general interest in history and a re-examination of its underlying principles.
This did not mean that philosophy and theology were entirely neglected, but they certainly played a secondary role in the early Reform Movement. The system of thought created by Moses Mendelssohn hardly survived him as the basis on which it had been built was destroyed by Emanuel Kant . In the nineteenth century a number of other philosophers dominated Jewish and general thought; leading among them were Hegel , Fichte , and Schleiermacher . Several liberal Jewish thinkers adapted their philosophical approaches to Judaism and modified them appropriately. Except for the work of Herman Cohen at the end of the century, none of these efforts had any broader impact and their influence was restricted to a relatively narrow academic circle. Among these thinkers were Samuel Hirsch , Salomon Formstecher and Salomon Steinheim . None of these individuals concerned themselves deeply with the place of halakhah as there were other issues which they
deemed more pressing and to which they turned their attention.
The pattern followed in the United States was rather similar. The early generation of reformers both lay and rabbinic turned their attention to practical matters, so an educational system was created, prayerbooks were written, newspapers founded, and congregations were formed. Isaac Mayer Wise , the creator of the organizations of Reform Judaism , expressed himself on virtually every issue of the times, but his writings on halakhah are minimal. His personal approach was quite traditional and he was willing to make the rabbinic tradition the basis of a national Jewish organization in 1855. David Einhorn , on the other