Chasing the mechanical rabbit: Rabbi Wein

“The Impending Disaster” was the title of the eighth and final lecture in Rabbi Berel Wein’s series, “The Jewish World 1880-1914”. The disaster in question was the First World War which, with perfect hindsight, could have been predicted and prevented. However, the overwhelming force of inertia made it impossible for the major European powers to change their collision course. In addition, the fact that the monarchs of so many of Europe’s nations were related, and indeed were on good terms with one another, was regarded as a sort of insurance policy.

The main thrust of this lecture was conceptual, not geographical in its focus as Rabbi Wein sought to sum up the major points that he had raised in previous weeks and tie them together, painting a depressing picture of the state of Judaism before war broke out. Rampant assimilation, conversions based on convenience rather than conviction and the quest for university admission in preference to Jewish scholarship were trademarks of Jewish social and cultural behaviour at that time. “The Jews are always chasing the mechanical rabbit”, quipped Rabbi Wein, meaning that we have a tendency to pursue ends that are nugatory and valueless.

Even within the orthodox community there were rifts and disputes: should they secede from the majority or not, and should they preach that poverty and hardship are conditions that had to be accepted?

Rabbi Wein then painted with a broad brush a picture of world history that lay outside the scope of his earlier geographical lectures. This included a review of the growth and sustained force of the British Empire as well as the Russo-Japanese War which shocked European complacency and demonstrated that Europeans did not enjoy ethnic superiority over their Asian rivals.  He also spoke of developments in military technology, particularly where artillery replaced sheer weight of numbers as the decisive factor in battle, and of the succession of national alliances that characterised the period.