Haskalah and Reform Judaism

[HaSkalah]

Centuries ago, the average Jew had [many] knowledge of mitzvot. It was common for people to have a basic knowledge of Yiddishkeit. The big question is “What caused this massive decline in Yiddishkeit?”. It is so noticeable that even goyim would ask why there are so many people of Jewish descent that are involved in secular-liberal causes. Clearly, these are not Jewish values. The answer is not as simple and would require us to journey back in time to Europe centuries ago. 

Martin Luther was extremely Antisemitic.  It is overtly mentioned in his Book “On the Jews and Their Lies” [synopsis of book]. Despite the founder of the Protestant Reformation being a staunch antisemite, various protestant denominations found ways to appeal to Jewish people. The Western World became more involved in science, art, and philosophy. Because we felt more comfortable around them, we were more tempted to assimilate. The foundation of this movement is built on an antisemitic [theologian].

If you lived in late 18th Century Europe, you would see strong growth of the “Age of Enlightenment”. This was mostly a secular, philosophical movement in Western Europe. France, Britain, and German-speaking countries was where the Enlightenment movement was at its brightest. The sociological ideas had a wide array of ideas ranging from Individualism and Constitutionalism which influenced the American Revolution to Egalitarianism which inspired the French Revolution. 

Emperor Joseph II was a Catholic monarch in what would become the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Shtetl in Galicia had independent autonomy. This allowed the Jewish people there to carry out their rituals and practices in an environment independent from the nations around them. When Joseph II, who supported religious toleration, created mandatory private schools to learn modern and secular studies. These “Normalschulen” (normal schools) encouraged young Jewish people to assimilate into the German-speaking culture. In 1788, the Austrian government conscripted Jewish men to their military. This was the first time [in the eras] that such a draft occurred. Even when the Austrian War Council opposed the idea of Jewish people becoming full-fledged soldiers in their army, the Emperor was still insistent that the Jews not only be working in the army but also become combatants in the battleground. Many Austrian people knew that the Jewish people are a seperate nation and believed they may not hold full loyalty to the country.

In France, the Enlightenment movement was more radical. The [echoing light] of the French enlightenment hit the rest of Europe harder than it hit the Americas. Ideas, such as Secularism, had a larger effect on European society than American society. Anti-Religious ideologies were common among European philosophers of the Post-Enlightenment era. However, it took America an entire century to reach such a point. 

The French Revolution introduced many “Liberal” ideas to the masses. This idealistic revolution echoed into the consciousness of the West, and through Napoleon’s conquest into Russia, Eastern Europeans were exposed to the French. “Liberalis” is a French word after all. 

 The social norms and attitudes of the West slowly reached outward into neighboring kingdoms. Smaller social changes would take place in these bordering countries. The mass growth of Germany is a result of it becoming a unified confederation the would eventually become an Empire, while before this time period, the Germanic world was a collection of separate city cultures. But all of this is because of the French Revolution which led to the  French being ruled by Napoleon. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was not openly against the Jews. In fact, he had many positive relations with the Jewish people. The French Revolution amplified the ideas of the Enlightenment.  Some view these positive relations with the outside world as a threat to our nation. Too much social comfort can allow one to become loose in their attitudes towards the nations of the world. The German-speaking countries were affected by the ideas of Napoleon probably because of their close proximity to France. The liberalism of French society seeped into German consciousness. 

Eventually, the Jewish people became exposed to these dangerous  ideas. We became aware of the changes taking place in Europe. This was the first time in over two thousand years that we had a massive dose of exposure to foreign philosophies and ideologies. The previous time period was the Hellenistic era.

The Industrial Revolution gave people an incentive to move from the Shtetl to the major cities. It caused people who lived in the Shtetl to become more exposed to the outside world and the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment era.

In the 1700’s, He is considered the pioneer of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment. The followers and propagators of the HaSkalah are called MaSkilim. German-born Jews were beginning to lose their Yiddishkeit. In some Shuls, people were beginning to read mainstream German newspapers, the Rabbis would speak to his congregation in Standard German, and the philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, encouraged German Jewry to fully integrate themselves into German life.

Moses Mendelssohn promoted pluralism/multiculturalism. He persuaded many Jews to [x]. None of his descendants are Jewish. Felix Mendelssohn, the grandson of Mendel, and was a ___ music composer. He did not have a Bris Milah and was baptized at a young age and lived a German life.

Felix Mendelssohn lived in the same era as Richard Wagner who would be a harsh critic of Felix – noting how he was imitating ethnic German culture. In Wagner’s book “The Jewishness in Music”, he specifically dedicates a chapter to criticizing Felix Mendelssohn for poorly emulating German music.  In the 19th Century, German-born Jews were assimilating into all walks of German life. This was growing faster than ever before.

 Wagner was critical of the direction that German music was heading into, and seeing more ethnically Jewish people composing German-styled music made him oppose the Jewish people even more. He viewed their interpretation of German symphonies with bad taste. In his book where he criticizes the Mendelssohn composer, he mentions someone even worse than Felix Mendelssohn. 

Karl Ludwig Börne was a Jew who converted to Lutheranism. He lived like a German with no ties to his Jewish roots. Wanger mentions in his book “The Jewishness in Music”: “But to a Jew, the idea of becoming a man in common with us (Germans) is pretty nearly the same thing as ceasing to be a Jew” (49). Even the infamous, antisemitic music composer understood the corrosive dangers of assimilation. That generation should have listened to these warnings.

Eventually, the consciousness of German-speaking Jews became so [riddled] with the foreign culture that many lost appreciation for Yiddishkeit all-together, but many went even further by undergoing baptism. Many of them became German Protestants. Their children would grow up with no understanding of their Jewish identity. Never has there been such a mass abandonment of Torah values until the HaSkalah. 

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[The Reformists] 

In the early 1800’s, the philanthropist Israel Jacobson, spent time trying to “modernize” the train of Jewish thought with large hints of egalitarianism and religious pluralism. Jacobson tried to form many congregations that were focused on the exterior, face-value appeal to Judaism. It also tried to consolidate and assimilate Jews into other cultures. Their rabbis dressed like Christian ministers and their temples had organs. Many prayer services were using little to no Hebrew vernacular in prayer services.

Jacobson’s friend, Edward Kley, founded the Hamburg Temple where the Siddur books omitted the Shemoneh Esrei prayers – Return to Zion and Restoration of Korbanos. The Hamburg Temple was mostly interested in appealing to the new generation for the sake of appeal without taking into consideration the importance of Jewish traditions.

The Secular Jewish scholar, Abraham Geiger, focused more on academically studying the Jewish faith. Geiger viewed Yiddishkeit from a secular standpoint, and this led to him promoting an Anti-Religious view on Judaism.

Geiger wanted to do away with most Halakhic and Talmudic laws and make the remaining ideas compliant with the times. He saw authentic Jewish traditions as irrelevant in [modern society]. When gathering with other like-minded German-Jewish people in the town of Wiesbaden, he said “The Talmud must go” – implying that we must abandon our Torah-driven principles. From this mere statement alone, we can [theorize] that he was trying to literally dismantle the Jewish nation from the inside, and from this, we have the beginning of Reform Judaism.

At the same time as Geiger, Karl Marx published his famous work – “The Communist Manifesto”. This [negative adjective] swept many Yidden. When Jews were no longer connected to Judaism. Both of Karl Marx’s Grandfather’s were Rabbis.

Marx did not move nor take on the challenges of the post-enlightenment. He became an Atheist and promoted the idea of achieving equality through Communism. He did not have an interest in embracing his Jewish roots. Instead, he replaced them with these heretical ideas. Communist propaganda convinced people that the [left-wing policy] was more important than giving tzedakah. Helping is not seen as a spiritual duty but as a [humanist value]. It should be taken into consideration that even though Communism is a secular movement, it has a great impact on the Nation. Secular people became affiliated with Communism.

David Einhorn, a fan of Geiger’s ideas, moved to the United States and became a “rabbi” who continued to omit those prayers that his colleagues in Europe omitted. He had no interest in the Restoration of Jerusalem and the Avodas HaShem that took place in the Beis Ha-Mikdosh. Surprisingly, Einhorn wasn’t a vocal proponent of interfaith marriage, like many Reformists, (he did say that the Jews were small a race that wouldn’t survive if they intermarried) but did try to repeal many Mitzvos such as wearing Tefillin and managing the Kosher diet…In past generations, it seemed easier for the American Jew to cut out things that didn’t seem practical to their daily lives. It is more common for American Jewry to oppose the Mitzvos out of pragmatic convenience as opposed to idealistic interests. American Jewish would become heavily influenced by these types of people. This is probably because of the spoils of American society weaken the passion for mitzvos.

Even today, American Jewry battles with social conflicts. There are intellectual battles over the meaning of our Jewish identity and debate about morality. In America two diametrically opposing classes of people are holding on to the same [label/identity] but have a diametrically opposing mirror of understanding of what it means to be a Jew. The gentrification and assimilation of American Jewry allows postmodern ideas to [inhabit] the consciousness of these non-Observant people.

In the current State of Israel, there is a strife between the Haredim and Hilonim, but the Israelis do not deal with the Reform movement as much as America. They are still a strong, secular element. This creates an abstruse divide between the two groups. It is a divide that exists on every cultural issue, but these bitter disputes are between people who are culturally Jewish and those who don’t want to identify as Jewish but merely share our lineage. They have an opposition to Torah and Mitzvos which pre-dates the formation of the independent State of Israel. 

In America, Reform Judaism, has an interest in what many call social progress™ and has some idea of seeing our society move forward™, but their way of demanding it isn’t ideal in the long-run or even pragmatically applicable in the short-run because their claims stray away from those [traditions] that kept our nation alive for hundreds of generations. This created a false sense of progress which they treat as a religion. 

 The secular, Jewish Communists in both America and Israel fought for an economic system that encouraged people to work less while simultaneously fighting against the rights for Haredim to observe their holidays. These people were the same people that encouraged us to assimilate into the norms and values of the secular world. Ironically, today’s Progressive-Liberals do not hold the idea that Native Americans should act more Western despite encouraging Jewish people to assimilate to their progressive, gentrified norms and values. 

Reform Judaism may encourage their followers to have a [hyper-tolerant view] towards other religions, but simultaneously don’t value their own, sacred traditions of Judaism. They aren’t [defensive of their culture].They have little genuine loyalty to the Jewish faith. They have not ever considered the dangers of holding the white flag of surrender.

To quote the President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin: “I was deeply shocked without any limit. I discovered what kind of worshiping group was in front of me, such that any connection between it and Judaism didn’t even approach reality. I felt as if I were in a church. I was completely stunned. This is idol worship and not Judaism. Until now, I thought Reform was a stream of Judaism, but after visiting two of their synagogues, I am convinced that this is a completely new religion without any connection to Judaism.”.
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[The Americas]

If one still thinks that the American branch of the Reformist movement was popularized by the free will of the people, one must look at the powers in play. By the late 1800’s The American-Jewish Establishment was against [secular-leaning]. They tried to normalize [secular] norms on the American Jewish people. 

You would think that even in the Conservative Christian South (the Bible Belt) that there would be thriving Frum communities, but after the Civil War, many of those communities fell. The Confederate Jews were mostly living in the coastal cities for trade purposes. They weren’t in Kentucky until much later. The first synagogue in Kentucky was built after the Civil War and was Reform. The Pittsburgh Conference was the conference when the Reformists gathered together to figure out what they believe in.

 In the late 1800’s, Eastern Europeans were moving to America in large numbers.  They were moving into a country where the  upper-echelons of American Jewry were of the Reform flavor.

When the Eastern European Jews were finishing a Yom Kippur service, the breaking of the fast was served with oysters and shellfish. Even today’s Reformists would get some negative attention if they thought that it’d be a good idea to bring oysters and shellfish to a dinner party at their synagogue. This present mentality is based on the revival of the Jewish identity that took place after the Holocaust. Prior to [this], an unfairly large number of Ashkenazic intellectuals were secular and viciously self-hating. And this was noticed by Adolf Hitler (Yemakh Shemo).

[Pre-Holocaust Europe]

The early 1900’s for Europe were culturally deteriorating. The “Progressive” Western Elites preached what they call “equality” which on paper doesn’t sound bad, but in practice, it can be very [dangerous], and from history, we have learned this over and over again. This polluted dogma is an open doorway for a plethora of [horrible] ideas. Due to this false sense of progression, constructed by this “progressive” movement, the Jewish people have become [the/an] unfortunate victim of the tragic, moral deprivation in our world. [Victims of both our own decline and the decline of the surrounding nations]. These “principles” are evil and destructive. They led to near annihilation of our entire people. And any man or woman that parades these principles is either brainwashed or is a villain <edit and add more>. Europe became void of [negative adjectives]. This phase of existentialism is what would allow them to rationalize the evil, tyrannical governments that would plague them.

The ideology of Egalitarianism appealed to the growing wave of moral degeneracy in Germany. It was later brought on by the false promise of the illusion known as “equality”. But what is equality? Equality is an illusion. To believe that we are all capable of the same enjoyment, the same achievements, and the same lifestyle is absurd. If not all individuals are the same, then not all nations are the same. <add more>. Equality blurs the lens of Jewish observance. The very “Jewish” champions of equality in American society were historically more hostile towards Observant Jews than any other group of people. Even the Bolshevik Jews worked excessively hard to suppress Yiddishkeit. From supporting the draft law in Austria to supporting mandated public schools, the MaSkilim used these goyish states to promote the cultural destruction of the Nation. Supporting these anti-Torah legislation was only one of the many [horrible things] that these [self-hating people] did to destroy our nation.

The Establishment of the Soviet Union devastated the Nation of Israel. The Bolshiveks, with their twisted ideology, started a Communist revolution — murdered millions of people in the name of Social Justice. Leon Trotsky was a Marxist philosopher, a Bolshevik revolutionary, a Soviet Politician, and a mass-murderer  whose country purged millions of people. He had a deep hatred towards his nationality. Born Lev Bronstein, he Russianized his name to Leon Trotsky. His entire philosophy was built on internationalism – an opposition towards the existence of a national identity. Trotsky had no appreciation for a Jewish identity. He despised it. Even Stalin opposed the Trotskyist view of Internationalism. 

In his final year, Leon Trotsky wrote “I shall die a proletarian revolutionist, a Marxist, a dialectical materialist, and, consequently, an irreconcilable Atheist.”. People like this are worse than Adolf Hitler. Leon Trotsky killed Lev Bronstein. He destroyed his own spirituality in ways that Hitler would have never imagined. A gas chamber wasn’t needed to kill  him.

The Bolshevik Jews were obsessed with equality. They wanted to be equal to the Goyim. They were given a state where they were as equally poor as everyone else. They suffered! And on top of that, many of their children became disconnected from the Jewish faith! Many of them have no understanding of Kedushah!

The German-Jews, on the other hand, attempted to erase their national existence and replace it with another nationality. That nation would rise up from the ashes and attempts to exterminate them. Millions of Jewish people perished from the actions of a genocidal government, whose capital was previously the hotspot for Reformism. Now, this is divine irony for those Elitist Reform Jews because this was not the capital of Germany ages before. It became the capital of the evil German Reich only after it became a gathering place for the ideologically reformed Jews.

The Germans were known for being polite and orderly people. They were known for their advancements in science. This advanced society the Holocaust. Hashem gave us a Holocaust because that’s what we deserved at the time. Now, many rabbis won’t say that including many Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis many of whom get their news from fake sources influenced by either/or Yeshivah University or Fake American Yeshivot that should be considered holier than YU but have managed to not produce a fair number of decent rabbanim.

Not only do these self-proclaimed “Liberal” and “Progressive” [Reform] Jews ideas act on a self-destructive philosophy, but it supports a sugar-coated doctrine that promotes corruption and a growing spiritual holocaust of the Jewish people. They replaced a real Judaism with a fake one. They perpetuate a fake existence which, unfortunately, which has allowed itself to influence the minds of Non-Reform Jews too. Many religious are influenced by the fake, Western Jewish culture. It starts at a young age. Eastern Europe was certainly not very holy before the Nazis came…

You would think that the average person would have little to no interest in Germanic culture because of what Germany is infamously known for, but [today’s people] are looking in hindsight. Before the Rise of Nazi Germany, the Jewish people in German-speaking countries were not only losing their Yiddishkeit but fully replacing it with the native German culture. They wanted to be like the Germans because this was the society that was advancing. These Germanic societies were being viewed as sophisticated.  But much like Hellenistic Greece, which had plenty of scientific and philosophical advances, they were not morally pure. In the Torah Parsha read on the Shabbos of Chanukah, the Sons of Israel venture to Mitzrayim. During the Festival of Chanukah we learn about resisting Yavan and their Hellenistic values that were causing the Nation of Israel to spiritually decay.

Their morally weak, Hellenistic principles not only invited the notion of a subjective morality into Israelite society but accepted the degenerative norms of that society. They have popularized the notion of bland tolerance which allowed them to passive aggressively accept and do nothing about the deterioration of Klal Yisrael. And today’s racially Jewish progressives are continuing the trend.

These Progressive ideologies paved the way for the near extermination of the Jewish nation by omitting many key aspects of the Jewish Faith. Thus, [crippling] the nation. They abrogated the prayers that prayed for the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh and believed that Jews should not be interested in their sacred land or their sacred heritage. He created a system which pushed for assimilation into the outside world. The Reformists declared Berlin as their cultural capital. This very city would be the capital of Nazi Germany. The very same country would carry out the genocide of millions of Jews. The very same Jews, who worshipped the German-speaking scientists, socialists, and humanists, were now being put to death by the very same types of people they admired.

Trying to be equal to everyone else in the world is destructive. History has proved this again and again…You can make attempts to justify egalitarianism, but you can try to hold this argument and claim to be part of G-d’s chosen people.. From both a spiritual and pragmatic standpoint, the Haskalah and its remnants are an existential threat to our nation.

If only the Hilonim knew that in the times of the Maccabean Revolt, the biggest enemy wasn’t the Greeks but the spiritually blind Jews who wanted to replace the values of Torah with the ideologies of the Ancient Greeks. The ideas of Democracy, Hedonism, Epicureanism, and Platonism are incompatible with our society. The biggest enemy of Klal Yisrael aren’t the Goyim but the Yehudim who are submitting to the outside world and collaborating against us.

We don’t benefit from Egalitarianism. At the end of the day, the outside world views us as an extra pillar in their society. We don’t benefit from the act of watering down our own culture to appeal to others when our culture was already advanced to begin with. Cowering [preposition] open doors and catering to the whims of the enemy is what this self-proclaimed movement of “equality” is doing.

Today, we see revamping of the Jewish identity which is a product of living in a Post-Holocaust society where the survivors of this catastrophic [genocide] created a people who carry a torch of history in them. Today’s Jews are fully aware that the world is full of evil. We know, fully well, the dangers of assimilation and hold fear  for the death of our nation.