| The Jewish Establishment |
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b“Mosaic persuasion.” Nor was this the end, for it could not
bend there. Having disposed of the burden of nationalism,
bthe Jew now went about making his religion as innocuous,
binconspicuous, and gentile as possible. “Reform” Judaism
bgave birth to “temples,” organ music, black-gowned and
bbare-headed rabbis, and nonobservant “religious” Jews.
bJewish castration was complete. The result was the breath-
blessly swift evolution of a people who had just a brief histori-
bcal instant ago looked upon itself as a separate, Chosen
bPeople of G-d into one that raced ahead to national assimila-
btion and disappearance. In the nineteenth and early twen-
btieth centuries Western Europe saw the Jew throw his
bheritage overboard as he set sail into the sunset of exclu-
bsive Judaism and the dawn of the good life of happy
bequality with the gentile.
bThis was the heritage that was planted in the new nation
bcalled the United States as the first large waves of immigra-
btion began to stream in from Germany and from neighbor-
bing countries that were heavily influenced by German cul-
bture. The Jewish population of America soared from 15,000
bin 1849 to a quarter of a million in 1880, and both in
bnumbers and in culture the Teutonization of the American
bJewish community was accomplished. With them the Ger-
bman Jews brought their Reform, their assimilation, and
btheir gentilization of the Jew. With admirable Germanic
bdirectness and organization, a declaration of principles that
bclarified American Reform Judaism was drafted in
bPittsburgh in 1885. It rejected all Mosaic laws that were not
b“adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization [sic]”
band declared that “we consider ourselves no longer a nation
bbut a religious community.”
bThe German Jews who had come to America penniless
band alien succeeded remarkably. Within decades they had
bbecome Americanized, successful, wealthy, and determined
bto continue their grip on the good life.
bThe leaders that emerged were men with names like
bAdler, Schiff, Marshall, Seligman, Loeb, and Warburg. The
borganizations they formed were named the B’nai B’rith and
bits Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Commit-
b