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[German Version] I. Terminology The word society ( societas, société) has changed from a term denoting particular forms and modes of human coexistence to a term (in both sg. and pl.) denoting the totality of human coexistence; it has thus become the basic term of the theoretical sciences that deal with human coexistence. The German equivalent, Gesellschaft (from OHG sal, “room,” and selida, “dwelling place”), suggests ties that arise from sharing the same room (cf. Geselle, “apprentice,” etymologically “someone ¶ sharing accommodations” with a master) or belonging to the sa…

[German Version] I. From the Exile to the Arab Conquest – II. To 1800 – III. 1800 to the Present I. From the Exile to the Arab Conquest In 539 bce, the Persian ruler Cyrus conquered the kingdom of Babylonia. He is reputed to have permitted a group of Judahites deported to Mesopotamia to return to their homeland (“Babylonian Exile”). It would have been consonant with the restorative policies of Cyrus to present himself as the liberator of various nations, reestablishing their gods and cults destroyed by the Babylonians, but there…

[German Version] The Reform movement in Judaism (III) emerged as a religious response to the increasing intellectual, social, and political integration of Jews in Central Europe, especially Germany, during the first decades of the 19th century. The debate with the Enlightenment had raised questions as to the viability of traditional Judaism in the modern world and evoked a clearly perceptible need to adapt Judaism to the new conditions of Jewish life outside the medieval ghetto. Reforms were introduced in worship, including greater emphasis on external norms of conduct, preaching in the vernacular, choral music, use of the organ, and modification of the passages in the prayer book dealing with yearning for Zion, rebuilding the temple (II, 4), and reintroducing the priesthood and sacrifice.…

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[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Emancipation as a Socio-historical Process – III. The Significance of Emancipation in Judaism – IV. Emancipation of Women – V. Practical Theology and Education Theory I. Terminology The etymological meaning of emancipate is “to deliver from mancipium”; in Roman law, mancipium meant the solemn act of taking ownership through imposition of hands. As a technical term, emancipation meant the act of freeing a child from the authority of the pater familias, initially through performance of a ritual, later simply by a legal action. In the 17th and…

[English Version] Reconstructionism, jüdisch. Der R. ist die jüngste und einzige rel. Hauptrichtung des modernen Judentums (: III.), die ihren Ursprung in Ame…

[English Version] . Die Reformbewegung im Judentum (: III.) entstand als eine rel. Antwort auf die zunehmende geistige, soziale und polit. Integration von Juden in Mitteleuropa, v.a. in Deutschland, während der ersten Jahrzehnte des 19.Jh. Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Aufklärung hatte Fragen nach der Lebensfähigkeit des traditionellen Judentums in der modernen Welt aufgeworfen und ein deutlich wahrnehmbares Bedürfnis hervorgerufen, das Judentum den neuen Bedingungen jüd. Existenz außerhalb des ma. Ghettos anzupassen. Reformen wurden im Bereich des Gottesdienstes…