Kazinczy, Dohany, Rumbach. For the average Hungarian these are street names in the heart of Budapest. For Jews these are names of three of the most important synagogues in Budapest, the custom in much of Europe being that the shuls get their names from the street on which they are located. While these shuls are just a few short blocks apart they represent three different approaches to Judaism.
The modern period brought great changes to the world at large and as members of that world to the Jewish world also. Rationalism, natural law, liberty, progress, tolerance and fraternity, constitutional government and perhaps most importantly from a Jewish religious perspective the formal separation of church and state. In this new world Jews could and often would be treated as equals. The attraction and opportunities this afforded the Jews need no mention. After hundreds of years of second-class citizenship at best, and often much worse, Jews would now be accepted. At the same time the potential danger to Judaism was enormous. Could Judaism survive and thrive in this new world? Given the opportunities to join society at large would Jews choose to remain Jewish?
Surprising as it may sound, for all intents and purposes there was no Reform movement in Hungary. Led by David Einhorn, the attempt to begin such a movement, met with such opposition that his Temple closed within two months and he moved to America where he became a leading Reform rabbi.
Rather, Hungary was the home of Neolog Judaism, a much more moderate form of reform, and the Dohany shul was and is its centre. For the traditionalists all reforms were forbidden and all contact with the Neologs was to be avoided. They refused to join with them in one communal organization forming in 1869, their own secessionist community, known as the Orthodox.
Yet there was a third group of communities that were not interested in joining either the Neolog or the Orthodox, remaining independent and hence were referred to as Status-quo. These communities were fully orthodox in the way the term is used today but were not part of the Orthodox community of Hungary. The Status-quo were often viewed as even more dangerous than the Neologs as they looked and acted like the Orthodox. Many prominent rabbis were Status-quo rabbis. This three-fold division continues to this day with many shuls with mechitzot and a fully orthodox davening, including Chabad, not considered part of the official Orthodox community
One of largest shuls and arguably the most beautiful shul in the world, the Dohany shul, was completed in 1859[1]. It is truly awe-inspiring. It is huge and intimate at the same time. Therr are two balconies for the women – Neolog shuls would never consider the American style of having men and women sit on the same level with a mechitzah between them.
The two main features that distinguish a Neolog synagogue from an Orthodox one are placement of the bimah at the front of the shul as opposed to the centre and the use of an organ on Shabbat – played by a non-Jew.
These innovations are not difficult to justify on a halachic, legal basis alone. According to many the reason the bimah was placed in the middle was so all could hear. As long as all can hear from another location there would be little problem in placing the bimah elsewhere. In fact, the custom in many sephardic shuls is to have the bimah at back of the shul. The acoustics at Dohany are truly outstanding. Rav Yosef Karo makes no mention of this requirement in the Shulchan Aruch and while others disagree this would not seem to be a serious breach of halacha.
While the idea of playing an organ in shul seems to be the height of reform, having a non-Jew do so would seem to be a classic case of shevut d’sehevut bemakom mitzva. That is, asking a non-Jew to violate a shabbat is a rabbinic prohibition. Asking the non-Jews to violate a rabbinic law – such as the playing of musical instruments – is permitted if it is for the purpose of a mitzva such as enhancing the davening.
A second argument put forth is that our shuls are considered to be a miniature Temple and as musical instruments were played on Shabbat in the temple they may be done in the shul. Rav Moshe Kunitz, elected the Rav of Buda in 1828 and a member of the Beit-Din of Pest ruled that one may have a non-Jew play the organ on Shabbat[2].
While most others disagreed with the above halachic analysis, the primary issue went well beyond issues of halacha. These innovations were seen as copying Church practices and almost all rabbinic authorities banned the playing of an organ in shul even during weekdays.
Today women no longer sit on the balcony but they do sit separately from men. A non-Jew still plays the organ while only Jews are allowed to sing in the choir[3]. The davening itself is exactly what you would find at an “orthodox” shul though few of the latter have a professional chazzan. There were approximately 100 people at shul this past Friday night mostly not-fully observant Hungarians. It is only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that the shul is relatively full with some 2,000 people in attendance.
With davening at Dohany at 6:00[4] there was plenty of time for the short walk to the Rumbach shul for 7:30 davening. This “Status-quo” synagogue does have a balcony for the women. Friday night davening caters to the local (non-observant) youth. It was heartwarming to see some 80 young men and woman come to shul followed by a Shabbat meal.
The Orthodox Kazinczy shul, does not bring in Shabbat early (allowing one who wants to, to daven at three shuls on Friday night). It strictly upholds the traditional Orthodox practices of Hungarian Jewry. The most noticeable is the mechitzah which reaches the ceiling so that men and women cannot see each other. It is the only shul in Budapest that has a minyan three times a day. With many tourists davening there, there is a large sign in front of where the “chazzan” davens that one must only daven Nusach Ashkenaz, something Chassidim who make up much of the minyan do not normally due. Arriving in Budapest the eve of yahrzeit for my father z”l the gabbaim of the Kazinczy were kind enough to let me lead the davening, provided I put a tallit over my head.
Shabbat morning we davened at a fourth shul, Beit Yehudah. The shul recently opened and is led by Rabbi Binyamin Szanto-Varnagi, who grew up in Hungary and received semicha at the reconstituted Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. I had the honour of speaking there (in English, with the rabbi translating into Hungarian) and hope to share my words in a future post.
[1] Theodore Herzl was born in the house next door to the Dohany shul in 1860. Today, his former home is part of the shul complex and is the home of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives, a definite must for all who visit.
[2] His ruling was not even that innovative. The Shulchan Aruch rules that for a shabbat sheva brachot one may ask a non-Jewish band to play as that enhances the joy for the newly married couple(Orach Chaim 338:2).
In Italy, where a reform or Neolog movement never developed and halacha took a more nature course – the organ was played in the main shul in Florence up until the 1960’s. And at the Altneuschul shul in Prague, where PG I will be davening this shabbat, musical instruments were played during kabbalat shabbat, the welcoming of shabbat. While it is not yet shabbat it does demonstrate that the playing of instruments and davening need not be contradictory.
[3] When I was last in Budapest, 13 years ago, the organ was not played as we visited during the "Three Weeks" between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av.
[4] 6:00pm is little early in the summer as it is before plag hamincha, the earliest time one can accept Shabbat. The opening teshuva, responsa of the Trumat Hadeshen of Rav Israel Isserlin, a leading German authority of the 15th century, deals with this exact question.
A new rabbi was appointed and was surprised to find that davening was so early that after davening and a Shabbat meal, people would take a long walk on the Danube River and return home while it would still be light i.e they too davened before plag hamincha. While the Trumat Hadeshen is unable to fully justify this practice, he does advise the rabbi to not force a change. The Dohany is a less than 10 minute walk to the Danube river.