The Formation of a Modern
Rabbi: The Life and Times of the Viennese Scholar and Preacher Adolf Jellinek (Brown
Judaic Studies, 2022), by Samuel Joseph Kessler
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein (Rachack Review)
This book is an intellectual
biography and study of the Moravian-born Adolf (Aharon) Jellinek (1821–1893).
In his time, Jellinek was a prominent rabbi and scholar who made significant
contributions to the development of contemporary Judaism.
Jellinek was born in Drslavice, a
small, traditional town in Moravia (then part of the Austrian Empire). He was
raised in a traditional Jewish family and received a traditional Jewish
education. His father was a respected rabbi, and his mother came from a
prominent rabbinical family. Like other children in his time and place, Jellinek's
early education focused on traditional Jewish studies (Torah, Talmud, and Halacha),
but he also studied secular subjects, such as German, mathematics, and history,
which was fairly uncommon for Jewish children at the time.
After completing his primary
education, Jellinek went on to study at the yeshivas in Ungarsich-Brod, Prostějov,
Nikolsburg and Prague, where he became known for his exceptional intellect and
his ability to memorize large amounts of material. He was also deeply
interested in Jewish history and theology, and began to develop his own ideas
about the nature of Jewish faith and practice. Despite his traditional
upbringing, Jellinek began to question some of the traditional practices of
Judaism, particularly the emphasis on ritual and the strict adherence to Jewish
law. In doing so, he began to explore new ways of thinking about Judaism that
would be more compatible with the modern world, and would eventually become a
leading figure in the Reform movement, serving the communities of Leipzig and
later of Vienna.
In framing the rise of Reform
Judaism, the author unfortunately chose to present these liberalizing and
secularizing trends as simply the inevitable result of Jewish urbanization. The
way he presents it, as Jews moved to bigger cities and towns, they became
increasingly less concerned with the sorts of religious considerations that their
forefathers had meticulously ekpt for generations. In doing so, the author ignores
the many counterexamples in Eastern Europe where Jews also flocked to big
cities like Krakow, Lublin, and Warsaw, yet mostly continued to remain
traditional until the interwar period. Instead, the truth is that these
“enlightened” liberalizing trends are the direct results of antinomian
agitators in Western Europe, who deliberately attempted to water down Judaism
as a religion to make it more acceptable to their German Protestant neighbors.
The author obfuscates this point in order to paint Reform Judaism in a better
light and show Jellenik’s contribution to Judaism in general.
One of Jellinek's major
contributions to Reform Judaism was his emphasis on ethical monotheism, which
emphasized the ethical principles of Judaism over the traditional rituals and
practices. He believed that the Jewish faith should evolve and adapt to modern
society, while still maintaining its essential values and beliefs. This
emphasis on ethical monotheism and cultural expression influenced the thinking
of many other Jewish scholars and leaders, and helped to shape the direction of
the Reform movement.
As the author demonstrates, Jellinek
also promoted the idea of Jewish worship as a form of cultural and spiritual
expression, rather than a strict adherence to traditional religious practices. In
doing so, Jellinek advocated for the use of vernacular languages in prayer
services, rather than the traditional Hebrew, to make the services more
accessible to congregants. Jellinek's ideas and writings had a significant
impact on the development of Reform Judaism, particularly in Europe.
Under Jellenik’s influence, the
major space in which Judaism was practice moved from the home to the synagogue.
It was in his times that the prevailing paradigm developed in which a rabbi is
attached to a particular synagogue, instead of to a particular community at
large. This paradigm is the modus operandi of Reform and Conservative synagogues
and even influences the Orthodox communal model.
Moreover, in a precedent set by Jellenik,
it became the synagogue rabbi’s role to deliver a weekly sermon that serves to present
a “Jewish spin” on ideas discussed in current events. Previously, the rabbi’s
role was focused on issuing rulings on Halachic matters and dealing with other
community affairs, while special preachers were assigned to giving sermons.
Yet, with the Reform jettisoning of Halachah, the role of the rabbi had to be
redefined if it was to remain relevant. So instead of confining the rabbi’s
sermons to special events (like Shabbos HaGadol or Shabbos Shuvah), the rabbi’s
sermon became increasingly more prominent and frequent. These developments
continue to be standard in many denominations of Judaism nowadays, but were
considered innovative in Jellenik’s time.
Jellenik’s sermons often broached
the same general topics that were in vogue in liberal circles during his time,
like truth, freedom, and justice. In doing so, he taught about the notion of a universal
moralism shared by all of mankind, the ideal of loving the stranger, and called
for more robust interfaith relations (by embracing Christianity as Judaism’s daughter
religion to diffuse the animosity that came from centuries of Christian persecutions).
He also preached about the need to show loyalty to the government (the Habsburg
Empire in his case) and the importance of the Hebrew language and Jewish sacred
texts.
In addition to the theological musings
expressed in his sermons, Jellinek was also a prolific writer and scholar. Despite
his Reform tendencies, he appreciated rabbinic literature — especially Midrash
— and often used those teachings as springboards for discussion in his sermons.
In his capacity as a scholars of rabbinics, Jellenik authored numerous works on
Jewish history, theology, and philosophy, including a commentary on the Book of
Psalms and a biography of the Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His most
famous work is the six-volume set Beis HaMidrash (published between 1853–1878),
which is an eclectic compendium comprised of a number of smaller Midrashim,
ancient and medieval homilies, and folk stories. Some of those works were later
reproduced by J. D. Eisenstein in his work Otzar Midrashim (New York,
NY, 1915).
In one his more daring statements, Jellenik wrote: “Judaism is not just a religion of the gray antiquity, but even more a religion of the future.” Indeed, Jellinek helped shaped what would become the future of Reform Judaism by emphasizing Modern ideas like ethical monotheism, cultural expression, and the role of the synagogue rabbi, while deemphasizing normative Jewish Law and dogma. Nonetheless, this watering-down of the religion does not seem robust enough to withstand the pressures of post-Modernity, and will likely lead to the eventual downfall of heterodox denominations, while orthodoxy will continue into the Messianic Era.
