onclusion was that Jewish life should be based on spiritual and ethical guidance of the Torah. Even though he didn't reject the Talmud and Mishna one-hundred percent for him they were no longer used for Jewish law but storehouses of wisdom and ethics (Gay 155). Illustrations of commandments that he rejected during this time period were the celebration of Shabbat on Saturday. The reason for this was there was normal school on Saturdays and the Jews felt schoolwas more important than observing the word of God (Gay 155). Holdheim also went a little far fetched and said that he couldn't find anything wrong with intermarriage , even though the Torah clearly states it. He also stated in 1844 that circumcision wasn't required even though he had absolutely no reason for this( 243). Other important beliefs of Holdheim were anti-Zionism, the observance of only one day festivals and that men and women should be treated equally in terms of mitzvot (Gay 155). Most of these changes in the religion were so that the Jews should adapt with the nation they were living in. Since they themselves didn't constitute a nation and these laws were prerogatives of the state the Jews should abide by the law of the land (Sasson 835). Reform Judaism wasn't the only way of belief during this time period. Others like Samson Raphael Hirsch went in the totallyopposite direction of Holdheim. Hirsch felt that Judaism had to be observed the way we were told to under almost any and every circumstance(Gay 154). If Hirsch wouldn't have taken this different stand a true Jewish nation wouldn't exist today. Holdheim didn't realize that he was weakening the nation and could have ultimately led to the extinction of the Jewish people ...
