral truth. We acknowledge that the spirit of broad humanity of our age is our ally in the fulfillment of our mission…”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  7. “We reassert the doctrine of Judaism that the soul is immortal, grounding this belief on the divine nature of the human spirit, which forever finds bliss in righteousness and misery in wickedness. We reject as ideas not rooted in Judaism the beliefs both in bodily resurrection and in Gehenna and Eden as abodes for everlasting punishment.”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  8. “…we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrast and evils of the present organization of society.”

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  Immigrant Jewish population, reformed Jews, largely from Germany during antebellum period and Gilded Age  While Jews from Europe settle in both the North and South, their concentration of settlement is in city centers such as New York, Chicago, Atlanta, etc.

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy  1860 – U.S. Census reports 77 Jewish synagogues in the nation with concentrations in Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans  1870 – U.S. Census reports 189 congregations, 152 synagogues  1890 – U.S. Census reports 533 congregations, 301 synagogues

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy  1875 – 1878 survey of Union of America Hebrew Congregations reports 230,000 Jews in the United States  1880 – 50,155,783 population of U.S.

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy  Origins of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America are found in Alaska  1790’s – Missionary monks come to that region of North American Continent and convert native population  Seminary in Sitka established in 1848  1867 – Diocese was formed when Alaska became a territory of U.S.

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy  Seat of diocese transferred to San Francisco in 1872  Russian and Greek communities constitute Eastern Orthodoxy Prior to 1900  Early 20 th Century immigration to U.S. by Slavic peoples from Eastern Europe who settle in the mining and steel towns of Pennsylvania and Great Lakes region

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy  Non-Slavic immigrants, principally Greeks and Syrians, professing Eastern Orthodoxy were largely entrepreneurial and settle throughout the country in small communities  Approximately 100,000 members in Eastern Orthodox Church in America by 1900

Shifting Religious Configurations: Reformed Judaism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy