Reform Judaism
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Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major
The origins of Reform Judaism lie in mid-19th-century Germany, where Rabbi Abraham Geiger and his associates formulated its early principles, attempting to harmonize Jewish tradition with modern sensibilities in the age of emancipation. Brought to America by German-trained rabbis, the denomination gained prominence in the United States, flourishing from the 1860s to the 1930s in an era known as "Classical Reform". Since the 1970s, the movement has adopted a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities rather than adhering to strict theoretical clarity. It is strongly identified with progressive and liberal agendas in political and social terms, mainly under the traditional Jewish rubric tikkun olam ("repairing of the world"). Tikkun olam is a central motto of Reform Judaism, and acting in its name is one of the main channels for adherents to express their affiliation. The movement's most significant center today is in North America.
Various regional branches exist, including the
Definitions
Its inherent pluralism and the importance which it places on individual autonomy impedes any simplistic definition of Reform Judaism;[1][2][3] its various strands regard Judaism throughout the ages as a religion which was derived from a process of constant evolution. They warrant and obligate further modifications and reject any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.[4] A clear description of Reform Judaism became particularly challenging since the turn toward a policy which favored inclusiveness ("Big Tent" in the United States) over a coherent theology in the 1970s. This transition largely overlapped with what researchers termed the transition from "Classical" to "New" Reform Judaism in America, paralleled in the other, smaller branches of Judaism which exist across the world.[5][2][3] The movement ceased stressing principles and core beliefs, focusing more on the personal spiritual experience and communal participation. This shift was not accompanied by a distinct new doctrine or by the abandonment of the former, but rather with ambiguity. The leadership allowed and encouraged a wide variety of positions, from selective adoption of halakhic observance to elements approaching religious humanism.[6]
The declining importance of the theoretical foundation, in favour of pluralism and equivocalness, drew large crowds of newcomers. It also diversified Reform to a degree that made it hard to formulate a clear definition of it. Early and "Classical" Reform were characterized by a move away from traditional forms of Judaism combined with a coherent theology; "New Reform" sought, to a certain level, the reincorporation of many formerly discarded elements within the framework established during the "Classical" stage, though this very doctrinal basis became increasingly obfuscated.
Critics, like Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, warned that Reform became more of a Jewish activities club, a means to demonstrate some affinity to one's heritage in which even rabbinical students do not have to believe in any specific theology or engage in any particular practice, rather than a defined belief system.[7]
Theology
God
In regard to God, the Reform movement has always officially maintained a
Early Reform thinkers in Germany clung to this precept;
Revelation
The basic tenet of Reform theology is a belief in a continuous, or progressive,
As in other
In its early days, this notion was greatly influenced by the philosophy of
In the decades around World War II, this rationalistic and optimistic theology was challenged and questioned. It was gradually replaced, mainly by the Jewish existentialism of Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, centered on a complex, personal relationship with the creator, and a more sober and disillusioned outlook.[15] The identification of human reason with Godly inspiration was rejected in favour of views such as Rosenzweig's, who emphasized that the only content of revelation is it in itself, while all derivations of it are subjective, limited human understanding. However, while granting higher status to historical and traditional understanding, both insisted that "revelation is certainly not Law giving" and that it did not contain any "finished statements about God", but, rather, that human subjectivity shaped the unfathomable content of the Encounter and interpreted it under its own limitations. The senior representative of postwar Reform theology, Eugene Borowitz, regarded theophany in postmodern terms and closely linked it with quotidian human experience and interpersonal contact. He rejected the notion of "progressive revelation" in the meaning of comparing human betterment with divine inspiration, stressing that past experiences were "unique" and of everlasting importance. Yet he stated that his ideas by no means negated the concept of ongoing, individually experienced revelation by all.[13]
Ritual, autonomy and law
Reform Judaism emphasizes the ethical facets of the faith as its central attribute, superseding the ceremonial ones. Reform thinkers often cited the Prophets' condemnations of ceremonial acts, lacking true intention and performed by the morally corrupt, as testimony that rites have no inherent quality. Geiger centered his philosophy on the Prophets' teachings (he had already named his ideology "Prophetic Judaism" in 1838), regarding morality and ethics as the stable core of a religion in which ritual observance transformed radically through the ages. However, practices were seen as a means to elation and a link to the heritage of the past, and Reform generally argued that rituals should be maintained, discarded or modified based on whether they served these higher purposes. This stance allowed a great variety of practice both in the past and the present. In "Classical" times, personal observance was reduced to little beyond nothing. The postwar "New Reform" lent renewed importance to practical, regular action as a means to engage congregants, abandoning the sanitized forms of the "Classical".
Another key aspect of Reform doctrine is the personal autonomy of each adherent, who may formulate their own understanding and expression of their religiosity. Reform is unique among all Jewish denominations in placing the individual as the authorized interpreter of Judaism.
The notion of autonomy coincided with the gradual abandonment of traditional practice (largely neglected by most members, and the Jewish public in general, before and during the rise of Reform) in the early stages of the movement. It was a major characteristic during the "Classical" period, when Reform closely resembled Protestant surroundings. Later, it was applied to encourage adherents to seek their own means of engaging Judaism. "New Reform" embraced the criticism levied by Rosenzweig and other thinkers at extreme individualism, laying a greater stress on community and tradition. Though by no means declaring that members were bound by a compelling authority of some sort – the notion of an intervening, commanding God remained foreign to denominational thought. The "New Reform" approach to the question is characterized by an attempt to strike a mean between autonomy and some degree of conformity, focusing on a dialectic relationship between both.[17]
The movement never entirely abandoned halachic (traditional jurisprudence) argumentation, both due to the need for precedent to counter external accusations and the continuity of heritage. Instead, the movement had largely made ethical considerations or the spirit of the age the decisive factor in determining its course. The German founding fathers undermined the principles behind the legalistic process, which was based on a belief in an unbroken tradition through the ages merely elaborated and applied to novel circumstances, rather than subject to change. Rabbi Samuel Holdheim advocated a particularly radical stance, arguing that the halachic Law of the Land is Law principle must be universally applied and subject virtually everything to current norms and needs, far beyond its weight in conventional Jewish Law.
While Reform rabbis in 19th-century Germany had to accommodate conservative elements in their communities, at the height of "Classical Reform" in the United States, halakhic considerations could be virtually ignored and Holdheim's approach embraced. In the 1930s and onwards, Rabbi Solomon Freehof and his supporters reintroduced such elements, but they too regarded Jewish Law as too rigid a system. Instead, they recommended that selected features will be readopted and new observances established in a piecemeal fashion, as spontaneous minhag (custom) emerging by trial and error and becoming widespread if it appealed to the masses. The advocates of this approach also stress that their responsa are of non-binding nature, and their recipients may adapt them as they see fit.[18] Freehof's successors, such as Rabbis Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer, further elaborated the notion of "Progressive Halakha" along the same lines.
Messianic age and election
Reform sought to accentuate and greatly augment the universalist traits in Judaism, turning it into a faith befitting the Enlightenment ideals ubiquitous at the time it emerged. The tension between universalism and the imperative to maintain uniqueness characterized the movement throughout its entire history. Its earliest proponents rejected Deism and the belief that all religions would unite into one, and it later faced the challenges of the Ethical movement and Unitarianism. Parallel to that, it sought to diminish all components of Judaism that it regarded as overly particularist and self-centered: petitions expressing hostility towards gentiles were toned down or excised, and practices were often streamlined to resemble surrounding society. "New Reform" laid a renewed stress on Jewish particular identity, regarding it as better suiting popular sentiment and need for preservation.
One major expression of that, which is the first clear Reform doctrine to have been formulated, is the idea of universal Messianism. The belief in redemption was unhinged from the traditional elements of return to Zion and restoration of the Temple and the sacrificial cult therein, and turned into a general hope for salvation. This was later refined when the notion of a personal Messiah who would reign over Israel was officially abolished and replaced by the concept of a Messianic Age of universal harmony and perfection. The considerable loss of faith in human progress around World War II greatly shook this ideal, but it endures as a precept of Reform.[19]
Another key example is the reinterpretation of the
Soul and afterlife
As part of its philosophy, Reform Judaism anchored reason in divine influence, accepted scientific criticism of hallowed texts and sought to adapt Judaism to modern notions of rationalism. Judaism was viewed by Enlightenment thinkers both as irrational and an import from ancient middle-eastern pagans. The only perceived form of retribution for the wicked, if any, was the anguish of their soul after death, and vice versa, bliss was the single accolade for the spirits of the righteous. Angels and heavenly hosts were also deemed a foreign superstitious influence, especially from early
Practice
Liturgy
The first and primary field in which Reform convictions were expressed was that of prayer forms. From its beginning, Reform Judaism attempted to harmonize the language of petitions with modern sensibilities and what the constituents actually believed in.
In its early stages, when Reform Judaism was more a tendency within unified communities in Central Europe than an independent movement, its advocates had to practice considerable moderation, lest they provoke conservative animosity. German prayerbooks often relegated the more contentious issues to the vernacular translation, treating the original text with great care and sometimes having problematic passages in small print and untranslated. When institutionalized and free of such constraints, it was able to pursue a more radical course. In American "Classical" or British Liberal prayerbooks, a far larger vernacular component was added and liturgy was drastically shortened, and petitions in discord with denominational theology eliminated.
"New Reform", both in the United States and in Britain and the rest of the world, is characterized by larger affinity to traditional forms and diminished emphasis on harmonizing them with prevalent beliefs. Concurrently, it is also more inclusive and accommodating, even towards beliefs that are officially rejected by Reform theologians, sometimes allowing alternative differing rites for each congregation to choose from. Thus, prayerbooks from the mid–20th century onwards incorporated more Hebrew, and restored such elements as blessing on phylacteries. More profound changes included restoration of the Gevorot benediction in the 2007 Mishkan T'filah, with the optional "give life to all/revive the dead" formula. The CCAR stated this passage did not reflect a belief in Resurrection, but Jewish heritage. On the other extreme, the 1975 Gates of Prayer substituted "the Eternal One" for "God" in the English translation (though not in the original), a measure that was condemned by several Reform rabbis as a step toward religious humanism.[25]
Observance
During its formative era, Reform was oriented toward lesser ceremonial obligations. In 1846, the Breslau rabbinical conference abolished the second day of festivals; during the same years, the Berlin Reform congregation held prayers without blowing the Ram's Horn, phylacteries, mantles or head covering, and held its Sabbath services on Sunday. In the late 19th and early 20th century, American "Classical Reform" often emulated Berlin on a mass scale, with many communities conducting prayers along the same style and having additional services on Sunday. An official rescheduling of Sabbath to Sunday was advocated by Kaufmann Kohler for some time, though he retracted it eventually. Religious divorce was declared redundant and the civil one recognized as sufficient by American Reform in 1869, and in Germany by 1912; the laws concerning dietary and personal purity, the priestly prerogatives, marital ordinances and so forth were dispensed with, and openly revoked by the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform, which declared all ceremonial acts binding only if they served to enhance religious experience. From 1890, converts were no longer obligated to be circumcised. Similar policy was pursued by Claude Montefiore's Jewish Religious Union, established at Britain in 1902. The Vereinigung für das Liberale Judentum in Germany, which was more moderate, declared virtually all personal observance voluntary in its 1912 guidelines.
"New Reform" saw the establishment and membership lay greater emphasis on the ceremonial aspects, after the former sterile and minimalist approach was condemned as offering little to engage in religion and encouraging apathy. Numerous rituals became popular again, often after being recast or reinterpreted, though as a matter of personal choice for the individual and not an authoritative obligation.
The Proto-Reform movement did pioneer new rituals. In the 1810s and 1820s, the circles (
Some branches of Reform, while subscribing to its differentiation between ritual and ethics, chose to maintain a considerable degree of practical observance, especially in areas where a conservative Jewish majority had to be accommodated. Most Liberal communities in Germany maintained dietary standards and the like in the public sphere, both due to the moderation of their congregants and threats of Orthodox secession. A similar pattern characterizes the Movement for Reform Judaism in Britain, which attempted to appeal to newcomers from the United Synagogue, or to the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) in Israel.
Openness
Its philosophy of continuous revelation made Progressive Judaism, in all its variants, much more able to embrace change and new trends than any of the other major denominations.
Reform Judaism is considered to be the first major Jewish denomination to adopt gender equality in religious life[ Reform also pioneered family seating, an arrangement that spread throughout American Jewry but was only applied in continental Europe after World War II. Egalitarianism in prayer became universally prevalent in the WUPJ by the end of the 20th century.
Religious inclusion for LGBT people and ordination of LGBT rabbis were also pioneered by the movement. Intercourse between consenting adults was declared as legitimate by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1977, and openly gay clergy were admitted by the end of the 1980s.[31] Same-sex marriage was sanctioned by the year 2000.[32] In 2015, the URJ adopted a Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People, urging clergy and synagogue attendants to actively promote tolerance and inclusion of such individuals.[33]
American Reform, especially, turned action for social and progressive causes into an important part of religious commitment. From the second half of the 20th century, it employed the old rabbinic notion of
Jewish identity
While opposed to interfaith marriage in principle, officials of the major Reform rabbinical organisation, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), estimated in 2012 that about half of their rabbis partake in such ceremonies. The need to cope with this phenomenon – 80% of all Reform-raised Jews in the United States wed between 2000 and 2013 were intermarried[36] – led to the recognition of patrilineal descent: all children born to a couple in which a single member was Jewish, whether mother or father, was accepted as a Jew on condition that they received corresponding education and committed themselves as such. Conversely, offspring of a Jewish mother only are not accepted if they do not demonstrate affinity to the faith. A Jewish status is conferred unconditionally only on the children of two Jewish parents.
This decision was taken by the British Liberal Judaism in the 1950s. The North American
Conversion
Conversion within Reform Judaism has been seen as controversial by the Orthodox and Masorti sects. Due to the Reform movement's progressive views on what it means to be a Jew, the conversion process has been criticized and often unrecognized by more conservative sects, yet conversions through the Reform movement are legally recognized by the Israeli government and thus entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return.[38]
Converts through Reform Judaism are accepted based on their sincerity, regardless of their background or previous beliefs. Studying with a rabbi is the norm and can take anywhere from several months to several years. The process focuses on participation in congregational activities and observation of holidays and Halakha. Conversions are finalized with a meeting of the Beit Din and usually a Brit Milah and a Tevilah, though the extent to which the practice of Brit Milah is observed varies from country to country.[39] Furthermore, the acceptance of Reform converts by other sects is rare, with many Orthodox and Masorti temples rejecting Reform Converts.
Organization and demographics
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The term "Reform" was first applied institutionally – not generically, as in "for reform" – to the Berlin Reformgemeinde (Reform Congregation), established in 1845.
In 1926, British Liberals, American Reform and German Liberals consolidated their worldwide movement – united in affirming tenets such as progressive revelation, supremacy of ethics above ritual and so forth – at a meeting held in London. Originally carrying the provisional title "International Conference of Liberal Jews", after deliberations between "Liberal", "Reform" and "Modern", it was named World Union for Progressive Judaism on 12 July, at the conclusion of a vote.[42] The WUPJ established further branches around the planet, alternatively under the names "Reform", "Liberal" and "Progressive". In 1945, the Associated British Synagogues (later Movement for Reform Judaism) joined as well. In 1990, Reconstructionist Judaism entered the WUPJ as an observer. Espousing another religious worldview, it became the only non-Reform member.[43] The WUPJ claims to represent a total of at least 1.8 million people – these figures do not take into account the 2013 PEW survey, and rely on the older URJ estimate of a total of 1.5 million presumed to have affinity, since updated to 2.2 million – both registered synagogue members and non-affiliates who identify with it.
Worldwide, the movement is mainly centered in North America. The largest WUPJ constituent by far is the
The next in size, by a wide margin, are the two British WUPJ-affiliates. In 2010, the
and several thousands of regular constituents; and many other, smaller ones.History
Beginnings
With the advent of
A relatively thoroughgoing program was adopted by Israel Jacobson, a philanthropist from the Kingdom of Westphalia. Faith and observance were eroded for decades both by Enlightenment criticism and apathy, but Jacobson himself did not bother with those. He was interested in decorum, believing its lack in services was driving the young away. Many of the aesthetic reforms he pioneered, like a regular vernacular sermon on moralistic themes, would be later adopted by the modernist Orthodox.[49] On 17 July 1810, he dedicated a synagogue in Seesen that employed an organ and a choir during prayer and introduced some German liturgy. While Jacobson was far from full-fledged Reform Judaism, this day was adopted by the movement worldwide as its foundation date. The Seesen temple – a designation quite common for prayerhouses at the time; "temple" would later become, somewhat misleadingly (and not exclusively), identified with Reform institutions via association with the elimination of prayers for the Jerusalem Temple[50] – closed in 1813. Jacobson moved to Berlin and established a similar synagogue, which became a hub for like-minded intellectuals, interested in the betterment of religious experience. Though the prayerbook used in Berlin did introduce several deviations from the received text, it did so without an organizing principle. In 1818, Jacobson's acquaintance Edward Kley founded the Hamburg Temple. Here, changes in the rite were eclectic no more and had severe dogmatic implications: prayers for the restoration of sacrifices by the Messiah and Return to Zion were quite systematically omitted. The Hamburg edition is considered the first comprehensive Reform liturgy.
While Orthodox protests to Jacobson's initiatives had been scant, dozens of rabbis throughout Europe united to ban the Hamburg Temple. The Hamburg reformers, still attempting to play within the limits of rabbinic tradition, cited canonical sources in defence of their actions; they had the grudging support of one liberal-minded rabbi, Aaron Chorin of Arad, though even he never acceeded to the removal of prayers for the sacrifices.
The massive Orthodox reaction halted the advance of early Reform, confining it to the port city for the next twenty years. As acculturation and resulting religious apathy spread, many synagogues introduced mild aesthetic changes, such as vernacular sermons or somber conduct, yet these were carefully crafted to assuage conservative elements (though the staunchly Orthodox opposed them anyhow; secular education for rabbis, for example, was much resisted). One of the first to adopt such modifications was Hamburg's own Orthodox community, under the newly appointed modern Rabbi Isaac Bernays. The less strict but still traditional Isaac Noah Mannheimer of the Vienna Stadttempel and Michael Sachs in Prague, set the pace for most of Central and Western Europe. They significantly altered custom, but wholly avoided dogmatic issues or overt injury to Jewish Law.[51]
An isolated, yet much more radical step in the same direction as Hamburg's, was taken across the ocean in 1824. The younger congregants in the
Consolidation in German lands
In the 1820s and 1830s, philosophers like
Geiger wrote that at seventeen already, he discerned that the late
In 1837, Geiger hosted a conference of like-minded young rabbis in
Second only to Geiger, Rabbi
The pressures of the late
The conferences made few concrete far-reaching steps, albeit they generally stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete. The first, held on 12–19 June 1844, abolished
The harsh response from the strictly Orthodox came as no surprise.
Frankel was convinced to attend the next conference, held in Frankfurt on 15–28 July 1845, after many pleas. But he walked out after it passed a resolution that there were subjective, but no objective, arguments for retaining Hebrew in the liturgy. While this was quite a trivial statement, well grounded in canonical sources, Frankel regarded it as a deliberate breach with tradition and irreverence toward the collective Jewish sentiment. The 1840s, commented Meyer, saw the crystallization of Reform, narrowing from reformers (in the generic sense) who wished to modernize Judaism to some degree or other (including both Frankel and the Neo-Orthodox Samson Raphael Hirsch) a broad stream that embraced all opponents of the premodern status quo... to a more clearly marked current which rejected not only the religious mentality of the ghetto, but also the modernist Orthodoxy which altered form but not substance.[59] After his withdrawal, the conference adopted another key doctrine that Frankel opposed, and officially enshrined the idea of a future Messianic era rather than a personal redeemer. Rabbi David Einhorn elucidated a further notion, that of the Mission to bring ethical monotheism to all people, commenting that, "Exile was once perceived as a disaster, but it was progress. Israel approached its true destiny, with sanctity replacing blood sacrifice. It was to spread the Word of the Lord to the four corners of the earth."
The last meeting, convened in Breslau (13–24 July 1846), was the most innocuous. The Sabbath, widely desecrated by the majority of German Jews, was discussed. Participants argued whether leniencies for civil servants should be enacted but could not agree and released a general statement about its sanctity. Holdheim shocked the assembled when he proposed his "Second Sabbath" scheme, astonishing even the radical wing, and his motion was rejected offhand. They did vote to eliminate the Second Day of Festivals, noting it was both an irrelevant rabbinic ordinance and scarcely observed anyway.
While eliciting protest from the Orthodox, Frankfurt and Breslau also incensed the radical laity, which regarded them as too acquiescent. In March 1845, a small group formed a semi-independent congregation in Berlin, the Reformgemeinde. They invited Holdheim to serve as their rabbi, though he was often at odds with the board led by Sigismund Stern. They instituted a drastically abridged prayerbook in German and allowed the abolition of most ritual aspects.
Practice and liturgy were modified in numerous German congregations. Until the conferences, the only Reform prayerbooks ever printed in Europe were the two Hamburg editions. In the 1850s and 1860s, dozens of new prayerbooks which omitted or rephrased the cardinal theological segments of temple sacrifice, ingathering of exiles, Messiah, resurrection and angels – rather than merely abbreviating the service; excising non-essential parts, especially
Two further rabbinical conferences much later, in 1869 and 1871 at
Outside Germany, Reform had little to no influence in the rest of the continent. Radical lay societies sprang in Hungary during the
In 1840, several British Jews formed the
America and Classical Reform
At Charleston, the former members of the Reformed Society gained influence over the affairs of Beth Elohim. In 1836,
Apart from that, the American Reform movement was chiefly a direct German import. In 1842,
The rabbinate was almost exclusively transplanted – Rabbis
Quite haphazardly, Wise instituted a major innovation when introducing family pews in 1851, after his Albany congregation purchased a local church building and retained sitting arrangements. While it was gradually adopted even by many Orthodox Jews in America, and remained so well into the 20th century, the same was not applied in Germany until after World War II. Wise attempted to reach consensus with the traditionalist leader Rabbi Isaac Leeser in order to forge a single, unified, American Judaism. In the 1855 Cleveland Synod, he was at first acquiescent to Leeser, but reverted immediately after the other departed. The enraged Leeser disavowed any connection with him. Yet Wise's harshest critic was Einhorn, who arrived from Europe in the same year. Demanding clear positions, he headed the radical camp as Reform turned into a distinct current.
On 3–6 November 1869, the two and their followers met in
The proponents of Reform or progressive forms of Judaism had consistently claimed since the early nineteenth-century that they sought to reconcile Jewish religion with the best of contemporary scientific thought. The science of evolution was arguably the scientific idea that drew the most sustained interest. A good example is the series of twelve sermons published as The Cosmic God (1876) by
In 1885, Reform Judaism in America was confronted by challenges from both flanks. To the left,
The Pittsburgh Platform is considered a defining document of the sanitized and rationalistic "Classical Reform", dominant from the 1860s to the 1930s. At its height, some forty congregations adopted the Sunday Sabbath and UAHC communities had services without most traditional elements, in a manner seen in Europe only at the Berlin Reformgemeinde. In 1889, Wise founded the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the denominational rabbinic council.
However, change loomed on the horizon. From 1881 to 1924, over 2,400,000 immigrants from Eastern Europe drastically altered American Jewry, increasing it tenfold. The 40,000 members of Reform congregations became a small minority overnight. The newcomers arrived from backward regions, where modern education was scarce and civil equality nonexistent, retaining a strong sense of Jewish ethnicity. Even the ideological secularists among them, all the more so the common masses which merely turned lax or nonobservant, had a very traditional understanding of worship and religious conduct. The leading intellectuals of Eastern European Jewish nationalism castigated western Jews in general, and Reform Judaism in particular, not on theological grounds which they as laicists wholly rejected, but for what they claimed to be assimilationist tendencies and the undermining of peoplehood. This sentiment also fueled the manner in which the denomination is perceived in
While at first alienated from all native modernized Jews,
The World Union
In Germany, Liberal communities stagnated since mid-century. Full and complete Jewish emancipation granted to all in the German Empire in 1871 largely diffused interest in harmonizing religion with Zeitgeist. Immigration from Eastern Europe also strengthened traditional elements. In 1898, seeking to counter these trends, Rabbi Heinemann Vogelstein established the Union of Liberal Rabbis (Vereinigung der liberalen Rabbiner). It numbered 37 members at first and grew to include 72 by 1914, about half of Germany's Jewish clergy, a proportion maintained until 1933. In 1908, Vogelstein and Rabbi Cäsar Seligmann also founded a congregational arm, the Union for Liberal Judaism in Germany (Vereinigung für das Liberale Judentum in Deutschland), finally institutionalizing the current that until then was active as a loose tendency. The Union had some 10,000 registered members in the 1920s. In 1912, Seligmann drafted a declaration of principles, "Guiding Lines towards a Program for Liberal Judaism" (Richtlinien zu einem Programm für das liberale Judentum). It stressed the importance of individual consciousness and the supremacy of ethical values to ritual practice, declared a belief in a messianic age and was adopted as "a recommendation", rather than a binding decision.
In 1902,
Seligmann first suggested the creation of an international organization. On 10 July 1926, representatives from around the world gathered in London. Rabbi Jacob K. Shankman wrote they were all "animated by the convictions of Reform Judaism: emphasized the Prophets' teachings as the cardinal element, progressive revelation, willingness to adapt ancient forms to contemporary needs".
Already in 1930, the
The New Reform Judaism
Kohler retired in 1923. Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon was appointed HUC Chair of Theology in his stead, serving until 1956. Cohon, born near Minsk, was emblematic of the new generation of East European-descended clergy within American Reform. Deeply influenced by Ahad Ha'am and Mordecai Kaplan, he viewed Judaism as a Civilization, rather than a religion, though he and other Reform sympathizers of Kaplan fully maintained the notions of Election and revelation, which the latter denied. Cohon valued Jewish particularism over universalist leanings, encouraging the reincorporation of traditional elements long discarded, not as part of a comprehensive legalistic framework but as means to rekindle ethnic cohesion.[20] His approach echoed popular sentiment in the East Coast. So did Solomon Freehof, son to immigrants from Chernihiv, who advocated a selective rapprochement with halakha, which was to offer "guidance, not governance"; Freehof advocated replacing the sterile mood of community life, allowing isolated practices to emerge spontaneously and reincorporating old ones. He redrafted the Union Prayer Book in 1940 to include more old formulae and authored many responsa, though he always stressed compliance was voluntary.[75]
Cohon and Freehof rose against the background of the
The
World War II shattered many of the assumptions about human progress and benevolence held by liberal denominations, Reform included. A new generation of theologians attempted to formulate a response. Thinkers such as
The 1960s and 70s saw the rise of multiculturalism and the weakening of organized religion in favour of personal spirituality. A growing "return to ethnicity" among the young made items such as prayer shawls fashionable again. In 1963, HUC-graduate Sherwin Wine seceded to form the openly atheistic Birmingham Temple, declaring that for him Judaism was a cultural tradition, not a faith. Knowing that many in their audience held quite overlapping ideas, the pressure on the CCAR to move toward nontheism grew.[79]
In 1975, the lack of consensus surfaced during the compilation of a new standard prayer book, "
In 1972, the first Reform female rabbi,
On 26 May 1999, after a prolonged debate and six widely different drafts rejected, a "Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism" was adopted in Pittsburgh by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It affirmed the "reality and oneness of God", the Torah as "God's ongoing revelation to our people" and committed to the "ongoing study of the whole array of Commandments and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community. Some of these sacred obligations have long been observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention." While the wording was carefully crafted in order not to displease the estimated 20%–25% of membership that retained Classicist persuasions, it did raise condemnation from many of them.
See also
Notes
References
- ISBN 1-59244-943-3.
- ^ OCLC 857493257.
- ^ ISBN 0-8160-5457-6.
- ^ a b c Jakob Josef Petuchowski, "The Concept of Revelation in Reform Judaism", in Studies in Modern Theology and Prayer, Jewish Publication Society, 1998. pp. 101–112.
- ^ ISBN 9780815300762.
- ISBN 9780195051674.
- ^ Kaplan, Contemporary Debates, pp. 136–142; New Reform Judaism, pp. 6–8. Quote from: Kaplan, "Faith and Matrimony", Jewish Ideas Daily, 19 April 2013.
- ^ Kaplan, American Reform: an Introduction, p. 29; Challenges and Reflections, p. 36; Contemporary Debates, 136–142.;Jonathan Romain Reform Judaism and Modernity: A Reader, SCM Press, 2004. p. 145.
- ^ Meyer, p. 96.
- ^ Challenges and Reflections, pp. 34–36.
- ^ Kaplan, Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal, pp. 131.
- ^ Dana Evan Kaplan, Contemporary Debates in American Reform Judaism, Routledge, 2013. p. 239.; Challenges and Reflections, pp. 27, 46, 148.; Elliot N. Dorff, Conservative Judaism: Our Ancestors to Our Descendants, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 1979. pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b Eugene B. Borowitz, Reform Judaism Today, Behrman House, 1993. pp. 147–148.
- ^ See also: Dana Evan Kaplan, "In Praise of Reform Theology", The Forward, 16 March 2011.
- ^ Robert G. Goldy, The Emergence of Jewish Theology in America, Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. 24–25.
- ^ Dorff, p. 132; Dana Evan Kaplan, American Reform Judaism: An Introduction, Rutgers University Press, 2009. pp. 41–42; Jonathan Sacks, Crisis and Covenant: Jewish Thought After the Holocaust, Manchester Uni. Press, 1992. p. 158.
- ^ Leon A. Morris, "Beyond Autonomy: the Texts and Our Lives", in: Dana Evan Kaplan, Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002. pp. 271–284.
- ^ Walter Jacob, Liberal Judaism and Halakhah, Rodef Shalom Press, 1988. pp. 90–94.; Michael A. Meyer, "Changing Attitudes of Liberal Judaism toward Halakhah and Minhag", Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, 1993.
- ^ Borowitz, Reform Judaism Today, pp. 81, 88–90.
- ^ ISBN 9780253114129. pp. 59–65.
- ^ Romain, p. 8; Borowitz, Today, p. 168; Petuchowski, pp. 183–184.
- ^ Walter Homolka, Liturgie als Theologie: das Gebet als Zentrum im jüdischen Denken, Frank & Timme GmbH, 2005. pp. 63–98; and especially: J. J. Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform in Europe: the Liturgy of European Liberal and Reform Judaism, World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968.
- ^ Martha Himmelfarb, "Resurrection", in: Adele Berlin (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, Oxford University Press, 2011. p. 624.; Kaplan, Platforms and Prayer Books, p. 217.
- ^ Kaplan, Contemporary Debates, p. 106.
- ^ For a concise introduction, see: Dalia Marks, (Jewish) Reform Liturgy: Then and now, in: A Life of Meaning: Embracing Reform Judaism's Sacred Path. CCAR Press, 2017.
- ^ Jack Wertheimer, Steven M. Cohen, "The Pew Survey Reanalyzed: More Bad News, but a Glimmer of Hope", Mosaic Magazine, 2 November 2014.
- ^ "Chapter 4: Religious Beliefs and Practices". 1 October 2013.
- ^ "America's First Female Rabbi Reflects on Four Decades Since Ordination - eJewish Philanthropy". 8 May 2012.
- ^ "University of Southern Mississippi". www.lib.usm.edu.
- ISBN 0-87820-214-5.
- ^ "Reform Jews open door to gay clergy: FIN Edition". Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers. Torstar Syndication Services. 1990-06-26.
- ^ "Reform rabbis affirm same-sex unions". The Christian Century. 117 (13). 19 April 2000. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ McDonald, James. "Reform Judaism Just Became the Country's Most Trans-Inclusive Religious Group". Out. Pride Publishing. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ Contemporary Debates, pp. 122–123. See also: Darren Kleinberg, Reform Judaism and the Jewish "Social Gospel"[permanent dead link]. CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Fall 2009.
- ^ Aviad haCohen, ?בית המשפט ובג"ץ: תל פיות לתנועה הרפורמית, in: Rosenak ed., pp. 439–479.
- ^ a b Steven M. Cohen, "As Reform Jews Gather, Some Good News in the Numbers", The Forward, 5 November 2015.
- ^ a b Steven M. Cohen, "Members and Motives: Who Joins American Jewish Congregations and Why" Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, S3K Report, Fall 2006
- ^ Frank, L. (2023) Reform Movement Statement on Conversion Issue / Law of Return Grandchild Clause. Union for Reform Judaism. https://urj.org/press-room/reform-movement-statement-conversion-issue-law-return-grandchild-clause
- ^ Reform Judaism: The Tenets of Reform Judaism. Jewish Virtual Library. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-tenets-of-reform-judaism#Belief
- ^ Meyer, Response, p. 425.
- ^ Isaac Meyer Wise, Reformed Judaism, 1871. p. 261.
- ^ For the protocol of the vote, see: "International conference of liberal Jews, Saturday, July 10th – Monday July 12th, 1926", Jewish Religious Union. pp. 118–130.
- ^ American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Year Book, 1992, University of Nebraska Press, 1992. p. 257.
- ^ A Portrait of Jewish Americans, 1 October 2013.
- ^ "Nearly 2.2 million Americans and Canadians identify as Reform Jews": The Reform Movement, urj.org.
- ^ Find a Congregation (under the rubric 'country'), urj.org. For the mutually exclusive of list of Reconstructionist congregations worldwide, see Directory of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, jewishrecon.org.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 16–22.
- ^ David Harry Ellenson, After Emancipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity, Hebrew Union College Press, 2004. p. 103.
- ^ Michael K. Silber, "Orthodoxy", The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
- ^ Meyer, p. 42.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 55–58, 111–115, 150–157.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 232–235. See Harby's discourse in: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Writings of the Late Isaac Harby, Esq, 1829, p. 57. See also: The Sabbath service and miscellaneous prayers, adopted by the Reformed society of Israelites, founded in Charleston, S. C., November 21, 1825.
- ISBN 9-78-0-415-26707-6.
- ^ Michael A. Meyer, Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism, Wayne State University Press, 1995. pp. 89–99.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 125–127.
- ^ David Ellenson, Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer and the Creation of a Modern Jewish Orthodoxy, University of Alabama Press, 1990. p. 65.
- ^ a b Steven M. Lowenstein, "The 1840s and the Creation of the German-Jewish Religious Reform Movement", in: Werner E. Mosse ed., Revolution and Evolution, 1848 in German-Jewish History, Mohr Siebeck, 1981. pp. 258–266.
- ^ Meyer, Judaism Within Modernity, p. 135.
- ^ Meyer, Response, p. ix, 180.
- ^ For example: Todd M. Endelman, The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000. University of California Press, 2002. p. 167; David Ellenson, The Mannheimer Prayerbooks and Modern Central European Communal Liturgies: A Representative Comparison of Mid-Nineteenth Century Works.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 185–188, 210; Michael Meyer, Deutsch-jüdische Geschichte in der Neuzeit: Band 3', C.H. Beck, 1997. pp. 100–110.
- ^ Lowenstein, The 1840s, p. 256.
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 154–160, 168–170, 195–200.
- ^ Meyer, Judaism Within Modernity, pp. 278–279; Response, p. 200.
- ^ a b Daniel R. Langton, "A Question of Backbone: Contrasting Christian Influences upon the Origins of Reform and Liberal Judaism in England", in: Melilah; Manchester Journal for Jewish Studies 3(2004), pp. 1–47.
- ^ Michael A. Meyer, Judaism Within Modernity: Essays on Jewish History and Religion, Wayne State University Press, 2001. p. 108.
- ^ Jack Wertheimer, The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed, Cambridge University Press, 2003. p. 43.
- ^ Langton, Daniel R. "Discourses of Doubt: The Place of Atheism, Scepticism and Infidelity in Nineteenth-Century North American Reform Jewish Thought" in Hebrew Union College Annual (2018) Vol.88. pp. 203-253.
- ^ Daniel R. Langton, Reform Judaism and Darwin: How Engaging with Evolutionary Theory shaped American Jewish Religion (Berlin: de Gruyter, Walter GmbH & Co, 2019).
- ^ Meyer, Response, pp. 292–294, 350.
- ^ Meyer, Response to Modernity, p. 214–215; Michael A. Meyer, Judaism Within Modernity, pp. 309–324.
- ISBN 0853033765
- ^ Jacob K. Shankman, Essays in honor of Solomon B. Freehof, Rodef Shalom, 1964. p. 129.
- ^ Geoffrey Alderman, Modern British Jewry, Oxford University Press, 1998. p. 354.
- ISBN 9780878204670. pp. 68–80.
- ISBN 9780521529518. pp. 119–123.
- ISBN 9780827611337. pp. 260–263.
- ^ J. J. Petuchowski, Reform Judaism: Undone by Revival, First Things, January 1992.
- ^ a b Kaplan, Contemporary Debates, pp. 136–142, 242–270.
- ^ Dana Evan Kaplan, Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal, Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 119–121.
- ^ a b Jonathan Sarna, Contemporary Reform Judaism: A Historical Perspective, in: Rosenak, היהדות הרפורמית, pp. 499–509.
- ^ Joseph Berger, "Rise of 23% Noted in Reform Judaism", The New York Times, 1 November 1985.
- ^ Kaplan, An Introduction, pp. 236–238.
- ^ Kaplan, Challenges and Reflections. p. 89; "Classical Reform revival pushes back against embrace of tradition". Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 9 December 2009.
Further reading
- Sourcebooks
- Kaplan, Dana Evan, ed. (2002). Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism. Rowman & Littlefield Publ.
- ISBN 0-8074-0732-1.
- OCLC 39869725.
- Raphael, Marc Lee (1993). Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (Jewish Denominations in America). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. OCLC 26212515.
- Studies
- ISBN 9780874413151.
- Deshen, Shlomo; ISBN 978-1-56000-178-2.
- ISBN 1-57718-058-5.
- ISBN 0813532191.
- ISBN 978-0-231-13728-7.
- OCLC 857493257.
- ISBN 978-0881233131.
- ISBN 0870682792.
- ISBN 9780815300762.
- Philipson, David (1907). The Reform Movement in Judaism. Syracuse, New York: Macmillan.
- Raphael, Marc Lee (1984). Profiles in American Judaism: the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist traditions in historical perspective. San Francisco, Ca: Harper & Row. pp. 1–78. ISBN 0-06066801-6.
- ISBN 0334029481.
- Rudavsky, David (1979) [1967]. Modern Jewish Religious Movements: A History of Emancipation and Abjustment (3rd rev. ed.). New York: Behrman House. pp. 156–185, 285–316. ISBN 0-87441-286-2.
- Tabory, Ephraim (2004) [1990]. "Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel". In Goldscheider, Calvin; ISBN 1-59244-943-3.
- Tabory, Ephraim (2004). "The Israel Reform and Conservative Movements and the Marker for the Liberal Judaism". In Rebhum, Uzi; Waxman, Chaim I. (eds.). Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns. Brandeis University Press. pp. 285–314.
External links
- Reform Judaism
- Union for Reform Judaism
- World Union for Progressive Judaism
- Central Conference of American Rabbis
- American Conference of Cantors
- Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion
- Reform Judaism magazine
- Liberal Judaism in the UK
- The Movement for Reform Judaism in the UK
- Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism
- Unión del Judaísmo Reformista - Amlat
- Instituto de Formación Rabínica Reformista