Reform Judaism (North America)

Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. [Bob Abernathy, [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week238/cover.html "Reform Judaism"] , Public Broadcasting Service, May 1999.] [Matthew Wagner and Greer Fay-Cashman, [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355533367&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull "Reform rabbis offended by Katsav"] , Jerusalem Post, June 2006.] With an estimated 1.1 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.

Reform Jewish theology

Rabbi 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." [ [Martin, Bernard (1968) Contemporary Reform Jewish Thought. Chicago: Quadrangle Books] ]

Reform Judaism has always promoted monotheism in particular. 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 theism and 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.

Reform Judaism's position on Jewish law

The classical approach of Reform Judaism towards halakha 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 have 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 the primary principle of classical Reform, 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 only representing a minority of the movement, 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 even developed the idea of "Progressive Halakhah". For instance the American Rabbi Walter Jacob, the Israeli Rabbi Moshe Zemer, and the British 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 adopting more traditional practices or beliefs, because they feel 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 marriages, which appears consistent with Reform's belief in autonomy for members and clergy. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDF1F3EF936A25755C0A96E948260 Reform Rabbis Urged Not to Convert Awad - New York Times ] ] [ [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/3228/edition_id/57/format/html/displaystory.html j. - Intermarriage, descent issues still on Reform rabbis' agenda ] ] [ [http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/156/ Will thee or won't thee, it's all the same - Jewish Media Resources ] ] 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 the reasoning in allowing patrilineal Jewish descent is based on Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, claiming that purely matrilineal Jewish descent was only first taught during Talmudic times (Kiddushin 68b). In any event, children with one Jewish parent are only considered to be Jewish if they have been raised having that identity. Since the concept of inclusion is vital to the Reform movement, Reform rabbis encourage participation of Gentiles while at the same time actively 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, and 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 ever be a messiah, and that the Temple in Jerusalem would ever 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"). For reformers, dispersion of Jews among the nations was a necessary experience in the realization and execution of its Messianic 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; for the modern Jews in America or Europe had no cause to feel that the country in which they lived was 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, Frenchman, 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 nineteenth century Zionism movement.

Since the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern State of Israel, in 1948, Reform Judaism has largely repudiated Anti-Zionism, and the official platform of Reform Judaism is Zionist. There are now many Reform Jews who have chosen to make "aliyah" (move to Israel), and there are several kibbutzim affiliated with the Israeli Reform movement. The Reform movement also sends thousands of its youth and college-age students to Israel every year on summer and year-long programs. All rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College, the American Reform seminary, must spend a year in Israel absorbing the language and culture and becoming familiar with biblical geography.

Confirmation ceremonies

Many Reform congregations hold Confirmation ceremonies as a way of marking the festival of Shavuot and the decision of young adults to continue 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." [Knoebel, "Gates of the Seasons," 77] Confirmation is typically held in tenth grade after a year of study, but some synagogues will 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 13.

Development of American Reform Judaism

Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina

The first rumblings of reform in the USA began on November 21, 1824 at Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina. At that time Charleston was one of the four largest ports in the USA. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-7732(198709)66%3A1%3C1%3ADUICAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9 David A. Smith. "Dependent Urbanization in Colonial America: The Case of Charleston South Carolina"] in "Social Forces", Vol. 66, No. 1 (Sep., 1987), pp. 1-28. (Accessed November 6, 2007)] and Charleston was home to the largest Jewish community in the USA. Charleston was a center of trade with the England and Beth Elohim had close ties with the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London. [ [http://www.historycooperative.org/proceedings/seascapes/romain.html "Gemma Romain. The Jews of Nineteenth Century Charleston: Ethnicity in a Port City"] (American Historical Society, 2003, accessed November 6, 2007).] [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 228]

On November 21, 1824 forty-seven lay members of Beth Elohim signed a petition requesting a number of reforms, including English language sermons. The petitioners and their leader Isaac Harby were concerned about recent increases in Christian missionary activity towards Jews and hoped that these reforms would make Judaism less vulnerable to the missionizers. [ [http://www.ajhs.org/publications/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=218 The Americanization of Reform Judaism] in Michael Feldberg (ed.), "Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History", The American Jewish Historical Society / KTAV, 2002. ISBN 0881257567. Chapter ?? (or #30 online). Accessed November 6, 2007] [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 228-229] Their request was rebuffed and the signatories broke away and 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 [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 229] :
* belief in resurrection of the dead was replaced with "immortality of the soul"
* a more restricted assertion of revelation: the Ten commandments, rather than the entire Torah was affirmed as revealed
* belief in a personal 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 broke up and members either moved away or returned to Beth Elohim. However, the 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 have a pipe organ. This time the traditionalist broke away and formed Shearith Israel. [ [http://www.ajhs.org/publications/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=218 Feldberg (ed.), "Blessings of Freedom"] ] [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 233]

German influences

Between the years 1825 and 1875, German immigrants helped the US Jewish population grow from 5,000 to 250,000 people. [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 236] Some of these German immigrants happened to be pupils of Leopold Stein and Joseph Aub. These were among the first in New York (Temple Emanu-El), in Baltimore (Har Sinai, founded in 1842), and in Cincinnati (B'ne Yeshurun) to insist upon the change of the services. The coming of David Einhorn, who published his influential prayer book for Har Sinai in 1858, Samuel Adler, and, later, the philosopher Samuel Hirsch gave to the Reform cause additional impetus, while even men of more conservative temperament, like Adolf Hübsch and Marcus Jastrow, adopted in the main 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 among American-bred rabbis Emil Hirsch, Samuel Sale, and David Philipson may be mentioned among its exponents. The Philadelphia Conference (1869) and that at Pittsburgh (1885) promulgated the principles which to a certain extent 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 College. 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. [ [http://www.ajhs.org/publications/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=241 The "Trefa Banquet" and the End of a Dream] in Michael Feldberg (ed.), "Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History", The American Jewish Historical Society / KTAV, 2002. ISBN 0881257567. Chapter 5.7 (or #52 online). Accessed November 2, 2007] 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. [Meyer, "Response to Modernity", 268] In 1889, the more liberal Reform rabbis organized under the banner of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, with Hebrew Union College as its university and seminary. During the same time period, in 1887 a separate rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary was founded in New York. In 1901 a group of the more traditional (ie. less radical) rabbis, taking a path between Orthodox and Reform, 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.

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 Kohler 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," [ [http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=39&pge_prg_id=3032&pge_id=1656 CCAR - Declaration of Principles ] ] 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.

Pittsburgh, 1999

The Pittsburgh Platform was revised in 1937, then again in 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The most recent revision was in 1999, again in Pittsburgh, to meet the challenge of the changing world and emergence of Israel. 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 formed in the aftermath of the Holocaust. There was also 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. Finally, there was a need to redefine the role of the Torah (bible), the source document of Judaism whose relevance had been challenged by the Pittsburgh Platform.

The 1999 statement that emerged from this conference is entitled [ [http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=44&pge_prg_id=3032&pge_id=1656 A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism] , CCAR, 1999] "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." The following is the full text of the 1999 Statement:

God
We affirm the reality and oneness of God, even as we may differ in our understanding of the Divine presence.

We affirm that the Jewish people is bound to God by an eternal (b'rit), covenant, as reflected in our varied understandings of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.

We affirm that every human being is created (b'tzelem Elohim), in the image of God, and that therefore every human life is sacred.

We regard with reverence all of God's creation and recognize our human responsibility for its preservation and protection.

We encounter God's presence in moments of awe and wonder, in acts of justice and compassion, in loving relationships and in the experiences of everyday life.

We respond to God daily: through public and private prayer, through study and through the performance of other (mitzvot), sacred obligations -- (bein adam la Makom), to God, and (bein adam la-chaveiro), to other human beings.

We strive for a faith that fortifies us through the vicissitudes of our lives -- illness and healing, transgression and repentance, bereavement and consolation, despair and hope.

We continue to have faith that, in spite of the unspeakable evils committed against our people and the sufferings endured by others, the partnership of God and humanity will ultimately prevail.

We trust in our tradition's promise that, although God created us as finite beings, the spirit within us is eternal.

In all these ways and more, God gives meaning and purpose to our lives. Torah
We affirm that Torah is the foundation of Jewish life.

We cherish the truths revealed in Torah, God's ongoing revelation to our people and the record of our people's ongoing relationship with God. We affirm that Torah is a manifestation of (ahavat olam), God's eternal love for the Jewish people and for all humanity.

We affirm the importance of studying Hebrew, the language of Torah and Jewish liturgy, that we may draw closer to our people's sacred texts.

We are called by Torah to lifelong study in the home, in the synagogue and in every place where Jews gather to learn and teach. Through Torah study we are called to (mitzvot), the means by which we make our lives holy.

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. Some of these (mitzvot), sacred obligations, have long been observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention as the result of the unique context of our own times.

We bring Torah into the world when we seek to sanctify the times and places of our lives through regular home and congregational observance. Shabbat calls us to bring the highest moral values to our daily labor and to culminate the workweek with (kedushah), holiness, (menuchah), rest and (oneg), joy. The High Holy Days call us to account for our deeds. The Festivals enable us to celebrate with joy our people's religious journey in the context of the changing seasons. The days of remembrance remind us of the tragedies and the triumphs that have shaped our people's historical experience both in ancient and modern times. And we mark the milestones of our personal journeys with traditional and creative rites that reveal the holiness in each stage of life.

We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God's creation. Partners with God in ( tikkun olam), repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world. We are obligated to pursue (tzedek), justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor, to act against discrimination and oppression, to pursue peace, to welcome the stranger, to protect the earth's biodiversity and natural resources, and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage. In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice. We affirm the (mitzvah) of (tzedakah), setting aside portions of our earnings and our time to provide for those in need. These acts bring us closer to fulfilling the prophetic call to translate the words of Torah into the works of our hands.

In all these ways and more, Torah gives meaning and purpose to our lives.

Israel
We are Israel, a people aspiring to holiness, singled out through our ancient covenant and our unique history among the nations to be witnesses to God's presence. We are linked by that covenant and that history to all Jews in every age and place.

We are committed to the (mitzvah) of (ahavat Yisrael), love for the Jewish people, and to (k'lal Yisrael), the entirety of the community of Israel. Recognizing that (kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh), all Jews are responsible for one another, we reach out to all Jews across ideological and geographical boundaries.

We embrace religious and cultural pluralism as an expression of the vitality of Jewish communal life in Israel and the Diaspora.

We pledge to fulfill Reform Judaism's historic commitment to the complete equality of women and men in Jewish life.

We are an inclusive community, opening doors to Jewish life to people of all ages, to varied kinds of families, to all regardless of their sexual orientation, to (gerim), those who have converted to Judaism, and to all individuals and families, including the intermarried, who strive to create a Jewish home.

We believe that we must not only open doors for those ready to enter our faith, but also to actively encourage those who are seeking a spiritual home to find it in Judaism.

We are committed to strengthening the people Israel by supporting individuals and families in the creation of homes rich in Jewish learning and observance.

We are committed to strengthening the people Israel by making the synagogue central to Jewish communal life, so that it may elevate the spiritual, intellectual and cultural quality of our lives.

We are committed to (Medinat Yisrael), the State of Israel, and rejoice in its accomplishments. We affirm the unique qualities of living in (Eretz Yisrael), the land of Israel, and encourage (aliyah), immigration to Israel.

We are committed to a vision of the State of Israel that promotes full civil, human and religious rights for all its inhabitants and that strives for a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors.

We are committed to promoting and strengthening Progressive Judaism in Israel, which will enrich the spiritual life of the Jewish state and its people.

We affirm that both Israeli and Diaspora Jewry should remain vibrant and interdependent communities. As we urge Jews who reside outside Israel to learn Hebrew as a living language and to make periodic visits to Israel in order to study and to deepen their relationship to the Land and its people, so do we affirm that Israeli Jews have much to learn from the religious life of Diaspora Jewish communities.

We are committed to furthering Progressive Judaism throughout the world as a meaningful religious way of life for the Jewish people.

In all these ways and more, Israel gives meaning and purpose to our lives.""

Timeline of Reform Judaism in the United States

1824 Isaac Harby leads forty-seven Jews in Charleston, South Carolina 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. [ [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/usreform.html The Americanization of Reform Judaism ] ]

1842 Congregation Har Sinai 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 American."

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 [he icon [http://huka.gov.il/wiki/index.php/The_State_of_Israel_as_a_Jewish_State The State of Israel as a Jewish State - חוקה בהסכמה רחבה ] ] ), 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'fillah", a new North American Reform Siddur is published.

Organizations

Congregational associations

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 happened at the Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, MN 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.

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 Rabbis and the URJ.

Youth

Day Schools

* [http://www.pardesdayschools.org/ ParDes - Progressive Association of Reform Day Schools] , association for Jewish day schools.

Reform Camping

*

Orthodox criticism

While Orthodox Judaism regards Reform Jews who are matrilineally descended as "Jewish by birth", it does not recognize Reform conversions or Reform's acceptance of patrilineal descent, therefore there are a growing number of Reform Jews whom the Orthodox do not consider as being Jewish. [Robinson, George. Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs and Rituals. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. ISBN 0-671-03480-4, pgs 230-231] Jewish status is important in the context of Zionism as Jews have special rights in Israel by virtue of their religion. Since the Orthodox movement holds great political power in Israel, Reform converts are not considered Jewish and neither are patrilineal Jews but both still have the right to gain instant citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return.

See also

* [http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/18-03-12.html The Role of Women in Reform Judaism]
* [http://data.ccarnet.org/journal/197bw.html Whatever happened to Reform Judaism? Changes in the last 50 years]

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Joseph L. Blau and Central Conference of American Rabbis. Reform Judaism: a historical perspective; essays from the Yearbook of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1973. ISBN 0870681915.
* Eugene B. Borowitz and Naomi Patz. Explaining Reform Judaism. New York: Behrman House, 1985. ISBN 087441394X.
* Eugene B. Borowitz. Reform Judaism today. New York: Behrman House, 1977. ISBN 0874412714.

*Central Conference of American Rabbis, New York. "Gates of Prayer - The New Union Prayerbook for Shabbat, Weekdays and Festivals. Services and Prayers for Synagogue and Home. " 1975 ISBN 0-916694-01-1 LC: 75-13752

*Chaim Stern, ed., Central Conference of American Rabbis. "Gates of Prayer - for Shabbat and Weekdays. A Gender-Sensitive Prayerbook" 1994 ISBN 0-88123-063-4 LoC: BM674.34.C46 DDC: 296.4-dc20

* Abraham Jehiel Feldman. Reform Judaism; a guide for Reform Jews. New York: Behrman House, 1956.
* ______.Reform Judaism; a guide for Reform Jews. Hartford: Temple Beth Israel, 1953.
* Howard R. Greenstein. Turning point, Zionism and reform Judaism. Brown Judaic studies. 12, Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981. ISBN 0891305114; 0891305122.

*Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe, ed., Re-Examining Progressive Halakhah. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002. ISBN 1-57181-404-3
* Walter Jacob. The Changing world of Reform Judaism : the Pittsburgh Platform in retrospect : papers presented on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Platform, February, 1985 and The proceedings of 1885. Pittsburgh: Rodef Shalom Congregation, 1985. ISBN 0915138794.

*Kaplan, Dana Evan, Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002).
*Kaplan, Dana Evan. American Reform Judaism: an introduction. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003. ISBN 0813532183; 0813532191.
*Kaplan, Dana Evan, American Reform Judaism: An Introduction. New Brunswick, New Jersey:Rutgers University Press, 2005.
*Kaplan, Dana Evan, Contemporary Debates in American Reform Judaism. New York and London: Routledge, 2001).
* Kohler, Kaufmann. "Jewish Theology: Systematically and Historically Considered"
*Knoebel, Peter S., ed. Gates of the Seasons: A Guide to the Jewish Year. New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1983.
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External links

* [http://reformjudaism.org/ Official website of Reform Judaism (North America)]
* [http://www.acjna.org American Council for Judaism]
* [http://www.nfty.org/ North American Federation of Temple Youth, NFTY]
* [http://ccarnet.org/documentsandpositions/platforms/ Platforms of Reform Judaism]
* [http://rj.org/ RJ.org - News and Views of Reform Jews - The Reform Movement Blog]