Jerusalem by Moses Mendelssohn, 1783, trans. M. Samuels
For your happiness' sake, and for ours, religious union is not toleration; it is diametrically opposite to it. For your happiness' sake, and for ours, lend not your powerful authority to the converting into a law any immutable truth, without which civil happiness may very well subsist; to the forming into a public ordinance any theological thesis, of no importance to the state. Be strict as to the life and conduct of men; make that amenable to the tribunal of wise laws; and leave thinking and speaking to us, just as it was given to us, as an unalienable heirloom; as we were invested with it, as an unalterable right, by our universal father.
Shulamith, 1808, trans. M. Gelber
The task of religious enlightenment is to illuminate and elucidate the concept of man regarding religious truths, the existence of the Creator, providence, immortality, etc., and to clarify man's religious creed and free it from the additions and abuses of harmful fanaticism and foolish prejudices. Enlightenment teachs us that the essense of religion is not mere ceremony, not a mere matter of remembrance. Enlightenment banishes the low, slavish fear of the world's Ruler from our hearts.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, p. 76
Rabbi Dr. Samuel Holdheim, 1844
The Talmud speaks out of the religious consciousness of its age and for that time it was right; I speak out of the higher consciousness of my age and for this age I am right.
Declaration of Principles, “The Pittsburgh Platform” – 1885
3. We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject al such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization.
מנהג ישראל תורה היא והכלל החדש אסור מן התורה בכל מקום והישן ומיושן משובח ממנו:
The custom of Israel is law. And the rule is that "the new" is a Biblical prohibition in all places, and the old and the outdated is more praiseworthy than it.
סְפֵק עָרְלָה, בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל אָסוּר, וּבְסוּרְיָא מֻתָּר, וּבְחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ יוֹרֵד וְלוֹקֵחַ, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יִרְאֶנּוּ לוֹקֵט. כֶּרֶם נָטוּעַ יָרָק, וְיָרָק נִמְכָּר חוּצָה לוֹ, בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל אָסוּר, וּבְסוּרְיָא מֻתָּר, וּבְחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ יוֹרֵד וְלוֹקֵט, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יִלְקֹט בַּיָּד. הֶחָדָשׁ, אָסוּר מִן הַתּוֹרָה בְּכָל מָקוֹם. וְהָעָרְלָה, הֲלָכָה. וְהַכִּלְאַיִם, מִדִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים:
Doubtful orlah: in the land of Israel is prohibited, in Syria is permitted, and outside the land one may go down and purchase [from a non-Israelite] as long as he has not seen him gathering it. A vineyard planted with vegetables [which are kilayim], and they [the vegetables] are sold outside of it: in the land of Israel these are prohibited, and in Syria they are permitted; outside the land one may go down and purchase them as long as he does not gather [them] with [one’s own] hand. New [produce] is prohibited by the Torah in all places. And orlah is a halachah. And kilayim are an enactment of the scribes.
"Religion in Allied to Progress" by Samson Raphael Hirsch, 1854, trans. I. Grunfeld
Our aims also include the conscientious promotion of education and culture, and we have clearly expressed this in the motto of our Congregation: An excellent thing is the study of the Torah combined with the ways of the world [Yefeh talmud torah im derekh eretz] (Pirkei Avot 2:2) - thereby building on the same foundations as those which were laid by our sages of old - [then] what is it that separates us from the adherents of "religion allied to progress"?
A mere trifle! They aim at religion allied to progress - and we have seen that this principle negates the truth of what they call religion - while we aim at progress allied to religion. To them, progress is the absolute and religion is governed by it; to us religion is the absolute. For them, religion is valid only to the extent that it does not interfere with progress; for us, progress is valid only to the extent that it does not interfere with religion. That is all the difference. But this difference is abysmal.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, p. 180
The Reform Rabbinical Conference at Frankfurt, 1845, trans. J. Hessing
The speaker [Zacharias Frankel] now explains his principles: He stands for a positive, historical Judaism. [This approach posits that] in order to understand Judaism in the present one must look back, and investigate its past. The positive forms of Judaism are deeply rooted within its innermost being and must not be discarded coldly and heartlessly. Where would we be if we were to tear apart our innner life and let a new life spring forth from our head as Minerva sprang forth from the head of Jupiter.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, pp. 158-159
"The Symptoms of the Time" by Zacharias Frankel, 1845, trans. Mordecai Waxman
This third party, then, declares that Judaism must be saved for all time. It affirms both the divine value and historical basis of Judaism and, therefore, believes that by introducing some changes it may achieve some agreement with the concepts and conditions of the time.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, p. 175
"On Rabbinic Literature" by Leopold Zunz, 1818, trans. A. Schwartz
How is it possible, one may ask, that at a time when all science and all of man's doings have been illumined in brilliant rays, when the most remote corners of the earth have been reached, the most obscure language studied and nothing seems too insignificant to assist in the construction of wisdom, how is is possible that our science [i.e., the academic study of rabbinic literature] alone lies neglected? What hinders us from fully knowing the contents of rabbinic literature, from understanding its proper worth, from surveying it at ease? ....
More objectionable than the indifference, more shocking than the contempt is the partisanship, not of love but of hatred, with which this study is approached. Anything in it which can be used against the Jews or Judaism has been a welcome find. These scholars have gathered half-understood expressions from every corner in order with their aid to pillory their eternal rival; but until a hundred years ago there was not a single case of a learned doctor taking upon himself to collect the good and beautiful in Jewish writings so that for once the Jews be described in a charitable light.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, p. 197 and 201
"The Mourning of the 9th Av" by Samson Raphael Hirsch, 1855, trans. J. Hessing
We who have fully imbibed the spirit of modern Judaism, we do not fast, do not pray Selichot, do not say Kinot on Tisha b'Av [the Day of Zion] anymore. We would be ashamed of the tear in our eye or the sigh in our breast for the fallen Temple; we would be ashamed to feel the slightest longing for this scene of "bloody sacrificial rites." For us, alas, all this has become myth. With our feelings "refined" by cool reality, and with our unbiased scientific insights, we understand and evaluate all this very differently. Moses and Hesiod, David and Sappho, Deborah and Tyrtaeus, Isaiah and Homer, Delphi and Jerusalem, the Pythian tripod and Sanctuary of the Cherubim, prophet and oracle, psalm and elegy - for us, all this has been peacefully encased and buried in our mind, reduced to one and same human origin. For us, all this has receive an identical meaning, human and transitory and of a by-gone age.
Found in The Jew in the Modern World, ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, pp. 207-208