Contemporary Jewish observers in the 1900s suggested that Jews were attracted to Christian Science as a way of assimilating and shedding the stigma and antisemitism associated with Jewish identity. Umansky quotes a hostile 1913 editorial in the American Hebrew which insists that Christian Science for Jews was a “fashionable fad adopted” by Jewish people because of its “social element.” In other words, Jewish people joined because the church allowed for upward mobility.
The transition to Christian Science was relatively easy in comparison to conversion to other Christian denominations. Christian Science didn’t require baptism, didn’t make much of the iconography of the cross, and didn’t have traditional clergy. As a new form of Christianity, it also didn’t have painful or historical associations with antisemitism: Christian Scientists had not burned and beaten Jews in Russian or Lithuanian pogroms. The emphasis on spirituality and healing allowed some Jewish people to convince themselves that Jesus wasn’t really central to the faith—though in fact Mary Baker Eddy’s devotion to Jesus pervaded Christian Science worship, and the church required members to forswear previous congregational affiliations, including to Jewish synagogues.
Christian Science, then, was a relatively painless way to negotiate a less Jewish identity that might be more acceptable in a society controlled by Christians. Umansky argues, though, that the emphasis on social climbing and assimilation has been overstated. “I have yet to find a letter, essay, or general testimonial that cites the social aspects of membership as the major reason, much less the sole reason, for joining Christian Science,” she wrote.
Instead, Umansky argues, most American Jews joined because they were attracted to Christian Science’s spirituality. In the United States, Orthodox synagogues often focused on ritual, while Reform synagogues centered social justice community work and ethics. Both struggled to address individual religious yearnings—at least according to Jewish leaders themselves.
Umansky quotes Rabbi Max Heller, who, in 1912, argued that “our pulpits and our religious schools lay too much stress on knowledge and conduct, too little on the spirituality that must underlie a mellowing atmosphere of strong faith.” Reform Rabbi Stephen Wise of New York City’s Free Synagogue in a 1920 sermon suggested that “the inadequate spiritual character of the synagogue” had led to “a very real spiritual hunger and unrest.”
That hunger and unrest could be particularly acute among women. Umansky believes that some two-thirds of the Jews who embraced Christian Science were women, and the disproportionate appeal isn’t hard to explain. The first American woman rabbi wasn’t ordained until 1972; women in Judaism in the early 20th century were expected to take a secondary role in the leadership and study of the tradition.