Starting with a survey of the vast polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire and the manner in which it unravelled, Rabbi Wein went on to describe how the Jews living within the Empire themselves fought vigorously against one another, with traditional Jews fighting chasidim and with maskilim and Neologs -- the advocates of extreme reform -- fighting them both. This was a tragedy because, ultimately, the only cause that united the disparate nations and communities within the Empire was their antisemitism and their belief that it was the Jews who were responsible for all their misfortunes. The efforts and varying fortunes of many celebrated rabbis of the era were also reviewed.
In the course of his lecture, Rabbi Wein reminded the audience of both the power of the press -- which was even greater in the late nineteenth century in the absence of other mass media -- and its propensity to influence rather than inform its readership. He also posed some deep philosophical questions:
- How do you define 'tolerance' in a secular society?
- Is it even possible to have a society that has no beliefs whatsoever?
Rabbi Wein painted a vivid picture of turn-of-the-century Vienna, the capital of the Empire. Vienna then was a rival to Paris in terms of culture and the arts, a fantastic backdrop against which Jewish attempts to gain acceptance, whether through assimilation or (in the case of Gustav Mahler) conversion, ultimately failed.
