Protocolle der ersten Rabbiner Bersammlung zu Braunschweig [Report of the Rabbinical Conference at Brunswick]

(REFORM)

Friedrich Beiweg

Brunswick

1844

Text in German

Report of the first Rabbinical conference of the Reform Movement. Initiated by Ludwig Philippson, the Brunswick Conference was attended by 25 Reform rabbis including Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim. The conference was devoted to matters of practice and provided justifications from traditional sources for liturgical reforms, particularly connected with the use of the vernacular in worship and organ accompaniment of the service. The delegates also sought to lighten some of the traditional severity of Sabbath observance and laws of marriage and divorce. The conference was criticized by all sectors: the Orthodox protested against the rejection of Jewish tradition, Philippson regretted the theorizing instead of practical solutions and Zacharias Frankel criticized the discussions and results