now possible to work outside the framework of the Halakhah . This freedom had not existed in the Jewish communities of the Middle Ages. We shall see it used again later and then better understand its positive implications and its limitations.
THE HISTORICAL APPROACH
Abraham Geiger (1810-1874), the intellectual father of Reform Judaism , surveyed the Jewish past broadly through historical studies'®. He demonstrated that Judaism had developed and adapted constantly through the ages. Therefore there was no reason to hesitate to undertake changes now desirable. Such an approach made it possible for him to make an early appeal for the proper education of women; this was part of a report on youth education in Bavaria , Prussia, Westphalia, and the smaller states which he published in his journal; we do not know of any positive response. These educational steps were neither defended on halakhic grounds by the incipient Reform movement nor attacked by the Orthodox initially. Perhaps they felt that the conservative states would not permit them anyhow. They were right since all initiatives got under way slowly. By the later half of the nineteenth century, however, the Orthodox communities, especially those influenced by Samson Raphael Hirsch , founder of modern Orthodoxy ,(1808-1888), followed a parallel path for young women's education.’
Prayers in the vernacular could and were easily defended through rabbinic statements; we should note, however, that such translations were not undertaken primarily for the benefit of women. When Mendelsohn’s translations of the Bible into high German appeared, it was attacked mainly out of fear of what would come next. This was the basis for the opposition in 1791 of Ezekiel Landau , Moses Sofer and their disciples to Moses Mendelssohn 's Torah translation. Landau realized that traditional Judaism could not reject this effort on the basis of the tradition but saw it as a dangerous
— pet mad PN