Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger (1810-1874 C.E.), German rabbi who led the foundation for Reform Judaism, where he sought to remove all nationalistic elements (particularly the ?Chosen People? doctrine) from Judaism, stressing Judaism as an evolving and changing religion.

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In Germany of the 19th century, Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim stood out as the two founding fathers of Reform Judaism. Geiger was the more moderate and scholarly reformer, seeking to found this new branch of Judaism on the scientific study of history, without assuming that any Jewish text was inspired.

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Geiger was not only a scholar and researcher commenting on most important subjects and characters in Jewish history, he was also a rabbi, and the person most responsible for the founding of the reform doctrine in the mid 19th century, giving it much of the form that it still retains today. Michael Mayer in his book about reform Judaism says that if any one person can be called the founder of reform Judaism it must be Abraham Geiger.

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Much of Geiger's writing has been translated to English (from German) and many books about him were written in English. The book by Heschel, and a new book about Jesus are two important examples.

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Rabbi: :See Semicha for article about "ordination" of rabbis....

Reform Judaism: Reform Judaism, as the term is understood in North America, refers to the first modern branch of Judaism that originated in Germany in the 1800s. This liberalizing movement sought to reform and modernize Jewish belief and practice in light of contemporary scholarship and views, and followed German ...

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