Describe the Effect Kant’s Views Had on Jewish Beliefs

Immanuel Kant was a nineteenth century philosopher, who wrote extensively on reason, morality and religion. There was a movement within the Enlightenment period towards breaking away from authority and tradition, and moving towards liberation of people’s minds, so they would use their own understanding. Kant spoke out against people blindly following the rules/views/interpretations of others. Society and especially religious believers were like children; automatically following state and religion with no question, and not making their own decisions. It was time in Kant’s opinion for every individual to take charge and find their own personal answers; we are rational beings capable of practical reason (morality) and it is our duty to formulate our individual morality.

Kant held that organised religion is simply a vehicle through which to orientate individual morality, whilst providing a united community. It has been socially constructed to guide us, and to fulfil our human need. There are not many religions, only the one vehicle constructed for a purpose; however there are variations of the one. He maintained that while we cannot prove the existence of a deity, the concept of God serves a purpose helping us in our moral development. Interpretation of Scripture should not have a faith basis, nor be literal, and everyone has the moral duty to interpret them individually, and not just accept others interpretation. When interpreted rationally, Kant argued, Scriptures could be separated into four areas. There are naturally parts conducive to moral development, eg the laws; there are doctrines which are not morally relevant, and inspirational cultural stories, showing us how to live moral lives.

However there are also Scriptural stories which are detrimental towards living a moral life. Kant highlights the story where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his young son as a test of loyalty. This is completely immoral, encouraging human sacrifice. Why, Kant argues, would an all loving God command this? It also must be realized, that it is irrational to believe that we can communicate with the infinite via our finite senses; any such experience is an illusion. Kant also made personal reference to Judaism; he believed that it was not in actual fact a religion, devoted towards serving God through moral acts, but simply a ‘pseudo-religion’ revolving around rituals and observances. 

This was naturally devastating to the stability of Judaism; Kant had questioned its whole fundamental basis. Within Jewish communities the accepted interpretation of the Torah and leadership from authoritative rabbis stemmed from rabbinic scholarship. Their literal interpretation was unquestioned, and the Torah, both oral and written was the Word of God. Jews followed faithfully Mosaic laws, and obeyed the observances of past generations. Now applying Kant’s views to their situation, Kant was telling them they were not only behaving as children, but they were immoral too, failing to have an individual morality not reliant on God. The Jewish people believed them set apart from other religions, especially favored by God. Kant however was merging all religions into one, just looking at religion’s overall social function. Moreover Kant believed Judaism could not be called a religion due to the high observance of rituals. This statement would have shattered a great deal of Jews.

The Torah is considered sacred by the Jewish people; not just anyone can read or interpret it and touch the scrolls within the synagogue, especially not women. Although Kant was analyzing the Christian Bible, his message was universal; all scriptural texts should be rationally interpreted by individuals. Thus in Jewish eyes here was Kant treating Christian and consequently Jewish Scriptures as an ordinary book, disregarding the authority of tradition, presenting ideas which stood completely in opposition to Jewish practice. Kant’s criticism of the story of Abram would have been very poignant to the Jewish people for the historical accounts of their forefathers are highly regarded. The Jews also have a unique personal relationship with God; their whole tradition revolves around having direct contact with Him. Kant was saying that the closest we can say is that we have a concept of God which helps us develop morally, however we can never have evidence of his existence. Moreover if he does exist, then it follows rationally, finite beings cannot be in contact with an infinite being. The consequent confusion and insecurity of the older Jewish generations is completely understandable, as their religion and belief system was attacked from all angles. However the attraction of Kantian ideas to the younger generations who had assimilated within and embraced the modern world is also understandable.