Reviews for Creating American Reform Judaism: The Life and Times of Isaac Mayer Wise

The average rating for Creating American Reform Judaism: The Life and Times of Isaac Mayer Wise based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-02 00:00:00 Patricia Black I read this book entirely for the third chapter "Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237): Founding a Mystical Dynasty" by Paul B. Fenton. Jewish "Sufism" is a little known chapter in the history of Jewish mysticism, one that appears to have flourished for several generations in Egypt, but ultimately had little effect on subsequent Jewish mysticism. Abraham Maimonides, probably its earliest advocate, was the son of the great rationalist, Moses Maimonides, the Rambam, but his leanings were decidedly pietist. Living in Egypt, he was surrounded by a "scene of an unprecedented flourishing of Sufism" and drank in its enthusiasms. "Dissatisfied with the excessive rationalism professed by the peripatetic philosophical trend [exemplified by his father, the Rambam], there arose a pietistic elite whose search for mystical fulfillment led them to introduce into the framework of traditional Judaism a creative change that drew its inspiration from the nearest spiritual model - Islamic Sufism." (p 129). Although Abraham Maimonides had followed in his father's footsteps as the leader of the Jewish community in Egypt, he appears to have taken a very different direction from his father's rationalist bent. There are different takes on what Abraham Maimonides was attempting to accomplish. Some accused him of heresy (in essence), for introducing foreign practices into Jewish prayer. The author argues that he was actually attempting to link his pietistic Jewish Sufism, a movement larger than himself, to the halachic legal framework established by his father. In other words he was trying to practice his mysticism, but prevent it devolving into pure antinomianism or mass conversion to Islam. This seems like a plausible read. A large part of the Jewish Sufism at issue involved practices of ecstatic prayer, washing and prostration, which, although objectively borrowed from Islamic Sufism, were claimed by Abraham Maimonides to have been ancient Jewish practices that had been forgotten and that he was rediscovering and reintroducing. Such are the claims of many reformers. I look forward to learning more about the specifics of how this Jewish Sufism was practiced.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-04-11 00:00:00 Michael Melody III This book is a must read for those who oppose the modernization and reformation of authentic Judaism. Klugman manages to create, a balanced yet respectful, well researched account of the fierce fight between the reformists and the orthodox traditionalists in 19th century Germany.