בין מסורת למודרנה: הרב זיויץ והדרוש העברי באמריקה

Although Jewish sermons constitute a vast percentage of Jewish literature, the topic itself has yet to be sufficiently studied. During the past twenty years, only two books have been written about sermons, and neither relate to modern Jewish preaching. With the mass immigration of East European Jewry to America (1881-1924), the majority of Orthodox Jews turned from the traditional mode of life to the ways of modernity. The sermons of Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz of Pittsburgh (1855-1936) illustrate the socio-religious changes within the American Jewish community at the turn of the century. They also illuminate his outlook concerning the difficult new challenges then facing American Jewry, such as Reform Judaism and the proliferating crime and ecomonic hardships of American life. His references to America have recourse to the following three terms: (1) ha-'aretz ha-yevesha - the dry land; (2) ha-'aretz ha-hadasha - the new land; (3) 'olam hafukh - a world turned upside-down. Rabbi Sivitz views the "new world" from many different aspects, though rarely in a positive light. He sees East European Jewry as representing, both religiously and socially, the post-Decalogue Judaism whereas America takes on the role of primordial Chaos. In some ways it is even like Sodom and Gomorrah, devoid of all order and ethics for shaping Jewish life. Such is to say: an "upside down" world. Rabbi Sivitz claims that American Jewry has regressed. As an adherent of the Musar Movement, his sermons attempt to incorporate the values of Rabbi Israel Salanter. Yet despite the desire of Rabbi Sivitz to cling to tradition, the form and content of his sermons betray much that is new, when compared with the sermons of Eastern Europe.