Transcript Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism
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Haskalah: Age of Jewish Enlightenment
Moses Mendelssohan (1729 -1786)
Influenced a group of German Jews who
were rethinking the relationship between
Judaism and modernity.
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End of judicial power of local rabbis
Liturgy in the local vernacular (German)
Introduction of musical instruments
Adoption of Christian traditions
Nominal adherence to Sabbath
regulations
Diminished Nationalistic ideals
Emphasis on social action
Judaism as evolving change
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Is there then nothing but change? Is change the
end of all our history and all our striving? No.
there is something else, the desire to be free…In
the end the Jew has always understood that
changelessness is spiritual death. The Jew who
would live must never completely surrender
himself to one truth, but …must reach out for
the farther and faith horizons of an ever Great
God…This is the meaning of Reform. Jacob Rader
Marcus (Reform advocate)
Institutions and literature
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Union of American Hebrew Congregations
(UAHC) 1873
Hebrew Union College in 1875
Union Prayer Book in 1895
Gates of Prayer 1975
Gates of Repentance 1978
Current Trends
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More Hebrew
Gender Neutral God language
Continued emphasis on social action
Renewed interest on Spirituality
Between 1940 and 1080 the number of
congregation sdoubled in the United
States
Conservative Judaism
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Dissatisfaction with orthodoxy's rejection of scientific
method, and the Reforms rejection of Jewish nationalism
and its willingness to ignore mitzvoth when it pleased
them
Zacharias Frankel thought there were important traditions
to keep
He offered Positive Historical Judaism
Jewish Theological Seminary. JTS in New York City
Solomon Schecter becomes president
Largest branch of American Judaism
1955 women are allowed to come to the bimah to read
Torah
In 1973 women are counted toward a minyan and in 1983
the first female students attend JTS
Reconstructionsim
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Unknown outside of US
Founder Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan (1881)
Judaism as a religious civilization
Sacred texts are not divine but the creation of
the Jewish people
Democratic
Kaplan created the first bat mitzvah for 12 yr old
girls
Conservative in practice, but their prayer book
Kol Haneshama rejects the concept of the Jews
as the Chosen people and the idea of a personal
messiah
Political Challenges Today
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Does Israeli identity serve to define Jewish
identity?
Should Judaism be the established religion of the
state, and what should be the status of the
religious minorities?
Should the state be governed by Jewish law?
Or if there is a conflict between Jewish law and
the law of the state, how should it be resolved?
Do Jews in the diaspora owe a loyalty to Israel?
Is there an obligation on all Jews to settle in
Israel?
Social Challenges Today
What are the limits of permissible
assimilation?
 A question of observance?
 Relationship with other faith
traditions
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