Reform Judaism (North America)
Encyclopedia
Reform Judaism
is the largest denomination
of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism
worldwide.
W. Gunther Plaut
writes "there is no such thing as a Jewish theological principle
, policy, or doctrine." This is because Reform Judaism affirms "the fundamental principle of Liberalism
: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut
, the freedom to decide what will be harut - engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life."
Reform Judaism has always promoted monotheism
. This belief is reaffirmed in its new statement of principles. In recent decades, however, a minority of Reform rabbis and laity have come to affirm various beliefs, including deism
. At least one edition of the former official American Reform prayerbook, Gates of Prayer, The New Union Prayerbook
, is predominantly theistic, but also includes a service that omits all references to God in English while retaining them in Hebrew (pp. 204–218).
The Reform movement has had a number of official platforms. The first was the 1885 Declaration of Principles, the Pittsburgh Platform. The next platform was written in 1937 by the Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). The CCAR rewrote its principles in 1976 with its Centenary Perspective and rewrote them again in the 1999 A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism. While original drafts of the 1999 statement called for Reform Jews to consider re-adopting some traditional practices on a voluntary basis, later drafts removed most of these suggestions. The final version is thus similar to the 1976 statement. According to the CCAR, personal autonomy still has precedence over these platforms.
was based on the views of Rabbi Samuel Holdheim
(1806–1860), leader of Reform Judaism in Germany
, and other reformers. Holdheim believed that Reform Judaism should be based solely upon monotheism
and morality. Almost everything connected with Jewish ritual law and custom was of the ancient past, and thus no longer appropriate for Jews to follow in the modern era. This approach was the dominant form of Reform Judaism from its creation until the 1940s. Since the 1940s, the American Reform movement has continued to change, sometimes evolving in what appears to be a traditional direction. Many Reform congregations use more Hebrew in their religious services and are incorporating aspects of laws and customs
, in a selective fashion, into their lives. This is a departure from the classical Reform position in favor of more traditional Judaism.
Even those in the traditionalist wing of Reform Judaism still accept that the primary principle of classical Reform is personal autonomy. Autonomy has precedence over Jewish tradition; halakha has no binding authority for Reform rabbis. The difference between the classical Reformers and the Reform traditionalists is that the traditionalists feel that the default position towards choosing to follow any particular practice should be one of acceptance, rather than rejection. While representing a minority, this group has influenced the new Reform statement of principles, which states that "We are committed to the ongoing study of the whole array of 'mitzvot' and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community."
Currently, some Reform rabbis promote following elements of halakha, and developed the concept of Progressive Halakhah. For instance, the American Rabbi Walter Jacob, the Israeli Rabbi Moshe Zemer and the British Liberal Rabbi John D. Rayner believe in many parts of traditional Jewish theology, but take present developments and valuations of ethics and law into consideration. Others actively discourage the adoption of more traditional practices or beliefs, because they believe that this is not in the ethos of the Reform movement. Both encouraging or discouraging practices stipulated by halakha are considered acceptable positions within Reform. (See also, the various positions within contemporary Judaism as regards Halakha.)
s. This appears consistent with Reform's belief in autonomy for members and clergy. Recent surveys by the Rabbinic Center for Research and Counseling show that 40% of CCAR Reform rabbis now perform some form of intermarriages, though 60% will not officiate at intermarriages at all. This is an important consideration for many Reform Jews, since a number of Reform Jews are intermarried. However, the great majority of Reform rabbis who perform intermarriages will only officiate at weddings where the non-Jewish spouse is undertaking conversion to Judaism, and where both parents agree to maintain a Jewish home and to raise their children with a Jewish identity.
Reform Judaism accepts the child of one Jewish parent (father or mother) as Jewish if the parents raise the child with a Jewish identity. In Reform's 1983 proclamation, "The Status of Children of Mixed Marriages", it states that allowing patrilineal Jewish descent is based on Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, claiming that purely matrilineal Jewish descent was first taught during Talmudic times (Kiddushin 68b). In any event, children with one Jewish parent are considered to be Jewish only if they have been raised in that identity. Since the concept of inclusion is vital to the Reform movement, Reform rabbis encourage participation of Gentiles and actively support those pursuing the conversion process. Conversion of non-Jews to Reform Judaism is therefore higher than in other Jewish denominations, where the practice is either discouraged or essentially non-existent.
The Reform movement fully accepts gay and lesbian members. Some Reform clergy perform wedding or commitment ceremonies for Jewish gay and lesbian couples when allowed by law in that jurisdiction.
, and that the Temple in Jerusalem
would be rebuilt, or that one day animal sacrifices would be re-established in a rebuilt Temple, in accord with a traditional, literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible
.
Reform Judaism rejected the classical rabbinic teaching that the Jews were in exile (galut). Instead, they suggested that dispersion of Jews among the nations was a necessary experience in the realization and execution of the people's duty. Instead, the people Israel was viewed as the Messianic people, appointed to spread by its fortitude and loyalty the monotheistic truth and morality over all the earth, to be an example of rectitude to all others. For Reform Jews, all forms of Jewish law and custom were seen as bound up with the national political conception of Israel's destiny, and thus they were dispensable.
Reform Jews ceased to declare Jews to be in exile; the modern Jews in United States or Europe had no cause to feel that the countries in which they lived were "a strange land." Many Reform Jews went so far as to agree that prayers for the resumption of a Jewish homeland were incompatible with desiring to be a citizen of a nation. Thus, the Reformers implied that for a German, French, or American Jew to pray from the original siddur
was tantamount to dual loyalty, if not outright treason. In the U.S., Reform intellectuals argued that their commitment to the principles of equal rights and the separation of religion and state precluded them from supporting the late nineteenth century Jewish nationalist
concepts embodied in Zionism
, but this did not affect their continuing support for the betterment of world Jewry in general.
Since the Holocaust
and the establishment of the modern State of Israel, in 1948
, Reform Judaism has repudiated anti-Zionism
. Anti-Zionist Reform rabbis broke away during WWII to found the American Council for Judaism
, which declined in activity following the Six Day War. Many Reform Jews have chosen to make aliyah (move to Israel), and several kibbutzim are affiliated with the Israeli Reform movement. The Reform movement also sends thousands of youth and college-age students to Israel every year on summer and year-long programs. All rabbinical and cantorial students and many education students at the Hebrew Union College
, the American Reform seminary, must spend the first year of their studies in Israel. They are expected to absorb the language and culture and become familiar with biblical geography. The Reform movement in the United States works closely with the Israeli Reform movement
.
and the decision of young adults to embrace Jewish study in their lives and reaffirm their commitment to the Covenant
. The confirmands represent "the first fruits of each year's harvest. They represent the hope and promise of tomorrow." Confirmation is typically held in tenth grade
after a year of study, but some synagogues celebrate it in other years of high school
. While Confirmation is a group experience, Reform Judaism celebrates an individual child's spiritual coming-of-age with becoming a Bar Mitzvah for boys or a Bat Mitzvah for girls at age 13.
is mentioned officially for the first time in an ordinance issued by the Jewish consistory of the kingdom of Westphalia
at Cassel in 1810. There it was made the duty of the rabbi
"to prepare the young for confirmation, and personally to conduct the ceremony." At first only boys were confirmed, on the Shabbat
("Sabbath") that they celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah; the ceremony was performed at the home or in the schoolroom. In Berlin
, Jewish girls were confirmed for the first time in 1817, in Hamburg in 1818.
Confrimation was at first excluded from the synagogue, because, like every innovation, it met with stern opposition from more traditional Jewish rabbis. Gradually, however, it found more favor; Hebrew school classes were confirmed together, and confirmation gradually became a solemn and celebration at the synagogue
. In 1822 the first class of boys and girls was confirmed at the Hamburg Temple, and in 1831 Rabbi Samuel Egers, a prominent traditional rabbi of his time, began to confirm boys and girls at the synagogue of Brunswick.
While in the beginning some Shabbat, frequently during Chanukah or Passover
, was selected for confirmation, it became more and more customary, following the example of Egers, to perform the ceremony during the biblical festival of Shavuot
("Feast of Weeks"). It was felt that Shavuot was well suited for the rite, as it celebrated the occasion when the Israelites on Mount Sinai
, of their own free will, declared their intention to accept the obligation of God's Law
, so those of every new generation should follow the ancient example and declare their willingness to be faithful to the religion transmitted by their ancestors.
Confirmation was introduced in Denmark as early as 1817, in Hamburg 1818, and in Hessen and Saxony in 1835. The Prussian government, which showed itself hostile to the Reform movement, prohibited it as late as 1836, as did Bavaria as late as 1838. It soon made its way, however, into all progressive congregations of Germany. In 1841 it was introduced in France, first in Bordeaux and Marseilles, then in Strasburg and Paris, under the name "initiation religieuse." The first Israelitish synod in 1869 at Leipsic adopted a report by Dr. Herxheimer on religious education, the thirteenth section of which contains an elaborate opinion on confirmation, recommending the same to all Jewish congregations.
In America the annual confirmation of boys and girls was first resolved upon by the congregation of Temple Emanu-El of New York in 1847. The ceremony soon gained so firm a foothold in America that soon there was no progressive Jewish congregation in which it did not occur during Shavuot
.
In objection to this, Orthodox Judaism criticicized the Reform movement for introducing confirmation, as the ceremony had no roots in rabbinic Judaism. When Conservative Judaism
began to develop as a distinct movement it too generally rejected confirmation as either unnecessary, or as a non-Jewish innovation.
. Charleston was one of the four largest ports in the USA and home to the largest Jewish community in the nation. It was originally made up of Spanish and Portuguese Jews
who had immigrated from England. Later 19th century immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe found an established community in the city. As Charleston maintained strong trade with England
, Beth Elohim had close ties with the Bevis Marks Synagogue
in London.
On November 21, 1824 forty-seven lay members of Beth Elohim signed a petition requesting a number of reforms, including repeating Hebrew prayers in English, and English-language sermons. The petitioners and their leader Isaac Harby were concerned about recent increases in Christian missionary activity towards Jews. They hoped these reforms would lead congregants to be more engaged with Judaism and less vulnerable to the missionaries. When their request was rebuffed, the signatories formed the Reformed Society of Israelites. They adopted a statement of principles based on Moses Maimonides's "Thirteen Articles of Faith", but with three major differences:
The Reformed Society of Israelites lasted about ten years before it dissolved; some members had moved away and others returned to Beth Elohim. Their pressures for reform did not cease and eventually gained the support of the cantor Gustavus Poznanski. In 1841, Beth Elohim became the first US synagogue to acquire a pipe organ for music, a major innovation. In response, the traditionalists broke away and formed congregation Shearith Israel.
(Temple Emanu-El), in Baltimore (Har Sinai Congregation
, founded in 1842), and in Cincinnati (B'ne Yeshurun), that insisted on changes in the services. The coming of David Einhorn, who published his influential prayer book Olat Tamid for Har Sinai in 1858, Samuel Adler
, and, later, the philosopher Samuel Hirsch
, gave the Reform cause three influential leaders and additional impetus.
Men of more conservative temperament, such as Adolf Hübsch and Marcus Jastrow
, still adopted most Reform principles, though in practice they continued along somewhat less radical lines. In addition, Isaac Mayer Wise
and Max Lilienthal cast their influence in favor of Reform. Bernhard Felsenthal and Kaufmann Kohler
, and American-bred rabbis Emil Hirsch
, Samuel Sale, and David Philipson were among its proponents. In 1869 the Philadelphia Conference and the Pittsburgh Platform
in 1885 in Pittsburgh
promulgated the principles which are still basic to the practice and teachings of American Reform congregations.
. The more radical element planned the banquet with a provocative menu containing shrimp, a food prohibited by traditional Jewish kosher dietary law. The menu highlighted the developing conflict over whether kosher law (and, by extension, rabbinical law in general) would be binding in Reform Judaism. The Trefa Banquet, (trefa means non-kosher) intensified the conflict between the radical and conservative reformers. The conflict further intensified in 1885 when a fierce debate broke out between Kaufmann Kohler
, a liberal, and Alexander Kohut
, a conservative, over the nature of what was open to reform and what was bound by established rabbinic law.
In response to the debate, Kohler called a conference of reform-minded rabbis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
in 1885. Isaac Mayer Wise
, the rabbinical head of the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, presided over the conference. The conference produced the Pittsburgh Platform
, a highly controversial position on the mutability of rabbinic law, which triggered a contentious split between those more and less conservative. In 1889, the more liberal Reform rabbis organized under the banner of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
, selecting Hebrew Union College
as its flagship university and seminary.
About the same period in New York, 1886 saw the "Jewish Theological Seminary Association" established as a separate rabbinical school, which became the Jewish Theological Seminary
in 1902. Its members included a group of the more traditional and less radically reformed rabbis, taking a path between Orthodox and Reform, who founded the Rabbinical Assembly
as their clergy organization, with the Jewish Theological Seminary as its university. In 1913, the congregations led by these Conservative (as they were known by then) rabbis banded together as a distinct denomination under the banner of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
.
and Emil Hirsch
convened the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
conference of 1885 to refine and articulate the emerging principles of the movement, building on the similar conference in Philadelphia sixteen years earlier and the German Conference of 1841-1846 (supra)
At the Pittsburgh conference, the Reform rabbis convened under the leadership of Isaac Mayer Wise
, the dean of Hebrew Union College, the Reform seminary, and adopted an eight-point platform articulating the principles of the Reform movement.http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=39&pge_prg_id=3032&pge_id=1656 While affirming their commitment to monotheism
, the rabbis explicitly rejected Jewish dietary laws, "all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state," disavowed a hope or goal of returning to Zion
, and declared their belief in following "only [the] moral laws, and...only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization." The principles expressed in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform formed the core of what was to become known as "Classical Reform Judaism", a modernist, assimilationist philosophy that dominated the denomination until after the State of Israel was founded in 1948.
. The rejection of Zionism in the earlier platforms was increasingly viewed as out of step by most Jews, especially in light of the new State of Israel.
The most recent revision was in 1999, again in Pittsburgh. There was a counter-reformation developing among both clergy and laity that called for the return to some previously rejected rituals and traditions and a clarification of the role of God in Reform Judaism.
The 1999 statement that emerged from this conference is entitled A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism. The Statement of Principles affirms the central tenets of Judaism - God, Torah and Israel - even as it acknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. It also invites all Reform Jews to engage in a dialogue with the sources of tradition, responding out of knowledge, experience and faith. "Thus we hope to transform our lives through (kedushah), holiness."
to petition for major changes in the Shabbat service at Congregation Beth Elohim, including that each Hebrew prayer in the service be immediately followed by an English translation, that new prayers reflecting contemporary American life be added, that the rabbi offer a weekly sermon in English to explain the Scriptures and apply them to everyday life, and that services be shortened.,
1842 Har Sinai Congregation
in Baltimore, Maryland
, adopts Reform services
1845 Temple Emanu-El becomes New York City
's first Reform congregation
1846 Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
came to the US in from Bohemia.
1857 Wise writes the first American siddur
, "Minhag America."
1873 Wise founds the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1875 Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College
is founded in Cincinnati by Isaac Mayer Wise.
1885 A group of Reform rabbis adopts the Pittsburgh Platform
.
1889 The Central Conference of American Rabbis is established.
1922 Reform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise establishes the Jewish Institute of Religion
in New York. It merged with Hebrew Union College in 1950. A third center was opened in Los Angeles in 1954, and a fourth branch was established in Jerusalem in 1963.
1937 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
adopts "The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism", known as the Columbus Platform.
1976 On the occasion of the centennials of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
adopts Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective.
1983 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
formally states that a Jewish identity can be passed down through either the mother or the father, if the child is raised with a Jewish identity, thereby making official what had been the state of affairs in many Reform communities since the early twentieth century. Despite its rejection by Conservative Judaism
and Orthodox Judaism
, as well as the religious establishment of the State of Israel (although immigrant children who have a Jewish father but a non-Jewish mother are recognized as Jewish by the Registry Office), descent through the mother or the father becomes the standard for American Reform Jews. (Canadian Reform congregations are divided on this issue).
1997 On the occasion of the centenary of the first World Zionist Congress, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
adopts the Miami Platform, dedicated to the relationship between Reform Judaism and Zionism
.
1999 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
adopts "A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism" in Pittsburgh
.
2003 The congregational arm of the Reform Movement in North America adopts the new name "Union for Reform Judaism" (URJ), replacing its previous name "Union of American Hebrew Congregations" (UAHC) at its Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota
.
2007 Mishkan T'filah
, a new North American Reform Siddur, is published.
The Union for Reform Judaism
, the central body of the Reform Movement in North America, was founded in Cincinnati in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. It is the largest Jewish movement in North America and represents an estimated 1.5 million Jews. The name change was approved at the Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2003.
As the congregational arm of the Reform Movement, the Union's primary mission is to create and sustain vibrant Jewish congregations wherever Reform Jews live. The Union provides leadership and vision to Reform Jews on spiritual, ethical, and political issues, as well as materials and consultation for programs in the congregation. The Union also provides opportunities for individual growth and identity that congregations and individuals cannot provide by themselves, including camps and Israel programs, study kallot, youth groups (See: NFTY
), and North American and regional biennials. The Union also publishes the quarterly Reform Judaism
magazine.
and the URJ.
and Conservative Judaism
regard Reform Jews who are matrilineally descended as Jews, they do not recognize people who are Jewish by Reform conversions nor Reform's acceptance of patrilineal descent of Jewish children. A growing number of Reform Jews are not Jewish according to traditional halakha
.
. Because the Orthodox movement holds great political power in Israel, their ruling that neither Reform converts nor children of Jewish fathers only are Jews under the law affects many individuals and families, including potential immigrants and those married to converted Jews. With increasing intermarriage in the United States, American Jews are concerned that Israeli rabbis are taking too narrow a view of Jewish identity.
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
is the largest denomination
Jewish denominations
Jewish religious movements , sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed among Jews from ancient times and especially in the modern era among Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries...
of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism
Progressive Judaism
Progressive Judaism , is an umbrella term used by strands of Judaism which affiliate to the World Union for Progressive Judaism. They embrace pluralism, modernity, equality and social justice as core values and believe that such values are consistent with a committed Jewish life...
worldwide.
Reform Jewish theology
RabbiRabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
W. Gunther Plaut
Gunther Plaut
Wolf Gunther Plaut, CC, O.Ont is a Reform rabbi and author. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 is its Senior Scholar....
writes "there is no such thing as a Jewish theological principle
Jewish principles of faith
The concept of an explicit, paramount definition of faith does not exist in Judaism as it does in other monotheistic religions such as Christianity. Although Jews and religious leaders share a core of monotheistic principles, and there are many fundamental principles quoted in the Talmud to define...
, policy, or doctrine." This is because Reform Judaism affirms "the fundamental principle of Liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut
Herut (disambiguation)
Herut may refer to:*Herut, the major right-wing party in Israel until its merger into Likud.*Herut , the name of a four different newspapers in Palestine and Israel between 1909 and 1965....
, the freedom to decide what will be harut - engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life."
Reform Judaism has always promoted monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
. This belief is reaffirmed in its new statement of principles. In recent decades, however, a minority of Reform rabbis and laity have come to affirm various beliefs, including deism
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
. At least one edition of the former official American Reform prayerbook, Gates of Prayer, The New Union Prayerbook
Gates of Prayer
Gates of Prayer, the New Union Prayer Book is a Reform Jewish siddur that was announced in October 1975 as a replacement for the 80-year-old Union Prayer Book , incorporating more Hebrew content and was updated to be more accessible to modern worshipers...
, is predominantly theistic, but also includes a service that omits all references to God in English while retaining them in Hebrew (pp. 204–218).
The Reform movement has had a number of official platforms. The first was the 1885 Declaration of Principles, the Pittsburgh Platform. The next platform was written in 1937 by the Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). The CCAR rewrote its principles in 1976 with its Centenary Perspective and rewrote them again in the 1999 A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism. While original drafts of the 1999 statement called for Reform Jews to consider re-adopting some traditional practices on a voluntary basis, later drafts removed most of these suggestions. The final version is thus similar to the 1976 statement. According to the CCAR, personal autonomy still has precedence over these platforms.
Reform Judaism's position on Jewish law
The classical approach of Reform Judaism towards halakhaHalakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
was based on the views of Rabbi Samuel Holdheim
Samuel Holdheim
Samuel Holdheim was a German rabbi and author, and one of the more extreme leaders of the early Reform Movement in Judaism. A pioneer in modern Jewish homiletics, he was often at odds with the Orthodox community.- Early life :...
(1806–1860), leader of Reform Judaism in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and other reformers. Holdheim believed that Reform Judaism should be based solely upon monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
and morality. Almost everything connected with Jewish ritual law and custom was of the ancient past, and thus no longer appropriate for Jews to follow in the modern era. This approach was the dominant form of Reform Judaism from its creation until the 1940s. Since the 1940s, the American Reform movement has continued to change, sometimes evolving in what appears to be a traditional direction. Many Reform congregations use more Hebrew in their religious services and are incorporating aspects of laws and customs
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, in a selective fashion, into their lives. This is a departure from the classical Reform position in favor of more traditional Judaism.
Even those in the traditionalist wing of Reform Judaism still accept that the primary principle of classical Reform is personal autonomy. Autonomy has precedence over Jewish tradition; halakha has no binding authority for Reform rabbis. The difference between the classical Reformers and the Reform traditionalists is that the traditionalists feel that the default position towards choosing to follow any particular practice should be one of acceptance, rather than rejection. While representing a minority, this group has influenced the new Reform statement of principles, which states that "We are committed to the ongoing study of the whole array of 'mitzvot' and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community."
Currently, some Reform rabbis promote following elements of halakha, and developed the concept of Progressive Halakhah. For instance, the American Rabbi Walter Jacob, the Israeli Rabbi Moshe Zemer and the British Liberal Rabbi John D. Rayner believe in many parts of traditional Jewish theology, but take present developments and valuations of ethics and law into consideration. Others actively discourage the adoption of more traditional practices or beliefs, because they believe that this is not in the ethos of the Reform movement. Both encouraging or discouraging practices stipulated by halakha are considered acceptable positions within Reform. (See also, the various positions within contemporary Judaism as regards Halakha.)
Jewish identity and inter-religious marriages
Despite a 1973 Central Conference of American Rabbis resolution opposing the performance of interfaith weddings by its members, the CCAR does not formally forbid its members from officiating at interreligious marriageInterreligious marriage
Interfaith marriage, traditionally called mixed marriage, is marriage between partners professing different religions. Some religious doctrines prohibit interfaith marriage, and while others do allow it, most restrict it...
s. This appears consistent with Reform's belief in autonomy for members and clergy. Recent surveys by the Rabbinic Center for Research and Counseling show that 40% of CCAR Reform rabbis now perform some form of intermarriages, though 60% will not officiate at intermarriages at all. This is an important consideration for many Reform Jews, since a number of Reform Jews are intermarried. However, the great majority of Reform rabbis who perform intermarriages will only officiate at weddings where the non-Jewish spouse is undertaking conversion to Judaism, and where both parents agree to maintain a Jewish home and to raise their children with a Jewish identity.
Reform Judaism accepts the child of one Jewish parent (father or mother) as Jewish if the parents raise the child with a Jewish identity. In Reform's 1983 proclamation, "The Status of Children of Mixed Marriages", it states that allowing patrilineal Jewish descent is based on Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, claiming that purely matrilineal Jewish descent was first taught during Talmudic times (Kiddushin 68b). In any event, children with one Jewish parent are considered to be Jewish only if they have been raised in that identity. Since the concept of inclusion is vital to the Reform movement, Reform rabbis encourage participation of Gentiles and actively support those pursuing the conversion process. Conversion of non-Jews to Reform Judaism is therefore higher than in other Jewish denominations, where the practice is either discouraged or essentially non-existent.
The Reform movement fully accepts gay and lesbian members. Some Reform clergy perform wedding or commitment ceremonies for Jewish gay and lesbian couples when allowed by law in that jurisdiction.
View of Zionism
In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Reform Judaism rejected the idea that Jews would re-create a Jewish state in their ancestral homeland. They rejected the idea that there would be a messiahMessiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
, and that the Temple in Jerusalem
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
would be rebuilt, or that one day animal sacrifices would be re-established in a rebuilt Temple, in accord with a traditional, literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
.
Reform Judaism rejected the classical rabbinic teaching that the Jews were in exile (galut). Instead, they suggested that dispersion of Jews among the nations was a necessary experience in the realization and execution of the people's duty. Instead, the people Israel was viewed as the Messianic people, appointed to spread by its fortitude and loyalty the monotheistic truth and morality over all the earth, to be an example of rectitude to all others. For Reform Jews, all forms of Jewish law and custom were seen as bound up with the national political conception of Israel's destiny, and thus they were dispensable.
Reform Jews ceased to declare Jews to be in exile; the modern Jews in United States or Europe had no cause to feel that the countries in which they lived were "a strange land." Many Reform Jews went so far as to agree that prayers for the resumption of a Jewish homeland were incompatible with desiring to be a citizen of a nation. Thus, the Reformers implied that for a German, French, or American Jew to pray from the original siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
was tantamount to dual loyalty, if not outright treason. In the U.S., Reform intellectuals argued that their commitment to the principles of equal rights and the separation of religion and state precluded them from supporting the late nineteenth century Jewish nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
concepts embodied in Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, but this did not affect their continuing support for the betterment of world Jewry in general.
Since the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and the establishment of the modern State of Israel, in 1948
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Reform Judaism has repudiated anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
. Anti-Zionist Reform rabbis broke away during WWII to found the American Council for Judaism
American Council for Judaism
The American Council for Judaism is an organization of American Jews committed to the proposition that Jews are not a nationality but merely a religious group, adhering to the original stated principles of Reform Judaism, as articulated in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform.The ACJ was founded in June...
, which declined in activity following the Six Day War. Many Reform Jews have chosen to make aliyah (move to Israel), and several kibbutzim are affiliated with the Israeli Reform movement. The Reform movement also sends thousands of youth and college-age students to Israel every year on summer and year-long programs. All rabbinical and cantorial students and many education students at the Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
, the American Reform seminary, must spend the first year of their studies in Israel. They are expected to absorb the language and culture and become familiar with biblical geography. The Reform movement in the United States works closely with the Israeli Reform movement
Progressive Judaism (Israel)
Progressive Judaism is the Israeli equivalent of Reform Judaism.The Reform Judaism's growth in Israel is limited because of political pressure from the ultra orthodox people and parties. Reform Jews are being discriminated by the ultra orthodox parties, for example Israel's Interior minister, Eli...
.
Confirmation ceremonies
Many Reform congregations hold Confirmation ceremonies as a way of marking the festival of ShavuotShavuot
The festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
and the decision of young adults to embrace Jewish study in their lives and reaffirm their commitment to the Covenant
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
. The confirmands represent "the first fruits of each year's harvest. They represent the hope and promise of tomorrow." Confirmation is typically held in tenth grade
Tenth grade
In majority of the world,Tenth grade is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten. The variants of "10th grade" in various nations is described below.-Australia:...
after a year of study, but some synagogues celebrate it in other years of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. While Confirmation is a group experience, Reform Judaism celebrates an individual child's spiritual coming-of-age with becoming a Bar Mitzvah for boys or a Bat Mitzvah for girls at age 13.
Historical origin of confirmation in Reform Judaism
Confirmation in the context of Reform JudaismReform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
is mentioned officially for the first time in an ordinance issued by the Jewish consistory of the kingdom of Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
at Cassel in 1810. There it was made the duty of the rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
"to prepare the young for confirmation, and personally to conduct the ceremony." At first only boys were confirmed, on the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
("Sabbath") that they celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah; the ceremony was performed at the home or in the schoolroom. In Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Jewish girls were confirmed for the first time in 1817, in Hamburg in 1818.
Confrimation was at first excluded from the synagogue, because, like every innovation, it met with stern opposition from more traditional Jewish rabbis. Gradually, however, it found more favor; Hebrew school classes were confirmed together, and confirmation gradually became a solemn and celebration at the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. In 1822 the first class of boys and girls was confirmed at the Hamburg Temple, and in 1831 Rabbi Samuel Egers, a prominent traditional rabbi of his time, began to confirm boys and girls at the synagogue of Brunswick.
While in the beginning some Shabbat, frequently during Chanukah or Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, was selected for confirmation, it became more and more customary, following the example of Egers, to perform the ceremony during the biblical festival of Shavuot
Shavuot
The festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
("Feast of Weeks"). It was felt that Shavuot was well suited for the rite, as it celebrated the occasion when the Israelites on Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...
, of their own free will, declared their intention to accept the obligation of God's Law
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, so those of every new generation should follow the ancient example and declare their willingness to be faithful to the religion transmitted by their ancestors.
Confirmation was introduced in Denmark as early as 1817, in Hamburg 1818, and in Hessen and Saxony in 1835. The Prussian government, which showed itself hostile to the Reform movement, prohibited it as late as 1836, as did Bavaria as late as 1838. It soon made its way, however, into all progressive congregations of Germany. In 1841 it was introduced in France, first in Bordeaux and Marseilles, then in Strasburg and Paris, under the name "initiation religieuse." The first Israelitish synod in 1869 at Leipsic adopted a report by Dr. Herxheimer on religious education, the thirteenth section of which contains an elaborate opinion on confirmation, recommending the same to all Jewish congregations.
In America the annual confirmation of boys and girls was first resolved upon by the congregation of Temple Emanu-El of New York in 1847. The ceremony soon gained so firm a foothold in America that soon there was no progressive Jewish congregation in which it did not occur during Shavuot
Shavuot
The festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
.
In objection to this, Orthodox Judaism criticicized the Reform movement for introducing confirmation, as the ceremony had no roots in rabbinic Judaism. When Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
began to develop as a distinct movement it too generally rejected confirmation as either unnecessary, or as a non-Jewish innovation.
Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina
While later influenced by German Jewish immigrants, the first rumblings of reform in the USA began on November 21, 1824 at Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. Charleston was one of the four largest ports in the USA and home to the largest Jewish community in the nation. It was originally made up of Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
who had immigrated from England. Later 19th century immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe found an established community in the city. As Charleston maintained strong trade with England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Beth Elohim had close ties with the Bevis Marks Synagogue
Bevis Marks Synagogue
----Bevis Marks Synagogue is located off Bevis Marks, in the City of London. The synagogue, affiliated to London's historic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community, is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom still in use...
in London.
On November 21, 1824 forty-seven lay members of Beth Elohim signed a petition requesting a number of reforms, including repeating Hebrew prayers in English, and English-language sermons. The petitioners and their leader Isaac Harby were concerned about recent increases in Christian missionary activity towards Jews. They hoped these reforms would lead congregants to be more engaged with Judaism and less vulnerable to the missionaries. When their request was rebuffed, the signatories formed the Reformed Society of Israelites. They adopted a statement of principles based on Moses Maimonides's "Thirteen Articles of Faith", but with three major differences:
- belief in resurrection of the dead was replaced with "immortality of the soul";
- a more restricted assertion of revelation: the Ten CommandmentsTen CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, rather than the entire TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
was affirmed as revealed; and - belief in the Jewish messiah was replaced with an assertion that God alone was the only true Redeemer of the world.
The Reformed Society of Israelites lasted about ten years before it dissolved; some members had moved away and others returned to Beth Elohim. Their pressures for reform did not cease and eventually gained the support of the cantor Gustavus Poznanski. In 1841, Beth Elohim became the first US synagogue to acquire a pipe organ for music, a major innovation. In response, the traditionalists broke away and formed congregation Shearith Israel.
German influences
Between the years 1815 and 1881, German immigrants caused the US Jewish population to grow from 5,000 to 250,000 people. Some of these German immigrants happened to be pupils of Leopold Stein and Joseph Aub, who promoted reform changes in Europe. They formed some of the first Reform congregations in the US, including in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(Temple Emanu-El), in Baltimore (Har Sinai Congregation
Har Sinai Congregation
Har Sinai Congregation is a Reform Jewish synagogue located in Owings Mills, Maryland. Originally established in 1842 in Baltimore, it is the oldest congregation in the United States that has been affiliated with the Reform movement since its inception....
, founded in 1842), and in Cincinnati (B'ne Yeshurun), that insisted on changes in the services. The coming of David Einhorn, who published his influential prayer book Olat Tamid for Har Sinai in 1858, Samuel Adler
Samuel Adler (rabbi)
Samuel Adler was a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author...
, and, later, the philosopher Samuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch, was a major Reform religious philosopher and rabbi.-Biography:Born in Thalfang , he received his training at Metz...
, gave the Reform cause three influential leaders and additional impetus.
Men of more conservative temperament, such as Adolf Hübsch and Marcus Jastrow
Marcus Jastrow
Marcus Jastrow was a renowned Talmudic scholar, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive A Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature....
, still adopted most Reform principles, though in practice they continued along somewhat less radical lines. In addition, Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
and Max Lilienthal cast their influence in favor of Reform. Bernhard Felsenthal and Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler was a German-born U.S. reform rabbi and theologian.-Life and work:Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of rabbis...
, and American-bred rabbis Emil Hirsch
Emil Hirsch
Emil Gustav Hirsch was a major Reform movement rabbi in the United States.-Biography:Hirsch was born in Luxembourg, a son of the rabbi and philosopher Samuel Hirsch on May 22, 1851. He later married the daughter of Rabbi David Einhorn. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1872...
, Samuel Sale, and David Philipson were among its proponents. In 1869 the Philadelphia Conference and the Pittsburgh Platform
Pittsburgh Platform
The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith...
in 1885 in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
promulgated the principles which are still basic to the practice and teachings of American Reform congregations.
Emerging divisions -- split between Reform and Conservative Judaism
As in Europe, there were significant disagreements among the reformers over the role of tradition. In 1883 a banquet was planned to celebrate the first graduating class of rabbis from Hebrew Union CollegeHebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
. The more radical element planned the banquet with a provocative menu containing shrimp, a food prohibited by traditional Jewish kosher dietary law. The menu highlighted the developing conflict over whether kosher law (and, by extension, rabbinical law in general) would be binding in Reform Judaism. The Trefa Banquet, (trefa means non-kosher) intensified the conflict between the radical and conservative reformers. The conflict further intensified in 1885 when a fierce debate broke out between Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler was a German-born U.S. reform rabbi and theologian.-Life and work:Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of rabbis...
, a liberal, and Alexander Kohut
Alexander Kohut
Alexander Kohut was a rabbi and orientalist. He belonged to a family of rabbis, the most noted among them being Rabbi Israel Palota, his great-grandfather, Rabbi Amram , and Rabbi Chayyim Kitssee,...
, a conservative, over the nature of what was open to reform and what was bound by established rabbinic law.
In response to the debate, Kohler called a conference of reform-minded rabbis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in 1885. Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
, the rabbinical head of the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, presided over the conference. The conference produced the Pittsburgh Platform
Pittsburgh Platform
The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith...
, a highly controversial position on the mutability of rabbinic law, which triggered a contentious split between those more and less conservative. In 1889, the more liberal Reform rabbis organized under the banner of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
, selecting Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
as its flagship university and seminary.
About the same period in New York, 1886 saw the "Jewish Theological Seminary Association" established as a separate rabbinical school, which became the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
in 1902. Its members included a group of the more traditional and less radically reformed rabbis, taking a path between Orthodox and Reform, who founded the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
as their clergy organization, with the Jewish Theological Seminary as its university. In 1913, the congregations led by these Conservative (as they were known by then) rabbis banded together as a distinct denomination under the banner of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is the primary organization of synagogues practicing Conservative Judaism in North America...
.
Pittsburgh, 1885
Starting in 1869 in Philadelphia, US Reform rabbis have convened from time to time to reassess the principles of their faith. After the 1883 Trefa Banquet thrust Reform Judaism into chaos, radical reformer rabbis Kaufmann KohlerKaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler was a German-born U.S. reform rabbi and theologian.-Life and work:Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of rabbis...
and Emil Hirsch
Emil Hirsch
Emil Gustav Hirsch was a major Reform movement rabbi in the United States.-Biography:Hirsch was born in Luxembourg, a son of the rabbi and philosopher Samuel Hirsch on May 22, 1851. He later married the daughter of Rabbi David Einhorn. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1872...
convened the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
conference of 1885 to refine and articulate the emerging principles of the movement, building on the similar conference in Philadelphia sixteen years earlier and the German Conference of 1841-1846 (supra)
At the Pittsburgh conference, the Reform rabbis convened under the leadership of Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
, the dean of Hebrew Union College, the Reform seminary, and adopted an eight-point platform articulating the principles of the Reform movement.http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=39&pge_prg_id=3032&pge_id=1656 While affirming their commitment to monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, the rabbis explicitly rejected Jewish dietary laws, "all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state," disavowed a hope or goal of returning to Zion
Zion
Zion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE...
, and declared their belief in following "only
Later Platforms
The Pittsburgh Platform was revised in 1937, then again in 1976 in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. The rejection of Zionism in the earlier platforms was increasingly viewed as out of step by most Jews, especially in light of the new State of Israel.
The most recent revision was in 1999, again in Pittsburgh. There was a counter-reformation developing among both clergy and laity that called for the return to some previously rejected rituals and traditions and a clarification of the role of God in Reform Judaism.
The 1999 statement that emerged from this conference is entitled A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism. The Statement of Principles affirms the central tenets of Judaism - God, Torah and Israel - even as it acknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. It also invites all Reform Jews to engage in a dialogue with the sources of tradition, responding out of knowledge, experience and faith. "Thus we hope to transform our lives through (kedushah), holiness."
Timeline of Reform Judaism in the United States
1824 Playwright and journalist Isaac Harby leads forty-seven Jews in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to petition for major changes in the Shabbat service at Congregation Beth Elohim, including that each Hebrew prayer in the service be immediately followed by an English translation, that new prayers reflecting contemporary American life be added, that the rabbi offer a weekly sermon in English to explain the Scriptures and apply them to everyday life, and that services be shortened.,
1842 Har Sinai Congregation
Har Sinai Congregation
Har Sinai Congregation is a Reform Jewish synagogue located in Owings Mills, Maryland. Originally established in 1842 in Baltimore, it is the oldest congregation in the United States that has been affiliated with the Reform movement since its inception....
in Baltimore, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, adopts Reform services
1845 Temple Emanu-El becomes New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's first Reform congregation
1846 Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
came to the US in from Bohemia.
1857 Wise writes the first American siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
, "Minhag America."
1873 Wise founds the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1875 Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
is founded in Cincinnati by Isaac Mayer Wise.
1885 A group of Reform rabbis adopts the Pittsburgh Platform
Pittsburgh Platform
The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith...
.
1889 The Central Conference of American Rabbis is established.
1922 Reform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise establishes the Jewish Institute of Religion
Jewish Institute of Religion
The Jewish Institute of Religion was an educational establishment created by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in 1922 in New York City. While generally incorporating Reform Judaism, it was separate from the previously established Hebrew Union College...
in New York. It merged with Hebrew Union College in 1950. A third center was opened in Los Angeles in 1954, and a fourth branch was established in Jerusalem in 1963.
1937 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
adopts "The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism", known as the Columbus Platform.
1976 On the occasion of the centennials of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
adopts Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective.
1983 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
formally states that a Jewish identity can be passed down through either the mother or the father, if the child is raised with a Jewish identity, thereby making official what had been the state of affairs in many Reform communities since the early twentieth century. Despite its rejection by Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
and Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
, as well as the religious establishment of the State of Israel (although immigrant children who have a Jewish father but a non-Jewish mother are recognized as Jewish by the Registry Office), descent through the mother or the father becomes the standard for American Reform Jews. (Canadian Reform congregations are divided on this issue).
1997 On the occasion of the centenary of the first World Zionist Congress, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
adopts the Miami Platform, dedicated to the relationship between Reform Judaism and Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
.
1999 The Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
adopts "A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism" in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
2003 The congregational arm of the Reform Movement in North America adopts the new name "Union for Reform Judaism" (URJ), replacing its previous name "Union of American Hebrew Congregations" (UAHC) at its Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
2007 Mishkan T'filah
Mishkan T'filah
Mishkan T'filah—A Reform Siddur is a prayer book prepared for Reform Jewish congregations in the United States by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and released to the general public in 2007...
, a new North American Reform Siddur, is published.
Congregational associations
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
, the central body of the Reform Movement in North America, was founded in Cincinnati in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise , was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author.-Early life:...
as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. It is the largest Jewish movement in North America and represents an estimated 1.5 million Jews. The name change was approved at the Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2003.
As the congregational arm of the Reform Movement, the Union's primary mission is to create and sustain vibrant Jewish congregations wherever Reform Jews live. The Union provides leadership and vision to Reform Jews on spiritual, ethical, and political issues, as well as materials and consultation for programs in the congregation. The Union also provides opportunities for individual growth and identity that congregations and individuals cannot provide by themselves, including camps and Israel programs, study kallot, youth groups (See: NFTY
North American Federation of Temple Youth
The North American Federation of Temple Youth is the organized youth movement of Reform Judaism in North America. Funded and supported by the Union for Reform Judaism, NFTY exists to supplement and support Reform youth groups at the synagogue level...
), and North American and regional biennials. The Union also publishes the quarterly Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism (magazine)
Reform Judaism is the official magazine of the Union for Reform Judaism. Its print edition has a quarterly circulation to 300,000 households, synagogues, and other Jewish institutions.- Awards and academic recognition :...
magazine.
Social action
The political and legislative outreach arm of Reform Judaism in the United States is the Religious Action Center (RAC). The RAC is operated under the auspices of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, a joint instrumentality of the Central Conference of American RabbisCentral Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
and the URJ.
Day Schools
- ParDes - Progressive Association of Reform Day Schools, association for Jewish day schools.
Orthodox criticism
While Orthodox JudaismOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
and Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
regard Reform Jews who are matrilineally descended as Jews, they do not recognize people who are Jewish by Reform conversions nor Reform's acceptance of patrilineal descent of Jewish children. A growing number of Reform Jews are not Jewish according to traditional halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
.
Status in Israel
Jews can more easily gain citizenship in Israel than non-Jews under the Law of ReturnLaw of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
. Because the Orthodox movement holds great political power in Israel, their ruling that neither Reform converts nor children of Jewish fathers only are Jews under the law affects many individuals and families, including potential immigrants and those married to converted Jews. With increasing intermarriage in the United States, American Jews are concerned that Israeli rabbis are taking too narrow a view of Jewish identity.
Official Links
- Union for Reform Judaism
- "Whatever happened to Reform Judaism? Changes in the last 50 years", Central Conference of American Rabbis - CCAR Journal, Winter 1997
- Official website of the Union for Reform Judaism (North America)
- Central Conference of American Rabbis
- Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion
- American Council for Judaism
- North American Federation of Temple Youth, NFTY
- Platforms of Reform Judaism
- RJ.org - News and Views of Reform Jews - The Reform Movement Blog
Other Resources
- Research and articles about Reform Judaism on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner