Jew when, in the words of Heine, he was no longer bewitched into a dog, but stood erect as Prince Israel, God beloved. The morality of the people was very high. As the eyes of the whole community were upon each individual, the incentive to right living was strong. The author of the article on the "Ghetto" in the Jewish Encyclopedia writes that "the Bohemian chroniclers of the sixteenth century designate the Ghetto of Prague as a 'rose garden,' and add that when the gates of the Ghetto were closed at night there was not one woman inside whose reputation was in the least tarnished."

In most respects the Ghetto formed a state within a state. Only it lacked the political defenses of a state. At any time bigots could make their way into the peaceful Jewish quarter, and destroy the fruit of Jewish labor, and even expel inhabitants from their "fatherland." No wonder that the Jews regarded themselves as living in Galuth, in exile, and prayed for a speedy return to their historic fatherland, where they would again enjoy the blessings of peace, and worship God in freedom. It was not a mere formula which the Jew recited at the conclusion of his morning prayers: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming." Patiently the Jew waited for the hour upon which the Shofar of the Messiah would resound, proclaiming to him the good tidings of liberty from persecution and from the spirit of intolerance. The eyes of great numbers of our people grew dim, straining to look into the future, and often mistook a will-o-the-wisp for a shining star, in the deep darkness that enveloped them. Many a pretender to the messiahship found ardent followers among the masses and was hailed as the long-expected Redeemer of the scattered tribes of Israel.

Toward the middle of the eighteenth century the trumpet did resound, but it was not the Shofar of the Messiah. It was the French Revolution, sounding the message of freedom, equality, and fraternity. To the Jew no less than to the other

members of the human family this message brought new life and new hope. In Germany as well as in France the spirit of liberalism found strong champions. Among these a place of eminence belongs to the famous dramatic poet Lessing, who exalted the Jew before the world, through his delightful comedy Die Juden and his masterpiece Nathan der Weise. Herder, too, must be singled out in the vast chorus of singers who heralded the dawn of religious toleration, which exerted a tremendous effect upon the life of the Jewish people.

The full significance of the spirit of liberalism and the directions into which it was tending may be seen in the life-story of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86). Born under dark skies, this favorite of God went to Berlin in pursuit of knowledge. There he won the friendship of Lessing and of other men of note, and gained universal recognition as a profound writer on aesthetics and philosophy. As a master of German style and as a devout Jew, he felt the need of translating the Torah (the Pentateuch) into pure German. The effect of this seemingly small service upon the cultural and religious life of the Jews assumed far-reaching proportions. On the one hand it promoted the study of Hebrew grammar, a subject hitherto neglected; and on the other it opened the door of German literature to those that were confined to the Ghetto walls and to talmudic learning. While some Orthodox leaders favored Mendelssohn's translation, the majority of rabbis opposed it as a revolutionary act which would strike the heart of Jewry. They felt more keenly than their opponents that with the substitution of pure German for Yiddish-Deutsch the whole institution of the Ghetto was endangered. Having no hope of erecting a palace, they naturally defended their hovel. They placed Mendelssohn's translation under the ban, but their opposition proved futile. The friends and followers of Mendelssohn devoted themselves to the task of remodeling the Jewish school system and of enlightening the masses. Regarding all the troubles from which the Jews suffered, as the result

of ignorance, they looked upon enlightenment as the chief remedy. They established modern schools in Berlin and in Breslau, in Seesen, in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and in Wolfenbütel, in Brody, and in Tarnopol, in Riga, in Odessa, and in Warsaw. They published periodicals for the dissemination of the new ideas, and extended the frontiers of the Haskalah, or enlightenment movement, as far as Russia-Poland.

Everywhere enlightenment spelled political emancipation to the enthusiastic followers of Mendelssohn. With joy they hailed the Patent of Toleration of the humane Emperor Joseph II for the Jews of Lower Austria, which, in part, established the civic equality of his Jewish subjects. In France, the home of the Revolution, Count Mirabeau, Count Clermont Tannere, and the Abbé Gregoire championed the Jewish cause. The first-born child of the French Revolution, the republican government of the United States of America, made the doctrines of equality of all men before the law without distinction of race or creed, the foundation of its constitution, thus guaranteeing also the rights of the Jews. When on September 27, 1791, the National Assembly enfranchised all the Jews of France, an Alsatian deputy significantly wrote to his constituents that Judaism in France thus became "nothing more than the name of a distinct religion." In other words, the political emancipation of Jewry demolished the whole institution of the Ghetto as far as France was concerned. The Jews no longer formed a state within the state but became the equals of their Christian neighbors in citizenship.

The example of France stimulated the Jews of other lands in their struggle for equality. There were some men like the rabbis of Pressburg who considered the desire for political equality on the part of Jews as sinful and inconsistent with Israel's messianic hopes. For the Jewish people to have followed such teaching would have necessitated turning backward the wheels of the chariot of time. The spirit of the age demanded that the Jews range themselves on the side of progress.

The aspiration for political equality on the part of the Jews in Germany involved: (1) a change of attitude toward the Galuth; for as full German citizens, they could no longer consider themselves to be strangers, expecting to be delivered from bondage by a Messiah; (2) the removal of the Ghetto; for as German citizens they could no longer continue to form a special Jewish state within the larger German Empire; and (3) the abandonment of Yiddish; for the children, drawn into the cultural and political currents of Germany, neither could nor would maintain a dialect of their own, particularly in view of its close resemblance to the language of the country.

The more unyielding the older generation was to these changes the stronger the feeling grew among the younger people that an inseparable barrier separated Judaism from European culture. Furthermore, as the profession of the Jewish faith disqualified men from public office in many sections of Western Europe, Judaism became a burden and a misfortune to men who set their career above their honor. Without the strength of conviction that impelled the Jews of former ages to martyrdom for their faith, these men readily consented to be sprinkled with the waters of the baptismal font to gain admittance into society or political life. Under these conditions a veritable conversionist epidemic broke out among the German Jews.

Far-seeing leaders beheld the danger signal. They recognized that in order to save Judaism, the young generation had to be impressed with the truth that to be a German in culture and in politics was not inconsistent with being a loyal Jew, that Judaism as a living faith must be distinguished from the forms in which it is expressed, and that the spirit of Judaism was still young and vigorous, capable of producing noble souls. Their own Moses Mendelssohn served them as the best illustration of the possibility of uniting the best in European culture with Judaism. Mendelssohn also served them as an objectlesson. While in his strength of character and deep Jewish devotion, he could observe all the details of the old law, his

children failed to reach his high standard and fell away from Judaism altogether. What alienated them from their father's religion was not its beautiful spirit, striving after truth and holiness, but rather certain unattractive, and, in some instances, outlandish forms. It, therefore, became evident to these men of vision that the only power that could stem the evil of apostasy was, as Dr. Kaufmann Kohler expressed it, "the inner reform of Judaism which would again imbue the Jew with self-respect while disclosing to him his historical mission in the world."

With this aim in view, Israel Jacobson (1768-1828) established the first Reform service in connection with his school at Seesen and later at Cassel. Impressed with the success of his attempt, he built, at his own expense, the first Reform Temple at Seesen and dedicated it on July 17, 1810. He supplied his temple with an organ, introduced prayers in German, in addition to those recited in Hebrew, also German hymns, sung by the boys. In 1811 he confirmed the first class of Jewish boys. Political conditions compelled him to remove to Berlin in 1815. There he opened his home for weekly religious services, the chief feature of which was the sermon, preached in German. Among the preachers were Zunz, Kley, and Auerbach. The Orthodox elements denounced these services to the government and succeeded in stopping all Reform activities in Berlin for some time. In the meanwhile Kley went to Hamburg, to supervise the Jewish Free School, where he organized a Reform society and erected the famous Hamburg Temple (1818). A special prayer book was prepared for use in the temple which strove "to re-establish the external conditions of devotion without clashing too much with the current views on prayer, and to remove such passages as were in conflict with the civil position of the Jew." The Orthodox Jews of Hamburg tried to repeat the work of their brethren in Berlin, but this time they failed. The temple remained open and steadily grew in influence under the leadership of Kley