Reform Judaism: From Left to Right?

Classical Reform Judaism originated in the nineteenth century and reacted to the modern world at the intersection of a Cultural Guideline reflecting Western Modernity rather than Jewish Tradition and a Structural Focus reflecting a Religious Focus rather than an Ethnic Focus. According to the latest Pew national survey of Jewish Americans (2021), 37% of Jewish households are Reform. This chapter begins with an institutional history of Reform Judaism as a movement or denomination within US Jewry (i.e., as a national organizational structure that includes a seminary for the training of its rabbinate, a federation of its congregations, and an organization of authorized rabbis). This chapter then turns to an empirical description of the beliefs and practices of Reform’s contemporary lay adherents. The positions of Reform Judaism on both key questions have evolved over time. Three phases in the development of the Reform option are reviewed: the emergence of Reform Judaism (Phase I, 1824–1924); a movement away from modern universalism toward a more ethnic and cultural identity as an adjustment to external political events, global antisemitism, and the internal transformation of American Jewry, based on the massive Eastern European Jewish immigration, which was formalized in the Columbus Platform (CP 1937) (Phase II, 1925–1965); and an introduction to creative and more participatory liturgies and alignment with social justice and progressive causes within American society (Phase III, 1965–present). In addition, Reform asserted that Jewish identity could be based on both patrilineal as well as matrilineal descent. Two statements of principles were issued: The San Francisco Platform (SP, 1976) and the new Pittsburgh Statement of Principles (New PP, 1999). This examination of the Reform option, based on a sociohistorical review, case studies, and survey data reveals the dynamic shift across the centuries of its existence in the US.