THE BEGINNINGS OF ORTHODOXY

Abstract

The close of the eighteenth century found Central and Western European Jewry in the throes of a grave crisis brought on by the accelerated process of modernization at work all around it, the end result of which was a deep cleavage between those who wanted to adapt the tradition to the demands of the time and those who wanted to preserve it intact, for fear of its either being undermined in some way or of its virtual disappearance. The modernization trend gave rise to movements for religious renewal known as Reform, Positive Historical Judaism, etc. While the innovative element within these movements was quite clear, the conservative trend, generally referred to as orthodox or haredi, was viewed both from within and from without as simply an adjunct of the old, traditional Jewish society. A closer examination of the phenomenon called Orthodoxy reveals that it too is an historic innovation, more a mutation than a direct continuation of the traditional Judaism from which it emerged. In fact, we can clearly distinguish several trends within orthodoxy which developed in response to varying adaptational problems which the movement faced in different places. Thus there is a qualitative difference between Hungarian Orthodoxy and German Orthodoxy. In the second half of the 19th century, orthodoxy began to exert an influence on the Old Yishuv in Palestine; towards the end of the century, it began to spread into Eastern Europe as well as England and the United States. In North America and Israel, new forms continue to emerge to this day.' The characteristic features of orthodoxy are as follows:

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