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‘Rabbis, stay out of politics’: social justice preaching and its opponents, 1848–2014

The preaching of rebuke, in which rabbis openly criticized the behavior of their congregants, was an established component of Jewish pulpit discourse. But until the modern period, this applied to internal Jewish affairs: the failure to observe certain rituals properly, or broader social issues including sexual mores and economic values. From the middle of the nineteenth century many Jewish preachers began to engage problems of the broader society. Such preaching on topics with political significance aroused considerable opposition from congregants, yet there were rabbis – Orthodox as well as Progressive – who insisted that addressing these matters was their responsibility, a tradition inspired by the Prophets. The article will provide many examples.