(By our Berlin Correspondent)
A new Jewish prayer book has just been issued by the Jewish Reform Community of Berlin. The Book has been prepared by a commission presided over by Herr Hans Lachmann-Mosse. Its purpose is indicated in a statement made by Dr. Joseph Lehmann, who says: “The bond which binds us with the past, with the nearest and the most distant Jewish spirit, has not been loosened, but strengthened by raising into relief the essential points of our worship. The effect of the Kedusha, the Kaddish, the reading of the Torah, is no longer weakened by long-drawn out prayers before and after. We have cut down to a minimum the recital of long prayers which were mostly verbatim translations of the Hebrew prayers of the old Siddur. We express the basic ideas of the chief of the old prayers in clear and concise form: Praise of the Creator, the Teaching, Israel’s mission, the importance of the individual soul, the sin of isolated life, the idea of humanity and the goal of humanity in God’s Kingdom of peace and justice.
The “Juedische Liberalezeitung,” which circulates a copy of the prayer book in its current issue, speaks of it in connection with the Liberal prayer book which has been prepared by Rabbi Caesar Seligmann and is now in the press and will appear in about two months’ time.
“At one time,” it comments, “Liberal Judaism in Germany thought that it had to draw a dividing line between Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism. Only ten years ago the official report on Liberal Judaism in the collected volume on ‘German Jewry, Its Parties and Organizations’, reproached Reform. Judaism for having put the present-day view in place of the eternal truth.
“Since that time,” the paper proceeds, “conditions have happily changed. Today there is general recognition in the authoritative circles of Liberal Judaism that Reform Judaism is the Left Wing of Liberal Judaism, constituting a group inside Liberal Judaism. Ideologically and historically they belong together. The conviction as to the essence of Judaism, especially the value placed on prophetic Judaism, the recognition of the right of the individual in the religion, the application of the principle of development to the religious sphere also and the conception of the universal character of our community, all these things unite us. Reform Judaism is only one trend in Liberal Judaism, and there are some in the Liberal ranks who differ in a great many things from Reform Judaism. This, however, ought not to prevent any true Liberals from recognizing the essential unity.
There is hardly a family in Germany today in which there is not some intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, writes the “Juedische Echo” of Munich.
In the period from 1901 to 1925, it says, out of 93,661 Jewish marriages in Germany 29,904 were mixed marriages, that is 32.31 per cent. In 1901 out of every hundred Jewish marriages 16 were mixed marriages. In 1919 they had increased to 30 out of every hundred; in 1920 the number was 29 per cent., in 1921 33 per cent., in 1922 40 per cent., in 1923 37 per cent., in 1924 48 per cent., and in 1925 46 per cent.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
