What Are the Causes and Effects of a Religion Splitting Into Divisions or Sects?

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Julian Gertner 4c                27/1/04

                                                        

                                        

                                                By        

                                                        Julian

                                                                        Gertner

Introduction:

        In this project I intend to learn about how two main Jewish groups, Hasidism and the Reform, began and developed into a modern day sect of Judaism. I will learn how the different movements agree and disagree with one another by studying their beliefs, attitudes, social practises and the effect it has on their adherents. By looking at the advantages and disadvantages, I will also learn if Jews overcoming their differences and uniting is a good or bad idea.

Questions:

a)        

  1. Describe the origins of two main Jewish groups and the ways in which they have developed.

  1. What were the religious issues, which caused the origin and development of these two groups?        

b)        In what ways have the religious issues, which caused the group to develop, affected the moral behaviour, attitudes and social practises of their adherents?

c)        ‘Jews should try to overcome their differences and unite.’

        Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view.          

Answers:

a)        

  1. Describe the origins of two main Jewish groups and the ways in which they have developed.

The two groups I have chosen to describe are: (i) Hasidism, (ii) Reform.

Hasidism:

        In the early seventeenth century, most of the Jews in Europe dwelled in Poland. Many famous yeshivot (Talmudic academies) were also situated in Poland, at that time. However, in 1648, Jews and Poles were murdered by Cossack gangs from Ukraine. Soon after this massacre, Russia invaded Poland destroying every community they passed by. At the end of the seventeenth century, Poland was no longer the centre of Jewish learning due to the horrendous loss of life. However, the Jews had not been annihilated and Lithuania replaced Poland for a new centre of Torah learning.      

All Eastern European Jews experienced a great religious development in the eighteenth century. There was a vast spread of Kabbalistic mysticism among the scholars as well as popular traditions of mass enthusiasm, which provided the upbringing for the appearance of a new spiritual movement, Hasidism (– from hasidut, meaning ‘piety’).

Israel ben Eliezer, 1698-1760, who was known as the Ba’al Shem Tov -the master of the good name, was a rabbi from Podolia in southeast Poland and the founder of Hasidism. He was considered a healer, miracle worker, rapturous mystic an enigmatic leader and brought about the recovery of the Jews in Poland. At an early age, he joined the nistarim -hidden mystics and started to visit Jewish communities to recuperate the Jewish observance. In the 1730’s he settled in Medzibozh, in Podolia, where he excelled his teachings to a community of disciples. In 1734 at the age of 36 he left the nistarim and began to acquire many followers due to his open teaching and preaching. Through his religious teachings, the Ba’al Shem Tov stimulated all Kabbalists and enticed scholars and rabbis from the finest Jewish societies. It was in Medzibozh, around 1736 where he was revealed as a zaddick -a righteous man. He believed and taught that Jews could achieve higher levels by praying with joy, meaning, and obeying the commandments with zest and happiness. He preached that a simple Jew that prayed and observed with genuineness would receive the same amount of love from G-d than the most learned scholar. Rabbis and scholars were drawn to his idea of serving G-d with joyfulness and a new movement was born, Hasidism and they soon became known as Hasidim.

In 1760, the Ba’al Shem Tov died and Dov Baer of Mezhirech, 1704-1772, succeeded him as a leader of the movement. Baer was also known as the maggid -preacher, who broadened the teachings of his rabbi and expanded the tiny community into a rapid developing movement. Eastern Europe was scattered with hundreds of escalating Hasidic communities. The leaders and rabbis of these communities were the disciples of the Maggid. By 1772, his disciples had established many centres stretching across Poland, Galicia, White Russia and Ukraine. People would go to the Rebbe -the Hasidic leader to seek help. The Rebbe would also give blessings e.g. for bringing up children. The Rebbeim -plural of Rebbe assisted the establishments of Hasidic centres and yeshivot, thereby expanding the Hasidic teachings through education.

The Hasidic movement instigated great opposition as scholars believed the principle importance should be placed on Talmudic studies rather than one’s joyous expression towards G-d. They further feared that Rabbi Israel would claim to be the Messiah just as Shabtai Tzvi had falsely claimed, approximately two centuries prior. The Mitnaggedim -opponents, did not want a repetition of the atrocities and hoax that Shabtai Tzvi caused.

The leader of the Mitnaggedim was a great Lithuanian scholar, Elijah of Vilna known as the Gaon of Vilna, 1720-1797. After the massacre in Poland, he set out to Lithuania to restore the high standard of Jewish learning. He solely believed one should devote their whole life to learning each passage of the Jewish scriptures to attain a broad understanding of the literature. As a result of this, he became a lamdan -a man with extensive understanding of the Talmud. There was a constant battle between the Hasidic followers and the Mitnaggedim consisting of various persecutions, excommunications and denunciations. The first pronouncements made against the Hasidim occurred in 1772 in Vilna. One of the Maggid’s disciples, P. Horowitz, settled as the first Hasidic rabbi in Frankfurt, Germany, demonstrating their ongoing determination to prosper. Communities propagated in Belorussia and in 1777 Mendel led dozens of Hasidim to the former Palestine. In 1788, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady, a Hasidic leader in Belorussia, founded the Habad movement. The Habad movement, also known as the Lubavitch movement, is a branch of the Hasidic movement and has similar principles. It differs from traditional Hasidism as the Habads encourage all Jews, religious or irreligious into the community, the reason it grew so quickly. In 1797, the argument between the Hasidism and the Mitnaggedim subsided in Vilna after the death of the Gaon of Vilna. Despite the separation of the Ukrainian, Lithuanian and central Polish Jews, Hasidism as a movement continued to spread throughout Eastern Europe.

Hasidim unified traditional Judaism guaranteeing its survival in times when Jewish independence was beginning to fade. Even though Hasidism lacked certified authority, it provided a protection against Western influences, which were starting to threaten Orthodox Jewry. Hasidism continued to expand and by the mid 1930’s, there were several million Hasidim living in Eastern Europe. Like all other Jews, Hasidim suffered severe losses of numbers during the Holocaust. The Nazis wiped out huge Hasidic communities, towns and centres during the Second World War. The few Hasidim that survived escaped to the West and to Israel, then Palestine. They repopulated in their new settlements and restored their way of life. As a result of this, there are now Hasidic communities in New York, Jerusalem, Antwerp, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and many other cities around the world. Today, there are approximately 250,000 Hasidim, primarily in Israel and the United States.

Reform:

        During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a movement emerged in Western Europe, known as the Enlightenment. It attacked accepted traditions, which were viewed as outdated. Gentiles soon began to question the Christian perspective that Jews were very different, therefore shouldn’t be accepted into society. They believed that if Jews were granted the same opportunities as other members of society, such as an adequate education they could eventually become ‘good citizens’ and may be entitled to civil rites. The thought of emancipation grew on Jews and the Haskalah -Jewish Enlightenment was determined to achieve this. Followers of the Haskalah movement, known as Maskilim, wanted to change the way other Jews lived and aimed to make Judaism more acceptable to gentiles. The Maskilim triggered a new movement, which came about in the early nineteenth century, today known as the Reform.

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Unlike most sects of Judaism, e.g. Hasidism, the establishment of the Reform movement was not intended nor planned by any one person. In the late eighteenth century, many assimilated Jews in Germany began to develop and expand their thoughts and ideas about the Jewish way of life. They first began to alter and modify small matters, such as the synagogue service. In 1778, a school was founded in Berlin offering secular education to Jewish children. After this similar schools were opened and German Jewish parents soon began to guide their children away from the Jewish observance, wanting their offspring to ...

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