Moritz Güdemann (; 19 February 1835 – 5 August 1918) was an
Austrian rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
and historian. He served as chief rabbi of Vienna.
Biography
Moritz (Moshe) Güdemann attended the Jewish school in Hildesheim, and thereafter went to a Catholic ''Gymnasium''. He was educated at the University of
Breslau (Ph.D. 1858), and took his rabbinical diploma (1862) at the newly founded
Jewish Theological Seminary there. In the latter year he was called to the rabbinate of
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
; in 1866 he went to
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
as preacher, where he became rabbi in 1868, and chief rabbi in 1892.
He married his first wife, Fanny Spiegel, in 1863. After her death he married Ida Sachs, with whom he had four children.
On Zionism
Güdemann protested the proposal to strike from the prayer-book all passages referring to the return of the Jews to the
Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
(compare his sermon "Jerusalem, die Opfer und die Orgel," 1871). He threatened to resign over this issue.
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of Types of Zionism, modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organizat ...
tried to persuade Güdemann – as the Chief Rabbi of
Viennese Jewry – to take a Zionist side and submitted his pamphlet ''
Der Judenstaat. Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage'' (1896) before the publication for his approval. Güdemann's initially positive association with Herzl's project changed after reading his manuscript, which he opposed on theological grounds. Herzl's Zionism was influenced by the state theories of
Machiavelli and
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...
, the nation-state thinking of the 19th century, far more than by the religious traditions of Judaism.
Güdemann fought Herzl's project with his
anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...
counter-writing ''Nationaljudenthum'' (1897). Güdemann published his detailed rebuttal before the first
Zionist congress
The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( ''HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami'') and Wor ...
in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
in 1897, in the same publishing house that had published Herzl's pamphlet. Güdemann argued that a “National Judaism” no longer existed since the destruction of the
Second Temple in Jerusalem, that Judaism was a
world religion
World religions is a Social construction, socially-constructed category used in the Religious studies, study of religion to demarcate religions that are deemed to have been especially large, internationally widespread, or influential in the deve ...
and that there was an irreconcilable contradiction between Judaism and Jewish nationality. Zionism “transfers national chauvinism... to Judaism” and “a Judaism... with cannons and bayonets would swap the role of David for that of Goliath and be a pathetic travesty of itself”, he criticized.
Published works
Güdemann wrote on the history of Jewish education and culture, and was associated with the
Wissenschaft des Judentums
"''Wissenschaft des Judentums''" (literally in German language, German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the United States it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquir ...
movement. In addition to dozens of articles, he published the following monographs:
[ Wachstein, Bernhard. "Bibliographie der Schriften Moritz Güdemanns" ''Bericht der Israelitischen Allianz zu Wien'' (1931)]
* ''"Die Geschichte der Juden in Magdeburg,"'' 1865
* ''"Die Neugestaltung des Rabbinenwesens,"'' 1866
* ''"Sechs Predegten,"'' 1867
* ''"Jüdisches im Christenthum des Reformationszeitalters,"'' 1870
* ''"Jüdisches Unterrichtswesen Während der Spanisch-Arabischen Periode,"'' 1873
* ''"Religionsgeschichtliche Studien,"'' 1876
* ''"Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und der Kultur der Abendländischen Juden,"'' 3 vols., 1880–88
* ''"Nächstenliebe,"'' 1890
* ''"Quellenschriften zur Gesch. des Unterrichts und der Erziehung bei den Deutschen Juden,"'' 1894
* ''"Das Judenthum in Seinen Grundzügen und nach Seinen Geschichtlichen Grundlagen Dargestellt,"'' 1902
* ''"Das Judenthum im Neutestamentlichen Zeitalter in Christlicher Darstellung,"'' 1903.
References
*
External links
Guedemann Sermons Over 600 of Guedemann's sermons have been digitized by the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
. (German)
Aus Meinem Leben Guedemann's memoir has been digitized by the Leo Baeck Institute, NY. (German)
Guide to the Moritz Guedemann Collectionat the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
.
Entry in the Jewish EncyclopediaMoritz Güdemann: Rabbi, Historian and Apologistby Ismar Schorsch, in Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook (1966) 11 (1): 42-66. doi: 10.1093/leobaeck/11.1.42
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guedemann, Moritz
1835 births
1918 deaths
19th-century German rabbis
Rabbis from Austria-Hungary
20th-century Austrian rabbis
Chief rabbis of Vienna
19th-century Austrian rabbis
Chief rabbis of Austria
People from Hildesheim