The New Reform Temple of Berlin

opposition to the Christian ideal.2 In Germany, religion and national identity were linked so deeply that many considered a German-Jew to be an impossible contradiction.3With the goal of

Samuel Teeple

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC August 2018 Committee:

Arne Spohr, Advisor Eftychia Papanikolaou

Samuel Teeple All Rights Reserved

Arne Spohr, Advisor

During the first decades of the nineteenth century, Israel Jacobson (1768-1828) created a radically new service that drew upon forms of worship most commonly associated with the

Protestant faith After finding inspiration as a student in the ideas of the Haskalah, or Jewish

Enlightenment, Jacobson became committed to revitalizing and modernizing Judaism Musically, Jacobson’s service was characterized by its use of songs modeled after Lutheran chorales that were sung by the congregation, organ accompaniment, choral singing, and the elimination of the traditional music of the synagogue, a custom that had developed over more than a millennium The music of the service worked in conjunction with Protestant-style sermons, the use of both German and Hebrew, and the church- and salon-like environments in which Jacobson’s services were held The music, liturgy, and ceremonial of this new mode of worship demonstrated an affinity with German Protestantism and bourgeois cultural values while also maintaining

Judaism’s core beliefs and morals

In this thesis, I argue that Jacobson’s musical agenda enabled a new realization of

German-Jewish identity among wealthy, acculturated Jews Drawing upon contemporary reports, letters, musical collections, and similar sources, I place the music of Reform within its wider historical, political, and social context within the well-documented services at the Jacobstempel

in Seesen and the New Reform Temple in Berlin Although much of this project discusses

general practice rather than specific repertoire, I examine several works composed for these services: a canata by Johann August Günther Heinroth (1773-1843), a hymn by Jacobson, and the

1815 Hallelujah Cantatine by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I first encountered the topic that would evolve into this thesis over a year and a half ago

while reading Deborah Hertz’s How Jews Became Germans: The History of Conversion and Assimilation in Berlin, which featured a short section describing what would eventually become

the third chapter of this book The entire premise of this project is heavily indebted to Hertz’s theorization of German identity among the acculturated Jews of Berlin, in addition to the work of Michael A Meyer, Abraham Z Idelsohn, Tina Frühauf, and Ruth HaCohen

I am also beyond grateful to my advisor, Dr Arne Spohr—he first lent me Deborah Hertz’s book after he happened upon it in a Detroit bookstore and thought that I would enjoy it Beyond that first introduction, Dr Spohr has been instrumental to my success in countless ways, but especially through his assistance in translating the many German sources required for this project Dr Eftychia Papanikolaou also offered invaluable support during this process through her detail-oriented revisions and advice on how best to structure my writing (her suggestion was usually to get to the point, a reminder that I often require) I am also thankful for the time donated

by Dr Samuel Adler in helping me find the musical sources most essential to the earliest stages

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF REFORM JUDAISM 5

Musical Components of Jewish Worship 5

The Music of the Second Temple and the Aftermath of its Destruction 8

Synagogue Music and European Influence Among the Ashkenazim 11

Musical Innovations of the Hazzanim 13

Synagogue Music in Berlin 18

Conclusion 21

CHAPTER II ISRAEL JACOBSON'S AGENDA OF MUSICAL REFORM IN SEESEN 23

The Influence of the Haskalah 23

Israel Jacobson: Educational and Religious Reform 26

The Consecration of the Jacobstempel 30

Johann August Günther Heinroth’s Cantata 34

Lutheran-Influenced Hymnals of Reform Judaism 39

Conclusion 43

CHAPTER III THE NEW REFORM TEMPLE OF BERLIN, 1815-1823 45

Conversion Crisis among the Bildungsbürgertum 46

1815: First Iteration of the New Reform Temple 53

1816-1823: The New Reform Temple in the Beer Mansion 57

Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Hallelujah Cantatine 62

Conclusion 70

CONCLUSION 72

BIBLIOGRAPHY 75

APPENDIX A: KOL NIDRE CHANT NOTATED BY AARON BEER (1739-1821) 79

APPENDIX B: WENN ICH, O SCHÖPFER, NO 1, JACOBSON HYMNAL 81

LIST OF EXAMPLES

1.1 Excerpt from Hashirim asher lish’lomo, Canto Part Book 15 2.1 Wenn ich, o Schöpfer, No 1, 1810 Jacobson Hymnal 40 3.1 Excerpt from Giacomo Meyerbeer, Hallelujah Cantatine, mm 136-140 64

LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Engraving of the Heidereutergasse Synagogue by A.M Werner, ca 1720 20

2.1 Wooden Model, Jacobstempel 28

2.2 Interior of the Jacobstempel 28

2.3 Organ of the Jacobstempel, photographed in 1910 29

2.4 Text to Heilig ist der Herr, Gott Zebaoth, Johann August Günther Heinroth 37

3.1 Converts in Berlin, 1800-1874 (number of cases: 4,635) 51

3.2 Proportion of Berlin Jews Converting 51

3.3 Sketch of the New Reform Temple in the Beer Mansion by Isaak Markus Jost 60

LIST OF TABLES

3.1 Labels from Jost’s Sketch in German and English 60

complex ideology and negotiate cultural boundaries To that effect, this thesis will explore the adoption of Protestant-influenced music within new forms of German-Jewish worship at the turn

of the nineteenth century Through the course of my study, I will demonstrate that within the context of the Reformed Jewish service, the use of Christian music served to communicate a new possibility of German-Jewish identity

The problem that Reform Judaism arose to solve was that of Jewish subjugation

Throughout Europe, Jews were commonly considered to be cultural outsiders, a dispersed nation that was met with toleration at best and violent persecution at worst Until the late eighteenth century,1 Jews were not recognized as citizens in any European state and lacked most rights and protections Within society, the popular image of the Jew was overwhelmingly negative—not only in that its qualities were generally undesirable, but that these qualities were defined in

1 Following the French Revolution, France became the first government to grant citizenship to

Jews in 1792 Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, 2nd ed (New York: Oxford University, 1995), 112

opposition to the Christian ideal.2 In Germany, religion and national identity were linked so deeply that many considered a German-Jew to be an impossible contradiction.3

With the goal of ameliorating the gap between Christians and Jews, Israel Jacobson (1768-1828), founder of Reform Judaism, created a radically new service that drew upon forms

of worship most commonly associated with the Protestant faith, including a sermon, German chorales sung by the congregation, organ accompaniment, and a choir.4 After finding inspiration

as a student in the ideas of the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, Jacobson became committed

to revitalizing and modernizing Judaism Like other wealthy, educated Jews of his time,

Jacobson was deeply committed to German culture; unlike other wealthy, educated Jews,

however, Jacobson was adamant in his desire to remain Jewish and refused to convert to

Christianity

Musically, Jacobson’s service was characterized by its use of songs modeled after

Lutheran chorales that were sung by the congregation, organ accompaniment, choral singing, and the elimination of the traditional music of the synagogue, a custom that had developed over more than a millennium The music of the service worked in conjunction with Protestant-style

sermons, the use of both German and Hebrew, and the church- and salon-like environments in which Jacobson’s services were held Jacobson first instituted his musical and liturgical agenda

in Seesen, where in 1810 he opened a community temple associated with a boys’ school that he had founded eight years earlier By 1815, Jacobson left for Berlin where he opened the New

4 Michael A Meyer, Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism

(Detroit: Wayne State University, 1988), 42

Reform Temple, an extremely popular service held in a private home.5 Each element of the newly created reform service worked in concert, simultaneously expressing an affinity with German Protestantism and bourgeois cultural values while also maintaining Judaism’s core system of belief and morals As the primary vehicle for self-edification among worshippers,6 the music of Jacobson’s Reform service was constructed and employed in ways that specifically reinforced his mission to bring Judaism in line with German cultural structures

My primary sources for this investigation come from historical letters, sermons,

contemporary reports, and preserved music associated with Jacobson, the Seesen Temple, and

the New Reform Temple The journal Sulamith, a vehicle for the cause of Jewish Reform in the

early nineteenth century, is especially important to my project as this journal contains a series of reports detailing some of Jacobson’s services Although much of the music used for Jacobson’s early Reform services has been lost, I have accessed a German-Hebrew songbook published by Jacobson in 1810 and a recently published work by Giacomo Meyerbeer written to be performed

in the New Reform Temple, the Hallelujah Cantatine My musical discussions of these pieces

and performance traditions preserved in writing center upon the question, “How does this music communicate identity?”

In Chapter 1, “The Historical Origins of Jewish Reform,” I consider the changing role of music within the Ashkenazi synagogue, the European tradition into which Jacobson was born Chapter 2, “Israel Jacobson’s Agenda of Musical Reform in Seesen,” provides a contextualized analysis of how Christian music functioned with Jacobson’s services in Seesen, situating each of

5 Jacobson’s time in Seesen, Berlin, and elsewhere is fully documented by Jacob R Marcus in

Israel Jacobson: The Founder of the Reform Movement in Judaism (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union

College, 1972)

6 Joachim Frassl, Die Jacobson-Schule in Seesen mit Tempel und Alumnat: Jüdische Architektur als Ausdruck von Emanzipation und Assimilierung im 19 Jahrhundert (New York: Georg Olms,

2009), 95

Jacobson’s changes within his wider ideological framework Chapter 3, “The New Reform Temple of Berlin: 1815-1823” describes how the social and political currents of Berlin interacted

with Jacobson’s agenda of reform, while also tracing the relationship between Bildung, the music

of the New Reform Temple, and the aesthetic of devotion

Jacobson’s decision to wholly remove the traditional music of the synagogue can be easily read as a gesture toward assimilation, in which a Jew abandons his ethnic, cultural, and religious background in favor of belonging to the majority.7 Although Jacobson wrote often of his desire to create a Judaism that was closer in appearance to Christianity, he maintained the prayers and text that make up the liturgical core of Jewish worship On an even more

fundamental level, Jacobson continued in his faith at a time when Christian conversions were rapidly increasing.8 By bringing the music and style of German Protestant worship into the temple, Jacobson created a form of Judaism that was more fully commensurate with the demands

of German culture and the Prussian state Through this process, Christian music became a tool to diminish the antithetical relationship between German and Jewish identities

7 While scholars such as Michael A Meyer and Tina Frühauf have insightfully used

assimilation-based models to understand the relationship between Jewish Reformers and German culture, I will be discussing this relationship in terms of acculturation Because assimilation as a process is by definition objective-oriented (with the final result being the absorption of the

minority subject by the majority society), it can blur the distinctions between the different

strategies of reform and conversion that I examine in this project By describing Jacobson and other Reformers as acculturated, I intend to underline that their goal was not to be understood as entirely German, but rather to be recognized by Christians and the state as German-Jews

8 Hertz, How Jews Became Germans, 223

CHAPTER I: THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF JEWISH REFORM

In order to discern how the New Reform Temple utilized musical elements associated with Protestantism to articulate a German-Jewish identity, one must first understand the tradition from which it descended The music of Jewish worship, even in its current form, is rooted in practices that precede the Common Era, extending back to the period before the Jews were exiled from Egypt As Jews settled in Europe and form stable communities, however, these practices began to take on aspects of the musical and liturgical cultures surrounding them The purpose of this chapter is to address the shifting functions, perceptions, and influences of music within the synagogue, tracing the lineage of the New Reform Temple from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE to the gradual transformation of Jewish liturgical music among the Ashkenazi Jews of Western Europe The final section of this chapter addresses musical practices within the

Alte Synagoge of Berlin,1 the institutional center of Jewish life in Berlin during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries After placing the New Reform Temple within its broad religious and historical context, the reader will more clearly perceive the significance of Israel Jacobson’s musical liturgy and the relationship between religious music and cultural identity

Musical Components of Jewish Worship

Necessary to any historical investigation of music within Jewish worship is a working knowledge of services within the synagogue, the traditional term used for a Jewish house of

1This synagogue was located on the Heidereutergasse, a street that runs through the historic center of Old Berlin After a new synagogue was built in 1866, this synagogue became known as

the Alte Synagoge (Old Synagogue) During its use, it was also referred to as the Große

Synagoge (Great Synagogue), in reference to its size and splendor Some current scholarship also refers to the building as the Heidereutergasse Synagogue, due to its address Hertz, How Jews Became Germans, 24

gathering and prayer.2 To readers more familiar with Christianity, the synagogue is similar in function to the typical church: it provides the sacred space in which services, rituals, and

ceremonies are held, in addition to serving as a center of learning and a community gathering place While the Jewish liturgy includes a variety of services held throughout the week and at different times of the day (as is customary in many Christian denominations), the prayer service accorded the most religious importance is that of the Sabbath Held in the synagogue on Saturday morning, the service broadly consists of the following sections:

1 P’sukei d’Zimrah (Passages of Song)

2 The Prayer Service

3 The Torah Service

4 The Musaf (Additional) Service

Within the relatively short first section, the hazzan, a cantor that leads the congregation in

prayer, sings a series of benedictions, psalms, and hymns to introduce the service, giving praise

to God before making requests of Him during prayers.3 The central feature of the Prayer Service

which follows is the Amidah (Eighteen Benedictions), in which the congregation first reads each benediction silently before the hazzan recites each section aloud The Torah Service is described

by Emanuel Rubin and John H Baron as “a ritualized mini-drama,” in which the Torah scroll is removed from the ark, carried through the synagogue, read at the lectern, and returned to the ark after a second procession.4 During both processions, hymns are sung by both the cantor and the congregation The rabbi then presents a sermon that discusses an ethical interpretation of the

reading for the day The last section of the Sabbath prayer service is the Musaf, in which the

2 Emanuel Rubin and John H Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture (Detroit: Wayne State

University, 2006), 12

3 In modern Reform Judaism, the hazzan is referred to as a cantor Since the core of my research

addresses Judaism in the early nineteenth century, however, I will be using the older term

hazzan Ibid., 13

4 Ibid., 16

hazzan recites additional prayers and hymns to close the service At various points, congregants are called upon to sing in response to or with the hazzan In some traditions, worshippers are also

encouraged to read aloud to themselves while following the service, mimicking the melodic

motion of the hazzan in a sub-vocalized manner.5

One of the most notable musical features of Jewish worship is cantillation, defined by Rubin and Baron as “the use of pre-existing musical motives in a song-like declamation of the bible passages read weekly in the synagogue.”6 Symbolic markings referred to as te’amim are

written underneath each line of text in the Hebrew Bible, illustrating the melodic and syntactical

motion of each syllable or phrase The set of formalized te’amim in use today were first codified

by Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher, a scribe from Tiberia in northern Israel, during the first decades

of the tenth century.7 The shape of each te’amim does not designate a specific melodic phrase,

interval, or pitch, but is open to interpretation; Jewish scholar Avigdor Herzog recognizes five distinct regional traditions, each with their own patterns and tropes.8 The Ashkenazic tradition found in the US and Central and Western Europe tends to have the “broadest melodic contours” and associates unique musical phrases with each shape.9 Cantillated texts lack consistent meter and pulse—each passage is recited in “a kaleidoscopic chain” of melodic motives based on the

reading’s te’anim Thus, each performance of the same text is unique, differentiated by the

performer’s motivic combinations, but also situated within a common structure that is aurally recognizable to the trained ear

5 Ibid., 16-20

6 Ibid., 67-69

7 Mark Kligman, “Jewish Liturgical Music,” in The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music, ed

Joshua S Walden (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 89

8 Avigdor Herzog, “Masoretic Accents,” in Encyclopedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan,

2007), 656-664

9 Kligman, “Jewish Liturgical Music,” 89

The use of cantillation points to Judaism’s original oral tradition—the music of the

synagogue prior to the eighteenth century was largely unrecorded via Western notation Instead,

hazzanim (the plural of hazzan) relied upon learned melodies, modes, and improvisation in context with the symbolic te’amim to perform readings and prayers of the day.10

A number of other musical practices within the synagogue utilize this skillset: psalms and

some prayers are sung according to the nusah, or prayers modes, which sound quite distinctive from the diatonic major and minor scales used within much of Christian polyphony Hazzanim

were also required to memorize lengthy melodies associated with specific prayers and specific days; the complete melodies and the prayer modes, though they differ in length, are adapted to

each text in different ways by different hazzanim, contributing to the shifting interpretations at

hand within the music of the synagogue.11 Each type of music described is performed by the

hazzan in a highly characteristic style unique to Jewish worship, one marked by rhythmic

freedom, melisma, monophony, and a purely vocal character.12 Although some Jewish

denominations today allow and encourage the use of instruments during worship, the vast

majority of synagogues prior to the nineteenth century banned any instrument from participating

in prayer services.13

The Music of the Second Temple and the Aftermath of its Destruction

The decision to eliminate instruments from prayer was based in halakhic law originated

in the aftermath of the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE The Temple in

10 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 137-139

11 Kligman, “Jewish Liturgical Music,” 89-92

12 Although Jewish Music in its Historical Development is almost 100 years old, Idelsohn’s

exhaustive scholarship largely stands up to current standards This work is still referenced today

by most scholars working in the field of Jewish music Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 112

13 Frühauf, The Organ and its Music, 12

Jerusalem functioned as the center of Jewish holy life: animal sacrifices, an essential aspect of early Jewish worship, could only be made in the Temple, and many Jews made pilgrimages to the Temple.14 Synagogues were also extant in this early period, providing a space for prayer, education, and sacrificial donations.15 In addition to animal sacrifices, services within both the Second Temple and its predecessor (referred to as Solomon’s Temple) were known for their impressive vocal and instrumental music, all of which was performed by musicians apart from the congregation.16 The congregation did play a small role in the ceremony, responding

periodically with sung interjections of “Hallelujah” and “Amen.”17 Many passages in the Bible describe the impressive music of Solomon’s Temple: the ensemble of “four thousand who

pleased the Lord with instruments” on holidays is mentioned in the Book of Chronicles,18 and the rededication of the Second Temple was celebrated with “song, cymbals, harps, and lyres.”19Within the Temple and Jewish culture at large, music was an essential aspect of both ritual and celebration; singers, drummers, and trumpeters were commonly included in parades, weddings, and funerals.20

After the Romans violently expelled the Jews from Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, the surviving rabbis made the collective decision to ban music from worship as a sign of mourning for the lost Temple Maimonides, a famous Jewish scholar of the twelfth century,

14 Donald Drew Binder, Into the Temple Courts: The Place of the Synagogues in the Second Temple Period, PhD Diss., Southern Methodist University, 1997, 2

17 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 129

18 Chronicles 23:5, as referenced in Ibid., 26

19 Nehemiah 12:27-28, as referenced in Ibid., 30

20 Joshua R Jacobson, “We Hung Up Our Harps: Rabbinic Restrictions on Jewish Music,”

Journal of Synagogue Music 25, no 2 (1998), 35-38

wrote that “The rabbis at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple prohibited playing any musical instruments, singing songs and making any sound resembling song It is forbidden to have any pleasure therein, and it is forbidden to listen to them because of the destruction [of the Temple].”21

Over time, this ban gradually evolved into a prohibition against the use of instruments in worship, leading to the dominance of vocal music within synagogue services.22 In order to

preserve the integrity of Judaism while communities of Jews migrated to farther distances, the remaining rabbis soon agreed on a codified liturgy that, in addition to eliminating instruments, continued many Temple rites, including “rabbinic-style prayers” and “non-sacrificial temple rituals like the priestly benediction or blowing of the shofar.”23 Furthering the moral imperative

to separate instrumental music from prayer, instruments were commonly associated with vice, seduction, and indulgence.24 Community leaders feared, writes Joshua R Jacobson, that taking pleasure in music would “distract the Jew from the expected norms of ethical behavior.”25

21 Maimonides, The Law of Fasting, 5:14; as quoted and translated in Jacobson, “We Hung Up

Our Harps,” 41

22 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 36

23 Ruth Langer, Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015)

37

24 Jacobson, “We Hung Up Our Harps,” 42

25 Quoted and translated in Ibid., 41 Until the Renaissance, many Christian leaders also

disavowed the use of instrumental music in worship As noted by James W McKinnon, this was largely due to the association of instruments with pagan worship and immoral behavior James

W McKinnon, “Christian Church, Music of the Early,” Grove Music Online, accessed 20 April

2018,

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000005705

Although Western Christian churches gradually integrated the organ into their worship until use of the instrument became widespread around the eleventh century,26 the majority of rabbis and Jews continued to disavow the use of instruments within services well into the

seventeenth century By the late Middle Ages, the aural landscape of the synagogue began to develop in a manner apart from other worship spaces (especially churches); the ubiquity of monophonic vocal music, along with the distinctive timbre of the prayer modes and semi-

improvisatory cantillation became markers of sacred Jewish identity that are largely preserved to this day In both its absence and presence, music within the liturgy articulated group boundaries and community identity among Jews

Synagogue Music and European Influence Among the Ashkenazim

By the tenth century, a community of Jews known as the Ashkenazim27 developed along the Rhine River in northern France and western Germany in the cities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms Over the following centuries, they gradually emigrated into Poland, Russia, and

throughout Eastern Europe—in the years preceding World War II, Ashkenazim accounted for approximately 90% of the world’s Jewish population.28 In nineteenth-century Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg (the cities in which Reform Judaism flourished), Jewish communities were

primarily Ashkenazi; as such, the city synagogues ordered their services in the Ashkenazi rite.29

26 Peter Williams, “Organ,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., vol

18 (New York: Macmillan, 2001), 587-591

27 In Hebrew, Ashkenaz refers to Germany, Ashkenazi can refer to a single German Jew or act as

an adjective, and Ashkenazim is the plural of Ashkenazi

28 Yehoshua M Grintz, “Ashkenaz,” in Encyclopedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan, 2007),

569

29 While Frankfurt was also home to a major Reform temple and Ashkenazi community and synagogue, Sephardic Jews (a group with roots in Portugal and Spain) had their own synagogue and, in general, wielded more influence in the city than the Ashkenazim Zvi Avneri and Stefan

Rohrbacher, “Hamburg,” in Encyclopedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan, 2007), 295-297

Synagogue music within Ashkenazi communities maintained many of the traditional forms, melodies, and customs, but also absorbed musical influences from the surrounding European cultures While some embraced these changes, many others viewed them as a threat to Jewish community and identity due to the loss of a tradition preserved for thousands of years As Jewish communities expanded farther away from each other and their ancestral homeland, a common liturgy and music helped provide a sense of stability and lineage The comfort of a communal identity was especially necessary to the Ashkenazim in the face of disenfranchisement, civic expulsion, public violence, and widespread prejudice The music of the synagogue, which served

as the literal vehicle for prayers and worship, was thus a closely-guarded aspect of Jewish

identity and vociferously defended against any who might corrupt its purity with Christian or secular musics

Although Ashkenazi Jews often lived separately from non-Jewish populations (whether

by choice or state-enforced policy), cultural exchange between both groups in art, scholarship,

and music was widespread In Jewish Music in its Historical Development, Abraham Idelsohn

analyzes the relationship between Ashkenazi synagogue music and German song, specifically through shared melodies and modified scales While Idelsohn’s method of comparison cannot provide exact dates or centuries, it is a valuable tool in understanding how Jewish music adapted

specific musical characteristics of the majority culture and vice versa Within Minnesong, a

genre of secular monophonic song that flourished in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth

centuries, and Church melodies originating in the same period, Idelsohn finds examples of

Jewish scales and melodic motives Within Ashkenazi melodies of the same period, Idelsohn

also identifies a considerable number that utilize the major scale, a trait that was associated with

the Minnesong.30

Over the centuries, German influences both subtle and obvious accumulated within traditional prayers and songs of the Ashkenazim.31 Throughout Western Europe, rabbis and Jewish authorities were aware of this influence and many viewed it negatively as a sign of moral degradation that broke from traditional law Aside from the gradual incorporation of German

musical elements within the liturgy, many hazzanim would also adapt popular non-Jewish

melodies into their performances, a practice that was found in Jewish communities from

Germany to Italy Rabbi Samuel Archevolt, writing from sixteenth-century Venice, was outraged

by this practice: “How can we justify the actions of a few hazzanim of our day, who chant the

holy prayers to tunes of popular secular songs? While reading sacred texts they are thinking of obscenities and lewd lyrics.”32 Lay members of the synagogue were also complicit in this

practice—in seventeenth-century Frankfurt, Rabbi Joseph Hahn complained about his

congregation’s habit of using Christian melodies during private worship in the home.33

Musical Innovations of the Hazzanim

Hazzanim, in addition to inserting Christian and secular tunes into their prayers and

benedictions, also adopted popular stylistic traits associated with opera and music of the Church

30 Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 147

31 It is essential to note, however, that the overall musical character of Jewish worship remained relatively stable in comparison to that of the Church Until the reforms of the early nineteenth

century, the hazzanim largely upheld the traditions of cantillation, prayer modes, and synagogue

melodies

32 Jacobson, “We Hung Up Our Harps,” 43

33 Idelsohn, 133 The struggle for rabbinical control of private, acculturated worship reflected here will eventually become essential to understanding the success and controversy surrounding the New Reform Temple

Salamone Rossi (ca 1570-ca 1630), a Jewish composer and musician employed by the Duke of Mantua, was famous for writing both secular and sacred music in the popular Italian style of the day Aside from his work in the court (where he was the only Jewish musician), Rossi served as

the hazzan for the local synagogue and lived in the city’s ghetto, a small neighborhood that Jews

were required to inhabit.34 Although his thirteen books of madrigals, canzoni, and other similar forms are remarkable in themselves, Rossi’s true innovation was a collection of Hebrew-texted

religious songs titled Hashirim asher lish’lomo (The Songs of Solomon), published in 1623.35Unlike the monophonic and modal melodies typical of synagogue song, Rossi’s songs were polyphonic, recorded in Western notation, and, though conservative in their homophony, drew upon “trio sonata-like textures and Italianate vocal devices.”36 In several motets, however, Rossi did incorporate sections utilizing the traditional modal style of the synagogue, in which the

congregation or the hazzan would enter the texture.37

Rabbi Leon Modena (1571-1648), an advocate for reformed liturgy in the synagogue,

encouraged Rossi to write Hashirim; realizing that this music would be ill received due to the

prohibitions placed on music in the synagogue, Modena also wrote a long preface to the

publication to defend the songs Although other rabbis accused Rossi of polluting the synagogue

with Christian music, Modena argued that the songs of Ha-Shirim were “restoring the crown of

music to its original state as in the days of the Levites on their platforms,”38 referring to the

34 Joshua R Jacobson, “Art Music and Jewish Culture in Late Renaissance Italy,” in The

Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music, ed Joshua S Walden (New York: Cambridge

University, 2015), 143-145

35 Iain Fenlon, “Rossi, Salamone,” Grove Music Online, accessed March 8, 2018

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.bgsu.edu:8080/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023896

36 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 143

37 Jacobson, “Art Music and Jewish Culture in Late Renaissance Italy,” 147

38 Ibid., 153

Example 1.1: Excerpt from Hashirim asher lish’lomo, Canto Part Book39

39 Salomone Rossi, Hashirim asher lish’lomo (Venice: Pietro e Lorenzo Bragadino, 1623)

impressive vocal and instrumental music of the Second Temple Modena’s argument that the use

of non-Jewish music in the synagogue marks a return to musical greatness of the past was

deployed in a very similar manner by Israel Jacobson almost two hundred years later, reflecting the perpetual nature of the conflict between inner preservation and outward innovation within sacred Jewish music

Ashkenazi hazzanim were also criticized for their increasingly virtuosic performances during this period, as they distracted the congregation and the hazzan himself from the content and meaning behind the liturgy Rabbi Herz Treves, rabbi and hazzan in Frankfurt during the first half of the sixteenth century, wrote that “[Hazzanim] have ceased to be writers of Torah, Tefillin, Megilloth; nor do they care for the correct grammatical reading nor for the meaning of

the prayers—only for their songs, without regard for the real sense of the words They neglect the traditional tunes of their ancestors.”40 Following the rise of opera, hazzanim appropriated

many of the genre’s dramatic techniques to enrapture the congregation, in one case extending the

length of a typically brief prayer (Baruch she’omar) to over an hour In addition to lengthening melismas and improvisatory sections, hazzanim emphasized words or phrases with extreme

coloratura, embellishments, repetition, and vocal devices like sobs and trills.41 These innovations represent an alternative view of the function of music within the synagogue, one concerned with inspiring feelings of surprise, ecstasy, and excitement in the listener.42

As hazzanim and their congregations became more invested in creating a grandiose

musical environment within the synagogue, instrumental music began to return to a handful of

40 Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 204

41 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 146

42 The ideal of inspiring emotion through musical performance, often referred to as the Doctrine

of the Affections, was powerful during the Baroque period By depicting one of the passions through music, it was believed that the composer could literally affect the body of the listener, either bringing their emotions into harmony or putting them out of balance

cities On Friday evenings in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the synagogues of Prague featured organ and a small orchestra to accompany religious songs; this practice was also

imitated in smaller towns like Nikolsburg and Offenbach.43 In cities like Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Prague, synagogues began to incorporate choral music at the beginning of the eighteenth century, a practice that evolved from the traditional vocal assistants known as

meshorerim.44

As expected, many rabbis were highly displeased with these changes and issued orders of repentance for those who brought non-traditional styles of music into the synagogue.45 Many of

the criticisms levied were primarily concerned with the hazzanim “show[ing] off with sweet

voices and fine singing”46 and thus “neglect[ing] both the traditional tunes and the principal parts

of the ritual.”47 The hazzanim were careful, however, to maintain traditional melodies, modes,

and styles of singing alongside the newly-incorporated European elements Idelsohn argues that this point forms the key difference between the gradual “Europeanization” of Ashkenazi

synagogue music explored thus far and the progressive reformers of the early nineteenth century:

[The] activity [of eighteenth-century hazzanim] was but the attempt to satisfy the

hunger for music of both singers and public… Despite the opposition of the

spiritual leaders and spirited Jews, they gave to the masses what they liked,

namely, the music heard in the Christian environment.48

Frühauf, The Organ and its Music, 18-22

45Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 208

46 Ibid., 208

47 Ibid., 209

48 Ibid., 232

On the other hand, reformers like Israel Jacobson made an effort to remove all traces of

traditional synagogue music such as cantillation and the prayer modes in order to realize a new mode of Jewish worship and German identity Unlike the ongoing exchange between Jewish and German culture seen through the changing character of synagogue melodies or the performance

by hazzanim of secular songs in the traditional Jewish style, Jacobson’s innovations were

deliberate and calculated—by transforming the music of Jewish worship, he hoped to transform the image of Jewish identity itself

Synagogue Music in Berlin

Before the New Reform Temple was founded in 1815, its home city of Berlin held one of the most intellectually and culturally vibrant Jewish communities in Western Europe The origin

of the city’s nineteenth-century Jewish population can be traced to 1671, when Elector Frederick William invited two wealthy Viennese Jewish families to reside in Berlin The decision to

reverse the 1572 expulsion and ban of Jews living in the city was in no way altruistic; rather, the Electorate was in extreme need of funds to restore the military and countryside following the ravages of the Thirty Year War.49 In addition to their wealth, the Jewish families brought a number of Jewish domestic staff, rabbis, teachers, and butchers to serve their needs; soon, Berlin gained a reputation among European Jews for its relatively favorable living conditions.50

The allowances made by the city government, however, did not permit the construction of

a public synagogue until the first years of the eighteenth century After collecting an exorbitant

amount of money, the Berlin Jews constructed the large and lavishly decorated Alte Synagoge,

49 Hertz, How Jews Became Germans, 18

50 Ibid., 22

which held its first service in 1714.51 The space reflected the wealth and pride of the Jewish financiers that had funded it: the inside of the synagogue was around 30 feet tall and grandly decorated, consisting of a vaulted nave with immense windows along three of the four walls Carol Herselle Krinsky describes the inner layout as depicted in a contemporary engraving of the synagogue (Fig 1.1): “The ceiling’s covered panels rose to a slightly depressed elongated

octagonal panel which emphasized the center of the room, where the large bimah was

placed The ark was tall and lavishly carved with two tiers of columns and undulating

cornices… The building in Berlin had the bright, clear, and straightforward appearance of a Protestant church.”52

The central placement of the bimah, the raised platform from which the rabbi read the

Torah, was common in most Ashkenazi synagogues of the time While the women stood in the

upper gallery, the men sat in horizontal rows of pews to the left and right of the bimah, facing the

intricately-decorated ark on the east wall in which the scroll of the Torah were kept It was considered a sign of respect to look toward the ark, the holiest part of the synagogue; the

congregation’s focus was meant to be on the word of God, not the rabbi and cantor responsible for leading the service.53

The Heidereutergasse Synagoge represented in many ways the traditional practice of Ashkenazi synagogue music during the eighteenth century The rabbis of the synagogue were highly conservative, especially in the face of increasing magical and messianic sects among

Figure 1.1: Engraving of the Heidereutergasse Synagogue by A.M Werner, ca 172054

54Krinsky, Synagogues of Europe, 262.

Ashkenazim.55 Musically, however, the synagogue became considerably less conventional with

the 1765 appointment of Aaron Beer as hazzan As one of the first musically-trained hazzanim,

Beer spent much of his career both transcribing and composing prayer settings and synagogue songs in Western notation He left behind a collection of over 1,200 compositions taken from a variety of sources including himself, contemporary composers, and traditional synagogue

music.56

Of particular note is Beer’s version of Kol Nidre, a well-known prayer recited at the

beginning of Yom Kippur that has been set by a number of Jewish composers; Idelsohn notes that the first version was dated to 1720 and a variation of it to 1783 (see Appendix A).57

The musical line, characteristic in its use of Jewish modes and motives, was intended to be sung

by the hazzan alone, a desire which Beer made explicit in the introduction to a 1791 collection of synagogue songs for use in the Alte Synagoge.58

Conclusion

Although the traditional music of the synagogue maintained much of its original stylistic character even into the eighteenth century, non-Jewish cultures and the Jews who advocate for their value have left their marks, whether subtle or otherwise As a natural consequence of

55 Underlining the intense orthodoxy among the Berlin rabbis, Hertz relates a 1738 anecdote in which a congregant named Jeremias Cohen was turned away from the Sabbath service due to his shaved face and wig Hertz also notes the increasing number of complaints from rabbis about

Christian dress among Jews during this period Hertz, How Jews Became Germans, 26-31

56 Rubin and Baron, Music in Jewish History and Culture, 166

57 Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 159-160

58 Beer’s remarks were given as an explanation for his decision to compose a year-long cycle: “if

a person hear a tune but once a year, it will be impossible for him to sing with the cantor during

the service, and therefore he will not be able to confuse the hazzan It has become a plague to the hazzanim to have the members of the congregation sing the song.” Ibid., 218

Jewish migration (although the migration itself was often not elective), the music of the

synagogue absorbed musical aspects from many of the different peoples with which Jews shared

space and cultural ties The hazzanim, responsible for transmitting the oral tradition of Jewish

music, incorporated popular melodies and vocal techniques that astounded their congregations and moved them to greater heights of devotion Some more radical figures, like Salamone Rossi and Leon Modena, envisioned a synthesis of Jewish and non-Jewish music within the synagogue, though their work was quickly forgotten

As the impulse toward national identity began to coalesce at the end of the eighteenth century, Israel Jacobson began encountering new ideas about civic emancipation, religious tolerance, and educational reform in the city of Braunschweig Along with a group of like-

minded advocates, Jacobson founded a series of temples in Seesen, Kassel, and eventually Berlin that would embody his vision of liturgical and musical reform

CHAPTER II: ISRAEL JACOBSON’S AGENDA OF MUSICAL REFORM IN SEESEN

Before Israel Jacobson moved to Berlin in 1815, he honed his program of religious

reform in Braunschweig, capital city of the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel As a financier to Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, in 1801 Jacobson used his money and influence to open a school for Jewish and Christian boys modeled after the ideals of Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn After Napoleon captured Braunschweig in 1806 and incorporated it into the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia, Jacobson was appointed head of the Jewish Consistory, a board responsible for managing Jewish affairs in the Kingdom In this position, Jacobson sought

to enact an agenda of religious reform, opening temples in Seesen, the site of his first school, and Kassel, where he founded another school in 1808 In this chapter, I will present an overview of the ideological currents that informed Jacobson’s reforms, outline the music and liturgy of the

1810 consecration of the Jacobstempel (as the temple in Seesen was referred to), and delineate the relationship between Jacobson’s musical and political agendas

The Influence of the Haskalah

In the history of Jews in Western Europe, the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth

centuries are regarded as a period of emancipation and cultural transformation, eventually

resulting in the reforms of 1812 and later advances in Jewish rights throughout Western Europe

The German Enlightenment, or Aufklärung, brought about a new attitude of religious tolerance

among educated Christians, and upper- and middle-class Jews the desire to more fully participate

in mainstream society One of the most famous figures of the Aufklärung, even among

Christians, was the Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), grandfather to Felix

Mendelssohn During the last decades of the eighteenth century, Mendelssohn lobbied for

changes within the Jewish community alongside other Jewish intellectuals, including Isaac Euchel (1756-1804), Hartwig Wessely (1725-1805), and Isaac Satanow (1733-1805) Through education and modernization, Mendelssohn and his cohort hoped to create an attitude of religious tolerance across all aspects of society that would grant equality to the Jews Centered in Berlin,

this movement became known as the Haskalah (in Hebrew, “wisdom” or “erudition”) and

engendered a revitalization of the Hebrew language and literature through societies, education, and writing.1

The maskilim, as advocates of the Haskalah were known, looked outward as well as

inward, focusing on the larger and much more challenging task of civic emancipation for the Jews Before the nineteenth century, Jews had few if any rights within European states—they were barred from settling in some cities and, even if they were granted residency, were also legally restricted to living in certain neighborhoods known in ghettos (as referred to in Chapter 1 during the discussion of Salomone Rossi) and subject to public violence, punitive regulations, and unforeseen evictions.2 In 1744, for example, Maria Theresa of Austria expelled every Jew within Prague, Bohemia, and Moravia based on the groundless suspicion that they had worked with the Prussians during the War of the Austrian Succession.3 In the eyes of European

governments, “no Jew was, or could be, a member of (civil) society No metter how learned or

wealthy or contingently influential he might be within or without Jewry itself, a Jew was held to belong to a moral and, of course, theological category inferior to that of the meanest peasant.”4

In order to overcome this prejudice and advance the cause of emancipation, some

maskilim advocated for a new system of education that would make Jews more valuable to the state Through the creation of free, public institutions like the Jüdische Freischule Berlin,

founded in 1778, maskilim were able to provide an alternative to traditional Jewish schools in

which male students studied religious texts under a rabbi and spoke in Hebrew or Yiddish

Institutions like the Freischule taught an expanded curriculum of practical skills and trades to young men in German By teaching subjects like agriculture and carpentry, the maskilim sought

to divert children from entering the traditionally Jewish career of finance and create a young generation of Jews who could be productive members of the state If Jews could be recognized as

adding objective value to wider society, their thinking went, the maskilim could make a much

stronger argument for Jewish emancipation.5

This focus on education and inward change was a perspective shared by Israel Jacobson,

an ardent admirer of Moses Mendelssohn and similar Jewish thinkers Unlike Mendelssohn, however, Jacobson believed that Jewish worship itself was in need of reform Next to the schools

he built in the small town of Seesen and the city of Kassel, Jacobson built his own synagogues,

to which he referred as temples Within these spaces, Jacobson worked closely with Christian clergy and local rabbis to create a new form of Jewish worship that brought together the German language, music influenced by the Lutheran tradition, and Jewish texts and prayers

4 “Frederick II: The Charter Decreed for the Jews of Prussia (April 17, 1750),” in Mendes-Flohr

and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World, 22-27

5 Isaac Einstein-Barzilay, “The Ideology of the Berlin Haskalah,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 25 (1956): 33-37

Israel Jacobson: Educational and Religious Reformer

As a young Jewish boy growing up in the latter half of the eighteenth century, Jacobson received a piecemeal and unsystematic education—his father, also a financier, taught him

primarily from sacred Jewish texts and rabbinic literature so that Jacobson could read and write

in Hebrew, but gave little instruction to his son in French, German, and secular topics.6 While Jacobson went on to attend the University of Helmstedt where he encountered German literature and philosophers like Mendelssohn,7 many Jewish children received the same or much less education, especially those from small towns or poor families.8 During his time at the University, Jacobson came to believe, as Mendelssohn had before, that improving education was the key to bettering the social and civic status of Jews in Germany Instead of the isolated liturgical

education provided by rabbis in Hebrew or Yiddish, Jacobson wanted to ground Jewish

education in German language and culture and provide skill-based education in practical fields—

a model that hewed closely to the Judische Freischule.9

Jacobson first enacted these ideals in 1801 by opening a school for boys in Seesen (often referred to as the Jacobsschule), a small town located on the northwestern edge of the Harz Mountains in what is today the German state of Lower Saxony By May 1802, 47 Christian and Jewish students attended the Jacobsschule; Jacobson also shared Mendelssohn’s belief in

religious tolerance, so coeducation was an essential aspect of his mission.10 In 1809, Jacobson established a second school in Kassel that shared the same academic mission and program, providing a free German education in reading, writing, arithmetic, music, and trades to boys

6 Marcus, Israel Jacobson, 15

7 Ibid

8 Ibid., 21

9 Ibid., 20-22

10 The Christian boys in attendance were, like the Jewish students, largely from rural and less

wealthy families Jacobson financed the school himself Ibid., 24

from local Jewish and Christian families Both schools held abbreviated religious services for students and parents that used both Hebrew and German; in Kassel, Jacobson removed all

cantillation and chant in favor of recitation and silent prayer The services would generally

conclude with a German or Hebrew hymn in chorale style sung by the entire congregation.11

Although some religious services were held for students since 1802, Jacobson

constructed and dedicated a public temple directly across from the Jacobsschule in 1810.12 The exterior of the Seesen Temple (also referred to today as the Jacobstempel in German) was built

in a classicist style with some rococo influences and featured a bell tower and clock, a feature typical of Protestant churches rather than synagogues.13 Originally, the temple was designed to resemble a grand church in size and ornamentation, but after local Christians protested the

similarity, the size of the temple was greatly reduced.14 Although the Temple was destroyed in

1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom, a scale wooden replica of the structure is on permanent

exhibit in the Seesen Municipal Museum (Figure 2.1)

The interior layout of the Jacobstempel was also very similar to contemporary Protestant churches (Figure 2.2) and unlike traditional synagogues of the time The most notable feature of the Temple was the large, impressive organ that was commissioned and built for the Temple itself (Figure 2.3) Mounted in a loft at the end of the Temple that was opposite to the ark, the organ, is proportional and balanced in its design, reflecting the Classicist architecture of the Temple itself.15 Unlike traditional Jewish spaces of worship such as the Alte Synagoge of Berlin,

11 Meyer, Response to Modernity, 38

12 Marcus, Israel Jacobson, 85

13 Ibid., 86

14 Meyer, Response to Modernity, 41

15 Frassl, Die Jacobson-Schule in Seesen, 86-87.

Figure 2.1: Wooden Model, Jacobstempel16

Figure 2.2: Interior of the Jacobstempel17

16 “Synagoge,” Jacobson-Haus, http://jacobson.haus/?p=70

17 Hubert Jahns, “1810-2010: 200 Jahre Synagoge Seesen, 200 Jahre Synagogenorgel,” City Administration of Seesen, http://www.stadtverwaltung-

seesen.de/index.php?La=1&&object=tx%7C1601.131.1&kat=&kuo=1&sub=0

Figure 2.3: Organ of the Jacobstempel, photographed in 191018

the Jacobstempel featured a raised lectern for the giving of sermons at the far wall, next to the

ark The bimah, or reader’s platform, was also moved closer to the ark from its normal position

in the center of the room These changes served to center the congregation’s vision and attention

on the rabbi, preacher, and hazzan, all of whom occupied the designated spaces at different

points throughout services As mentioned in the previous chapter, the traditional location of the

bimah in the middle of the synagogue meant that at least half of the congregation was unable to see the rabbi or hazzan; the congregation’s visual focus on the ark mimicked their mental and

spiritual focus on the Torah and God One spatial aspect that was maintained in the

Jacobstempel, however, was the separation of men and women; men sat in the main lower level

18 Frassl, Die Jacobson-Schule in Seesen, 87

while women occupied galleries along the three walls of the building that faced the ark.19 Both the exterior and interior design of the Temple served to reinforce Jacobson’s guiding belief of equality between Christians and Jews; as Michael Meyer comments, “Taken as a whole, the structure made a social statement: Jews worship as do Christians; they are their equals in religion

as in civil life No longer an Oriental, foreign faith transplanted to Europe, Judaism—like

Christianity—is homeborn in the accoutrements of its worship no less than its loyalty to the state.”20 As I will discuss in the next section, the music of the Jacobstempel underlined this ideological alignment in a similar manner

The Consecration of the Jacobstempel

On July 17, 1810, the Jacobstempel in Seesen hosted over 100 guests during its official

consecration, a day-long event extensively chronicled in Sulamith, a periodical which served as a

primary mouthpiece for the early Jewish Reform movement.21 This article, published in the same year as the consecration, provides a detailed look at the contents of Jacobson’s reform service, especially in regards to the use of music and German Here, I will provide a descriptive timeline

19 Meyer, Response to Modernity, 41

20 Here, Meyer’s use of the descriptor “Oriental” is not in reference to East Asia, but to the

Middle East In his 1944 book Jewish Music in its Historical Development, Idelsohn uses the

term to describe musical features more commonly associated with music of the Middle East, such as non-diatonic modes and non-metrical rhythms Meyer’s statement also adumbrates the widespread belief that Jews were exotic and alien to Europe, a difference that was defined as much by ethnicity as by traditional dress, rituals, and worship Ibid., 41

21 Sulamith was founded in 1806 by David Fränkel and Joseph Wolf, two educators associated

with the Jewish Free School in Dessau Both men were also highly influenced by the ideals of

the Haskalah For a more thorough investigation of the ideology of Sulamith, see Benjamin Maria Baader, Gender, Judaism, and Bourgeois Culture in Germany, 1800-1870 (Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 2006), 19-41

of the 1810 consecration paraphrased from the anonymous author’s article in Sulamith, with

discussion and analysis to follow.22

At 8:00 am, the diverse group of attendees began to gather in the schoolhouse in

preparation for the ceremonial procession to the temple As the bells of the temple began to ring, the group formed into a ranked parade and headed in silence to the temple’s nave Jacobson followed a collection of teachers and students from the Jacobsschule holding flags; behind him in sequence came the county prefect, fellow members of the Westphalian Jewish Consistory, clergy and rabbis in their ceremonial clothing, the mayor and vice-mayor of Seesen, local nobility, civil servants, and finally the remainder of the crowd In describing the different groups present, the article’s author emphasizes their diverse social and religious backgrounds as well as the friendly atmosphere among them After the attendees were seated, an ensemble of 60-70 singers and musicians standing in the organ loft performed a short cantata written for the occasion by Johann August Günther Heinroth (1773-1843), a music teacher employed at the Jacobsschule Following

the cantata, Jacobson gave a German-language sermon from the bimah in which he laid out the

motivation and justification behind his new temple and service, underlining the ideal of Christian and Jewish equality and the similarities between both religions

If the author is correct in his observations, the traditional liturgy used during the Saturday morning service was heavily foreshortened for the July 17th consecration.23 After his sermon, Jacobson and a number of assisting rabbis removed the Torah from the ark and completed the

22 “Feyerliche Einweihung des Jacobs-Tempels in Seesen,” Sulamith 3, no 1 (1810): 298-317

Translation by Dr Arne Spohr

23 Jacobson was known for trimming the length of the Sabbath service: he and his fellow

members of the Westphalian Jewish Consistory had passed numerous guidelines that removed various rituals and prayers from Jewish worship throughout the Kingdom He did the same several years later in the liturgy of the New Reform Temple in Berlin, which will be discussed in depth in Chapter 3