ע - מכללת ליפשיץ - Macam

Abstracts
XIV
opinions regarding nationalism, Zionism, the Enlightenment and
Jewish education.
According to Goldfaben, the two main factors which brought
about the demise of morality and the disintegration of Jewish
society were the Enlightenment movement founded by Moshe
Mendelssohn and the efforts of Russian government bodies in
conjunction with Jewish maskilim to force other Jews to change
their traditional ways. Furthermore, Goldfaben felt that the growing
rift between fathers and sons and the alienation of the young
generation from its past, its religion, its sense of nationhood and its
connection to the Hebrew language were all caused by the
Enlightenment.
These observations led Goldfbaben to support the Orthodox
approach, carefully guarding the bastions of the Jewish faith – the
Torah and Jewish morality. In order to prevent total assimilation,
Goldfaben proposed an emergency educational program to
rehabilitate Jewish children. He suggested the building of unique
educational centers in rural settings, far away from the hubbub of
city life. These centers would offer first-rate Jewish moral
education in addition to a general liberal arts education. The
educators would live on campus and would be available to the
students during most hours of the day and night. It would be their
job to guide the students in prayer, Jewish heritage and customs.
The graduates of this Jewish-nationalistic educational program
would be moral people and exemplary citizens.