History of the Jews

by Paul Johnson

Hence Reform Judaism was, in the first place, an attempt to remove the taint of ridicule from Jewish forms of worship. The object was to induce a seemly religious state of mind. The watchwords were Erbauung (edification) and Andacht (devotion). Christian-style sermons were introduced. The reformer Joseph Wolf (1762–1826), teacher and community secretary at Dessau, and a devoted admirer of Mendelssohn, took the best German Protestant orators as his models. The Jews learned to preach in this style quickly, as they learned all novelties quickly. Soon, sermons at the Berlin Temple were so good that Protestant pastors, in turn, came to listen and learn. Hints were exchanged.55 Organ music, another powerful feature of German Protestantism, was introduced, and choral singing in the European mode.