Viewpoints of Judaism by Abraham Geiger and Samuel Raphael Hirsch - Essay Example

Task Viewpoints of JUDAISM by Abraham Geiger and Samuel Raphael Hirsch Introduction Abraham Geiger was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1810. He grew up to become a transformation rabbi and scholar, and was the founder of Reform Judaism. At a tender age, he was skeptical of the traditional comprehension on Judaism when his classical history studies seemed to challenge divine authority claims of the bible. He wrote his first work at the age of 17. He wrote on contrast between Mishnah legal style and Talmudic and Biblical law. He also wrote a dictionary of Rabbinic Hebrew. His traditional Talmudic education and studies at various German universities prepared him to be among the pioneers of Judische Wissenschaft movement. Abraham was terrified by tremendous loss of European Jewry embarrassing secular nationalism. He saw the solution to this was to modernize Judaism. He looked at Judaism as more of a religion than a culture. Samson Raphael Hirsch was born on June 20, 1808 in Hamburg, Germany. He schooled in public schools and was influenced strongly by Schiller and Hegel. He acquired his Jewish education at home. He grew up in a strong Jew foundation, his father who was Staunch Jew and his grandfather founded Talmud Torah in Hamburg. He grew to become a Rabbi in Oldenburg, Emden who had an enormous influence on Orthodox Judaism. In his studies, he went to Bonn University, and coincidentally Abraham was one of his classmates. He was an author of several prominent books and published Jeschurun, a monthly journal. He viewed Judaism as a teaching or lore and not as a law. A teaching expressed in ceremonies that are symbolic and change with development in history Orthodox Judaism is extremely strict in it belief in torahs, bible, and concept of messiah (coming of a savior). They believe the torah is verbal communication between Moses and God on Mount Sinai, in 1312 BC. Orthodox Judaism was then formed on this basis, communication (Falcon & Blatner, 3). Orthodox customs and traditions are founded on torahs. These traditions have been passed down successive generations as God’s own sacred word. However, Reform Judaism does not believe in Torah divinity. They view the “oral law” as a Judaism historic development reflection, and God’s encounter with each successive generation. They believe in God working through agents (human). In addition, that each successive generation has brought up a competent and religiously motivated teachers. In addition, that some individuals of a certain generation may succeed those in the past. Reformists do not believe sacred texts to be revered and devalued them. In addition, Mesorah is rejected in Reform Judaism. It views Torah divinity as infallible (Neusner, 5) Function and status of women differs in both branches of Judaism. In Orthodox Judaism, Both women and men are separated in worship. Women segregation in worship differs in two ways. Men and women during Reformed service are not separated. However, instead of isolating women who are currently experiencing their menstrual period, they segregate all women from men. In the orthodox sitting is strongly interlinked with the belief that women are ritually impure/ unclean during menstruation. Another reason for segregation is that women can be a disruption to men in time of worship. Reform Judaism does not acknowledge this kind of belief. They view them as shallow reasons for separation during worship. For them, they all worship together despite neither gender nor female biological condition (Berlin& Grossman, 527). Another difference in both branches involves status functions of women and their functions in the community. Reformists have been open-minded to having women as cantors, rabbis and as educators for a long time. They treasury and value highly existence of these women in their congregation. They also see it as enrichment of their worship experience by having these women play these central functions. In orthodox tradition, having women in this position is seen as an act of disrespect/ insult to Divinity as well as to the worshippers. This is because they believe these positions were given by God to men, hence restricted to them only. These different approaches to functions and roles of women in the faith are connected to the old days of the Jewish scripture and law interpretation. Orthodox approach will unquestionably continue to be the norm. This is because of their factual comprehension of Jewish belief and law in the scripture infallibility (Berlin & Grossman, 19). From my point of view, I find Abraham’s model, which is Reform Judaism more persuasive of the two. This is because the world is changing dramatically. The old is becoming extinct. The only way to maintain one’s religion and have more people in it is by modifying it to the current way of life: something that will make sense in the current world. You cannot argue that some of the laws that governed in the error of Moses can still be used today. For instance, the issue of women “being impure during menstruation,” sounds absurd in today’s world. Reform Judaism also gives individual ample room for one to develop their own beliefs in an environment of a thoughtful community. It also allows one to put their talents into beneficial use; this is seen by them accommodating women in their worship. The objective of religion is not to segregate, but to welcome more people in it to give them spiritual closure. Having rules like those in the Orthodox Judaism will repel people. Orthodox Judaism sees itself as the single factual heir of Jewish tradition. All the non-orthodox movements are considered unacceptable deviations of bona fide Judaism. This is because of their defying and questioning of the oral law and rejection of binding of Halakhic precedent. So, they are seen as profane. Their counterparts, Reformists, respect each of the branches beliefs. They are open-minded type of religion who does not point fingers at which way one chooses, or which branch is eligible. Conclusion Orthodox Judaism is traditional in nature and stern in its approach, while Reform Judaism is progressive and its approach is liberal. Even though, they are in the same religion, they differ widely in many ways, and this rift is likely to broaden in the forthcoming years. Reform Judaism embraces women warmly. Women are known to have a great influence on people. Therefore, when they are comfortable and at home in their place of worship, they influence their families too. This is the reason as to why Reform Judaism is the leading Jewish denominations in America. Also due to its liberal nature, it gets to attract numerous individuals. This will see this branch of Judaism conserve and maintain Judaism as a religion. Due to its evolution, it has helped many be able to relate their day-to-day activities with their religion that is the objective of any religion. Works Cited Berlin, Adele & Grossman, Maxine. The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 Falcon, Ted & Blatner, David. Judaism for Dummies. New Jersey: Wiley & Sons, 2001 Neusner, Jacob. Judaism: the basics. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Read More