Judaism In The 19th Century

In the Postbellum and Industrial nineteenth century, many religions adapted their beliefs and practices to the environment around them. Catholicism, as it was worshiped by Greek and Italian immigrants, looked vastly different from the ways in which the Americanized Roman Catholics worshiped. Judaism experienced this acclimatization as well, with Orthodox Jews and Reformed Jews sharing more differences than they did similarities. As time progressed gender norms began to evolve in American society, thus religions were forced to evolve as well in order to maintain parishioners. As society as a whole began to change, religions began to assimilate to its surrounding environment. Americanized Catholicism displayed notable differences when compared to its Greek and Italian counterparts. American Roman Catholics emphasized the significance of the institutional church asserting that salvation was not obtainable outside of the
church (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 9). Whereas Catholic Greek and Italian immigrants were more related to medieval social and religious practices and frequently opted to replace “faithful church attendance with adherence to home altars and family worship services where they could nurture their ties to a world in which good and evil mixed freely in their urban neighborhoods (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 119). Catholic immigrants were often criticized by Americanized Catholics for their extreme devotion in saying the rosary, praying to saints, visiting shrines, and handling relics, but these practices evolved, in part, due to the distant and increasingly hostile Roman hierarchy (Goff & Harvey, 2004, pp. 24, 119). Catholicism in America had grown in a different direction than Catholicism had in European countries due to the difference in culture and environment. Nevertheless, Catholicism was not the only religion to see the kind of divide.
The most Americanized sect of Judaism was Reform Judaism. Reformed Jews adapted to modern America by lessening their dietary restrictions and permitting the religious calendar to allow for working on the Sabbath, but sought to preserve the moral importance of Judaism. Though the majority of Jewish immigrants joined Orthodox synagogues, many welcomed the opportunity to loosen the traditionally restrictive practices of Orthodox Judaism (Goff & Harvey, 2004, pp. 24, 119). Orthodox Judaism maintained many of the elements of “an earth-bound religious system: food laws, ritual bathing, strict community structure, and tradition based law” (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 119). Like Greek and Italian Catholics, this religious structure had protected Jews from a hostile environment, mainly in Germany and eastern Europe. As with Catholicism, Judaism saw a fracture between the Americanized factions and the newly immigrating factions due to differences developed in differing
environments. However, it was not only religious practices were being assimilated. Parishioners were, additionally, being adapted in religions. For example, to dispel the stereotype Jewish young men were weak and fearful, Jews boys were placed in programs focusing on athletics (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 216). Conversely, Catholic men, who were being stereotyped as being rambunctious, irresponsible, and sometimes even menacing, were being implored to abandon “their boyish, immature ways and become ‘true’ men” (Goff & Harvey, 2004, pp. 216-217). As with religious practices, the attempt to adapt parishioners was fueled by environmental factors. The Jewish and Catholic churches were attempting to disperse stereotypes placed by American society. Both Catholicism and Judaism underwent transformations in order to adapt to their respective environments. Catholicism in some European countries acclimated to the hostile environments in which they lived, while Americanized Catholicism adapted to an increasingly industrial environment where science and uniformity were preferred. Reformed Judaism was additionally adapted to this American environment, while Orthodox Judaism was tailored to the sometimes hostile environment of Germany and eastern Europe. Simultaneously, Judaism and Catholicism were additionally adapting the parishioners in an attempt to dismiss religion based stereotypes. In the Postbellum and Industrial nineteenth century, the beliefs and practices of many religions were adapted to their surrounding environment.