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BRANCHES OFJUDAISM ANDTHEIR BASICBELIEFS

The basic beliefs of Judaism include the following principles:1. There is only one God. He controls the events of nature and

history according to his divine design, which is beyond our

comprehension.

2. God chose Abraham and his descendants as his special

people and promised that they would be a great nation dwell-

ing in the Promised Land (Canaan).3. God made a covenant with the Hebrews at Mount Sinai

where he gave the Law to the people through Moses. The Law

provides the rules by which the faithful are to live.

4. Abrahams people were chosen to be the model of behavior

for all nations in the future age of the Messiah, who will rule

the world in peace and justice.

During the history of the Jews these principles have been

interpreted in different ways, and a number of branches of Juda-

ism have developed.

A Sephardic Jew deep in prayer close to a Torah at the Western

Wall in Jerusalem. The cover of the scrolls have been painted

in a Sephardic style.

84 JUDAISM

CHAPTER 5

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Branches of Judaism and Their Basic Beliefs

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ThE imPaCT oF raBBiniCaL JuDaism

Th work of th rabbis in th ra 70640 c.e. adaptd th biblial

faith that was ntrd on th Tmpl and on Jrusalm to th

nds of th Jws in a nw situation outsid of Jrusalm aftr th

dstrution of th Tmpl. Th rabbis took on a way of lif that

showd faithfulnss to God. Thy taught that this faithful way oflif should b livd by all Jws.

In this sns vry Jw possssd pristly qualitis, baus

th rituals that had prviously bn arrid out in th Tmpl

wr now also arrid out at hom or in th workpla. At hom

th tabl bam an altar; anything that am to it had to b

koshr or ritually aptabl. Whn th mn wnt to work a sp-

ial fring on th ornr of thir lothing rmindd thm of thir

rsponsibilitis to God. Daily study of thTorah, th Mishnah, th Talmud, and th

Midrash was nouragd.

Th Jwish family and its lif bam a

ntral fous, although thr was always a

tndny to try to join with othr familis

to form a broadr ommunity. Th broad-

r Jwish ommunity ntrd around sv-

ral unifying institutions: th synagogu

as th pla of prayr, th study hous asa mting pla for studnts of th Torah,

and th rabbinial ourt as a prottor

of th ommunitys spiritual wll-bing.

Ths institutions brought ohsion to

th Jws of lat antiquity.

sEPharDiC JuDaism

Whn Judaism sprad throughout th

Nar East, North Afria, and into Spain,

Spain bam th ntr of Jwish larn-

ing and ultur during th Middl Ags.

Spanish Jwish ultur attaind a vry high

lvl, spially in th 11th and 12th n-

maimoniDEs BasiC BELiEFs

1. Yahweh alone is the Creator.

2. Yahweh is absolutely One.

3. Yahweh has no body or bodily shape.

4. Yahweh is the first and the last.

5. Only to Yahweh may we pray and

to no other.

6. The words of the prophets are true.

7. The prophecy of Moses is true, and

he is the father of all prophets.

8. The Torah, now found in our hands,

was given to Moses.

9. This Torah is not subject to change,

and there will never be another

Torah from the Creator.

10. The Creator knows all the

thoughts and deeds of humans.

11. Yahweh rewards and punishesaccording to the deed.

12. The Messiah will come; though

He tarry, I will expect Him daily.

13. The dead will be resurrected.

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turies. One o the greatest fgures during this period was Moses

Maimonides. He expressed the creed o the Sephardic Jews in 13

basic belies. These relate to Yahweh, the prophets, the Torah,

and the Messiah.

Some o Maimonides Jewish contemporaries attacked his

creed. They elt that his theoretical belies were oreign to thepractical way o lie underscored by rabbinic Judaism. They

also saw his creed as an attempt to imitate the Christian creeds.

Despite these objections to Maimonides creed, it was passed on

as a statement o traditional Jewish belies and has even been cast

into a poetic hymn, the Yigdal,which is used in public worship.

The Sephardic Jews were expelled rom Spain in 1492 and

settled in North Arica, Egypt, Syria, Italy, and in the provinces o

the Turkish Empire, especially Salonika and Istanbul. Later theyestablished communities in a number o European cities: London,

Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Bordeaux. They spoke a Judeo-Span-

ish language called Ladino and developed a signifcant Ladino lit-

erature. In the modern division o Jewish groups, Sephardic Jews

are usually contrasted with Ashkenazic Jews. The label Sephardic

has come to describe all Jews who are non-Ashkenazic.

ashKEnaziC JuDaism

The Ashkenazic Jews ollowed the geographical path o theRoman legions, settling in Italy, France, Germany, Britain, and

then moving into Poland and Russia. Frequently the medieval

Ashkenazic Jews lived in circumstances that kept their culture

separated rom the rest o the world. They became one commu-

nity by their strengthening conviction that they were the chosen

people o Yahwehs covenant. Unlike the Sephardic Jews, Ashke-

nazic Jews did not participate strongly in the culture and sophis-

ticated social lie o well-educated, non-Jewish people.

The Ashkenazic Jews were people o traditional religious prac-

tices. They ollowed the demands o Torah (Law) and mitzvoth

(Commandments). One o the Ashkenazic leaders, Joseph Caro

(14881575), encouraged them to observe these rituals strictly

in order to remain unifed. He called this strict observance the


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Shulchan Arukh (The Well-Prepared Table). With additions and

adjustments (called The Tablecloth) by his young ollower, Moses

Isserles (15301572), the Shulchan Arukh became and remains the

code o traditional Ashkenazic Jews.

While the Sephardic Jews spoke Ladino, the Ashkenazic Jews

spoke Yiddish. Ashkenazic rituals were closely linked to theancient Palestinian traditionthose o the Jewish people in their

homeland. In contrast, the Sephardic Jews reached back to the

ancient Babylonian tradition that was developed by Jews in exile.

O the Jews exterminated during the Holocaust, the vast majority

were Ashkenazic: their numbers ell rom more than 15 million

beore World War II to about 9.5 million ater. Today Ashkenazic

Jews outnumber Sephardic Jews by a ratio o 4 to 1 and many are

returning to their east European roots.

rEForm JuDaism

Judaism entered a new world ater the Enlightenment, which

was to a great extent an eort to lessen the importance o reli-

gious dierences. The Jews thus gained emancipation rom reli-

gion-dominated states. They were called to an awareness o their

humanity, not specifcally to their Jewishness.

The thinking during the Enlightenment also called or Jewish

worship and practices to be brought in line with the human cul-ture o its surroundings and the universal characteristics com-

mon to all religions. Could a religion that so strongly stressed

the special character o the Jews as Gods peoplewith a unique

mission to the nationscontinue to exist in western European

countries like France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and England?

In these countries Jews would now have equal citizenship

with people who belonged to other religions, or to no religion at

all. Could hopes or a Messiah, or the rebuilding o the Temple,

or or a return to a homeland with Jerusalem as its capital live on

in the Jewish person with citizenship in a modern Diaspora land

that had it own culture and traditions? Abraham Geiger (1810

74), the ounder o Reorm Judaism, oered a philosophical per-

spective to guide the modern Jews.

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sPiRiTUAl sTRUCTURE And ETHiCAl vAlUEs

Geiger thought that traditional belies might be more readily

accepted in modern Western society i the ocus o Judaism was

given a new signifcance. He suggested that instead o a personal

Messiah, Jews await the coming o the Messianic age character-

ized by equality, reedom, and human brotherhood. This inter-pretation o Judaism would not only give Jews a set o ideals to be

proud o, but would also transorm Judaism into a religion that

non-Jews could surely admire. For Geiger this was the genius

o the Jews: they always practiced an ethical, or moral and just,

religion; they had always carried their ethical values to the rest

o humanity. According to Geiger the temple that needed to be

rebuilt was not an actual building in Jerusalem; it was an ideal

spiritual structure o values, o justice, and o reedom. Further-more Jerusalem was not a physical place, but a place o ethical

values rooted deeply and personally within Jewish hearts all over

the world.

Early Reorm Judaism was thereore opposed to Zionism,

whose ollowers dreamed o a literal Jewish homelanda return

to the Promised Land. From the Reorm

viewpoint, the Zionist movement clung

too strongly to an old-ashioned Messian-

ism and a separatist viewpoint. Reorm Judaism began to support Zionism only

when the Zionist movements hope or a

return to their homeland became an eort

to construct a modern state with mod-

ern attitudes, where the Jewish people

could ulfll their mission o spiritualizing

humanity by examples o openness and

enlightenment.

AmERiCAnATURAl dEvElOPmEnTs

In Europe Reorm Judaism paved the way

or Jewish integration within society. The

Reorm Jews respect or human dignity


Rabbi Jackie Tabick was

the frst woman rabbi

ordained in Britain in 1975.

The Reorm Movement, in

contrast to the Orthodox,

allows women to become

rabbis.

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and their serious ethical concern or justice and equality made

them good citizens as well as religious Jews. Through their belies

Reorm Jews showed other citizens that they shared the common

pursuit o moral values.

In America the belies and structures o Reorm Judaism

arose rom the experiences o early American Jews. These Jewsrst integrated into mainstream American society, then searched

or a theory within their religion to state what they had accom-

plished. Changes in their rituals o worship were modest, mainly

requiring that English be used out o consideration or worship-

pers who no longer understood Hebrew or German. In 1855

David Einhorn arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, rom Germany

and attempted to direct American Judaism by establishing a Ger-

man orm o Reorm Judaism. He tried to use the well-denedideas o the German orm o Enlightenment Jewry to get Ameri-

can Jews to ollow the ethical goals o modern Enlightenment

Judaism. However, Reorm Judaism was happening in the United

States more as a natural development o living in this country,

not as a set o conclusions rom theoretical premises.

In 1873 Isaac Wise organized a Union o American Hebrew

Congregations in Cincinnati. Two years later Hebrew Union

College, a Union-sponsored Reorm seminary or training rab-

bis, was established. Without ocial action Reorm Judaismhad achieved its goal: The Jews in 1880

had become Americanized and, without

great anare, they had modied their rit-

ual practices to refect the tastes o Jew-

ish people who wanted respectability in a

country where they elt at home.

dEfininG REfORm JUdAism

A ormal denition o Reorm Judaism in

America came only ater the changes in

Judaism had taken place within American

society. In 1885 Kauman Kohler, son-in-

law o David Einhorn, held a conerence

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o rabbis in Pittsburgh. At the conerence

he proposed a Jewish platorm that would

be broad, compassionate, enlightened,

and liberal enough to impress and win the

hearts o Americanized Jews. Kohler stat-

ed I can no longer accept the anciuland twisted syllogisms o Talmudic law as

binding or us

In 1881 vast numbers o Ashkenazic

Jews began to arrive in America. The

result was that the proportion o Reorm

Jews was greatly reduced by around 1915.

In an eort to keep Judaism in the Unit-

ed States rom alling back into the moretraditional and oreign elements o the

Ashkenazic Jews, the Reorm Judaism

movement began to portray itsel as dedi-

cated to reorm and change. Reorm rab-

bis endorsed the Columbus Platorm o

1937, which stated their embrace o both

traditional concepts and commitments to

adapting timely change.

REfORm JUdAism TOdAY

Reorm Judaism stresses the reasonableness o Judaism. It repre-

sents Judaism as a progressive religion, striving or harmony with

reason. Reorm Jews reject what they consider to be the antiquar-

ian ideas o biblical language and thought. Their religious out-

look also had rejected Zionism. They elt that Zionisms demand

to establish a Jewish nation might split the loyalty o Jewish peo-

ple in the countries in which they live. The main commitment o

Reorm Judaism is not so much to a collection o belies, but to

the afrmation o the ethical character o Judaism: its dedication

to justice and liberty, wherever Jews may live.

Today Reorm Judaism, especially in the United States and

Israel, plays an important role within the Jewish community, as

ThE CoLumBus PLaTForm

This statement, made in 1937, clearly

and succinctly describes the basis of

Reform Judaism.

Judaism is the historical religiousexperience of the Jewish people . . . TheTorah, both written and oral, enshrinesIsraels ever-growing consciousness ofGod and of the moral law. It preservesthe historical precedents, sanctions andnorms of Jewish life . . . Being productsof historical processes, certain of its lawshave lost their binding force with the

passing of conditions that called themforth. But, as a depository of Israelsspiritual ideals, the Torah remains thedynamic source of the life of Israel. Eachage has the obligation to adapt theteachings of the Torah to its basic needs inaccordance with the genius of Judaism.


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well as in the broader political world. In

the United States Reorm Judaism counts

more than 2 million members, or about

40 percent o American Jews. Its infuence

fows into many areas o lie through its

pursuit o ethical objectives and promo-tion o change and liberty.

innOvATiOns Of REfORm JUdAism

In general this modernizing orm o Juda-

ism has emphasized decorum, or suit-

able behavior, in worship. Reorm Jews

rejected services conducted solely in

Hebrew, which oten caused uncomprehending congregations tomill around, talking in a manner that was embarrassingly inap-

propriate. Religious services o Reorm Jews requently ollowed

the models o contemporary Christian Protestant congregations.

Reorm Jews adapted innovative changes to the old orms o

worship, such as seating amilies together instead o segregat-

ing males and emales. They also incorporated organs and choirs

and discarded the traditional marks o male piety such as the yar-

mulke (skullcap) and the tallith (prayer shawl). The native tongue

became the language o worship. Innovative sermons werepreached in the vernacular, or common language, not in Hebrew.

This resulted in a greater proportion o the congregants being

able to ollow and participate in the services. Even the role o the

rabbi changed rom scholar o the Torah and Talmud to that o

preacher, adviser, and administrator. Contrary to Orthodox tra-

dition Reorm Judaism decided in 1972 to allow the ordination o

women rabbis. Sally Priesand was the rst woman rabbi ordained

by a Jewish theological seminary, the Hebrew Union College.

Reorm Jews, along with the Reconstructionists, also deter-

mined that the child o either a Jewish ather or a Jewish mother

should be considered a Jew. They also eased restrictions concern-

ing conversion o non-Jews and rules governing the marriage

between Jews and non-Jews.

In the 1940s the bat

mitzvah (daughter of

commandment) was

formally introduced in the

Reform Jewish community.

These girls are preparing

for their bat mitzvah

celebration with a rabbi.

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REfORm JUdAism fACinG iTs CHAllEnGEs

Reorm Judaism originally rejected Zion-

isms call or a Palestinian homeland.

However, with growing anti-Semitism in

Europe on the eve o World War II, Reorm

Jews adapted their position to the chang-ing realities.

Frequently other Jews have charged

Reorm Judaism with abandoning tradi-

tional religious principles, o betraying

many o the riches o the Jewish memory,

o disrespecting the nonethical aspects o

religion, and o fippantly rejecting all tra-

ditional religion. Just as Reorm Jews adapted to the call or a Jew-ish homeland, today they are also beginning to see ways o giving

new meanings to some o the traditions o the past. A recent sur-

vey by the Union o American Hebrew Congregations indicates

that Reorm Judaism has revived many earlier Judaic practices.

These include providing men with yarmulkes, kindling the Sab-

bath candles beore Friday evening services, reciting blessings

beore and ater readings rom the Torah at Sabbath morning

services, and observing two days o the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

The director o the survey commission was careul to point outthat this is not a return to Orthodox Judaism, but the expression

o a post-Holocaust generation o Reorm Jews who are seeking

new dimensions o Jewish spirituality.

orThoDox JuDaism

As a response to the growth o Reorm Judaism in Europe, Moses

Soer (17621839), a rabbi rom Bratislava, in present-day Slova-

kia, called on all traditional Jews to make no compromise with

modernity. He summoned them to keep themselves separate

rom Reorm-dominated communities i they did not want to

lose their Jewish identity. His appeal was heard and promoted by

many traditional rabbis, such as Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808

88) o Oldenburg, Germany. Hirsch, though traditional in his


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beliefs, was a person who was not afraid to use modern methods

for communicating the traditional message. He fostered Ortho-dox newspapers and political parties.

EsTAblisHinG TEACHinG insTiTUTiOns

With the immigration into the United States of more than 1.75

million Jews between 1881 and the beginning of World War I, the

Reform movement of Judaism diminished because, for the most

part, the immigrants were traditional Jews. They were poor and

not highly educated. By establishing the Jewish Theological Sem-

inary in New York City in 1885, traditional American Jews tried

to help these immigrants adapt to American life and to preserve

their religious traditions. But their efforts to raise the level of reli-

gious study, to maintain standards of observance, and to exercise

authority met with little success. There was just too much of a

A representation of an

Orthodox Jewish synagogue

and its main components

94 JUDAISM

lamp

womens galler y

cantors seat

reading desk

rabbis seat

pulpit

the Ark

replica of the Ten Commandments

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gap between the cultured, English-speaking American Orthodox

Jews and the new immigrants.

Other Orthodox eorts were made toward the turn o the

century, such as the establishment o the frst yeshiva (acad-

emy), called the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Even though the seminary was successul later and became thebasis o Yeshiva University, it was not very eective in the open-

ing decades o the 20th century. Eorts to organize a Union o

Orthodox Jewish Congregations were made in 1898, and a Union

o Orthodox Rabbis was ormed in 1902. However, none o these

institutions was able to become the center or the religious lie o

the Eastern European Jews who immigrated here.

A PlACE fOR TRAdiTiOn

The vacuum that remained ater these unsuccessul eorts was

occupied by a number o substitute organizationsJewish trade

unions, raternal organizations that gathered people rom the

same European locale, the Jewish press, and the Yiddish the-

ater. But traditional Jews were looking or something more than

a social approach to Jewish unity; they were looking or a reli-

gious basis. They thereore gravitated toward Orthodox Judaism,

which maintained that traditional Jewish laws should continue

to be ollowed, even by modern-day Jews.In recent years some Orthodox Jews

have promoted a new orm o Orthodoxy

in America. This seems to be part o a

more modern conservative, or traditional,

thrust in Jewish culture. In an eort to

orge a deeper religious unity, Orthodox

Judaism has ormed a progressive move-

ment that has been described as Neo-

Orthodoxy. The works o Samson Raphael

Hirsch are its religious oundation. As

more women and men o business and

intellectual achievement gave their sup-

port to this modern orm o traditional

Hasidic students deep in

study over Jewish scriptures

in a yeshiva in Jerusalem


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Judaism, it expanded its school system, established a network o

congregations, and produced a literature that strengthens and

deepens traditional religious unity within modern America.

O the 13 million Jews in the world today, about 2 million be-

long to the various orms o Orthodoxy. O these about 700,000

live in the United States. In Israel Orthodox Jews are divided main-ly between the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic Orthodox Jews.

Each o these two orms o Orthodox Judaism has its own chie

rabbi. Although in both the United States and Israel Orthodox

Jews play an infuential religious role within the Jewish commu-

nity, they are in the minority with respect to Reorm and Conser-

vative Jews and have less infuence on non-Jewish society.

ORTHOdOx JUdAism And iTs PRACTiCEs TOdAY

Orthodox Judaism teaches that traditional Jewish law, as given

to Moses by Yahweh in the orm o the Torah, is the ultimate reli-

gious authority that binds all Jews. Modern interpretations o the

Bible that treat sacred Jewish works as mythical or ctional his-

tory are rejected as irreverent. Yet even among Orthodox Jews

there are signicant dierences. Those rom eastern Europe

generally oppose all innovation in language, dress, and educa-

tion, while those rom western Europe avor, or at least accept,

JEWish FooD LaWs

Kosher (clean) foods,

which can be eaten:

Cow (cattle)

Turkey

Lamb

Chicken

Duck

Bass

Goose

Cod

Pheasant

Tuna

Treyf(unclean) foods,

which cannot be eaten:

Pig

Lobster

Eel

Oyster

Catfish

Scallops

Shark

Shrimp

Clams

Squid

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modrn drss and us o th vrnaular, and prmit th pursuit

o sular duation.

In addition to rvrn or th Torah and Talmud Orthodox

Jws ollow th ditary od o kashruth with grat sriousnss.

Thy at only koshr (ritually lan) oods listd in th book o

Lvitius. Som important aturs o this ditary od ar thatpork and shllfsh ar treyf (not ft to at); fsh must hav both

sals and fns; mat and dairy produts ar not to b mixd; and

a koshr kithn should hav two sts o dishson or dairy

and on or mat. Evn animals that ar ft to at must b slaugh-

trd in a spial mannr.

Orthodox Jws pray daily, but th or o Jwish worship is

wkly obsrvan o th Sabbath. On th Sabbath all work stops.

Mals and othr nssitis ar prpard borhand so that thntir day, rom sunst on Friday to sunst on Saturday, an b

ddiatd to rst and worship.

hasiDism

In th 12th ntury c.e. a group o vry pious astis aros in

Ashknazi ommunitis in astrn Europ. spially Grma-

ny. Ths Orthodox Jws wr alld Hasidism, rom th Hbrw

maning pity. In th 1700s thy blossomd around a har-

ismati tahr, Isral Baal Shm Tov (16991761). Baal ShmTov, or Bsht as h was alld, prahd that God was prsnt

vrywhr and that it was th task o rligious Jws to ahiv

devekutontinual ommunion with Godin all that thy did.

Th spiritual tahr, or zaddik, was a rabbi who should lad his

ollowrs, usually simpl and ommon popl, to xprin

God in all things. Hasidim dird rom othr Orthodox Jws by

thir frm loyalty to thir rabbis, who srvd as links btwn th

divin and ratd world and brought Gods blssings into th

livs o th aithul ollowrs.

Spiritual ladrship was and ontinus to b ruial to Hasid-

i ommunitis. Ths ommunitis ar olltivs that ntr

around thir harismati ladrs. Two o th most amous ol-

lowrs o Rabbi Baal Shm Tov wr Rabbi Dov Br (174073),


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who succeeded Besht and systematized his preaching and doc-

trine, and Rabbi Jacob Joseph (18481902). Rabbi Joseph pres-

ents a vivid example of the nature and role of a zaddika rabbi

who gained his authority through his contemplative life and his

spiritual charisma rather than through the Talmudic learning

that characterized the traditional rabbis. The spiritual leadershipof the zaddik was passed on in each Hasidic community as an

inheritance that often followed the model of a spiritual dynasty.

Although vast numbers of Hasidic Jews were exterminated by

the Nazis during World War II, there are an estimated 650,000

Hasidim in the world today. They can be found in England, France,

Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Israel, and almost 200,000 live

in the United States. The largest Hasidic group (numbering about

120,000) is the Lubavitch community that resides in Brooklyn,New York. It actively seeks to bring Jews back to study and piety.

The Hasidic movement continues to grow steadily, especially in

the United States.

A procession of men and

boys lead Aaron Teitelbaum,

the head rabbi in the town

of Kiryas Joel, New YorkState, from his home to a

synagogue to celebrate the

wedding of his son.

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ConsErvaTivE JuDaism

Zacharias Frankel (180175) inspired Con-

servative Judaism. Frankel knew Jewish

history well, and considered Reorm Juda-

ism to be an alternative orm o Judaism.

His ideas infuenced the direction that Sol-omon Schechter (18501915) gave to Con-

servative Judaism. According to Frankel

and Schechter, the mandates established

in the Torah and the Talmud must be ol-

lowed, but ollowed within the context

o a living tradition. In other words the

current generation o Jews ought to shape

the character o Jewish lie in harmonywith, but not rigidly bound by, the Torah

and Talmud.

Formally, Conservative Judaism began with the ounding o

the United Synagogue o America in 1913. It was meant to be a

bridge between Orthodox Judaism and Reorm Judaism. Accord-

ing to the Conservative Jews Orthodox Judaism was too rigid

and Reorm Judaism too innovative, with little connection to the

living history o the Jewish people. Conservative Jews sought a

middle ground between extreme traditionalism and extremeliberalism. American Conservative Jews attempted to blend the

richly historical Jewish tradition with the demands o the mod-

ern world in which the Jewish community lives.

THE GUidinG PHilOsOPHY

Conservative belies respect and ollow the Torah and the Talmud.

The Talmud developed under the changing circumstances o the

rabbinic era as the Jewish community tried to adapt the Torah

to dierent times and circumstances. This is what is required o

Jews in each era and in dierent worlds: They must, within the

ramework o the Law, interpret what the Law demands o them

in their present circumstances. Thus Conservative Judaism reread

the ancient works in terms o new conditions.


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Many o the practices o Conservative Judaism are common to

those o Orthodox Jews. Conservative Jews would claim, however,

that their practices are less mechanical, or routine. Conservative

Judaism also places a strong emphasis on Jewish community-

building in the orm o religious education or children, youth

programs, womens groups, and adult education.

fACinG iTs CHAllEnGEs

As they attempt to update the Law in terms o the demands o

modern lie, Conservative communities ace tensions among

themselves over what adaptations are proper. An example o such

a confict is ound in the question o whether to ordain women

as rabbis. Some congregations avored the ordination o women

rabbis on the basis o equality o the sexes. Other congregationsargued that this move is such a basic departure rom tradition

that it will create an even deeper split between Conservative Juda-

ism and Orthodox Judaism.

A Conservative convention nally approved the ordination

o women rabbis in 1983, and 18 women were admitted to the

Jewish Theological Seminary in 1984. In 1985 Amy Eilberg was

ordained as the rst Conservative woman rabbi. This debate over

womens ordination and similar problems illustrates the type o

challenges aced by a movement that tries to be both traditionaland modern.

oThEr Forms oF amEriCan JuDaismThE groWTh oF

rEConsTruCTionism

Though Reorm, Orthodox, and Conservative Judaism remain

the three main branches o the religion, other types o Judaism

have also ormed within America. Reconstructionism is a move-

ment that sees Judaism as an ever-evolving special community

o people rather than a religion whose ollowers conorm to the

teaching and law judged to be revealed by God. O all the branch-

es o American Judaism, Reconstructionism, whose ollowers

number about 50,000, is the only indigenous one. Originally led

by Mordecai M. Kaplan (18811983), it is relatively modern.

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Kaplan, inJudaism as a Civilization (1934),

stressed that modern Jews must realize

that they are heirs to a great civilization

that, throughout its history, pursued holi-

ness and social justice. He pleaded or Jews

to demonstrate their loyalty to their Jew-ish inheritance by developing their moral

dimensions and creative abilities. This, he

argued, is the lesson o the Bible. The Bible

teaches that rituals, originally ollowed as

divinely ordered acts o obedience, later

became expressions o commitment to spiritual values, especial-

ly those o pursuing social justice. Kaplan contended that all Jews

are the heirs o this great spiritual culture. Reconstructionist syn-agogues, he believed, should be fourishing centers o every acet

o a renewed Jewish lie. They should be houses o prayer and

study, but also home to the arts and music, and even health-pro-

moting hubs o physical activity.

The Reconstructionist philosophy has championed womens

rightsMordecai Kaplan was the rst American to hold a public

bat mitzvah ceremony or his daughter in the 1920s, correspond-

ing to the parallel ceremony or young men. The movement has

oered a number o other innovations within the Jewish world.One new declaration is that the child o a Jewish ather and a non-

Jewish mother is considered to be Jewish. The Reconstructionist

Rabbinical College, which opened in Philadelphia in 1968, also

ordained its rst woman rabbi, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, in 1974.

Reconstructionism is a modern, purely American movement that

has had a strong infuence on Reorm and Conservative Jews, and

has drawn into its old Jews who tend to be secular.


14 judaism

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