Cambridge

Jewish History, , and

EDITED BY

Judi th R. Baskin University ofOregon

Kenneth Seeskin Northwestern University

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LEORA BATNITZKY

. . H ver NH: University T 2004. Expanding the Palace ofTr_ ora h·. Orthodoxy and Feminism. ano ' . Ross, amar. d orar . Press of New Englan . A h 'tz· Histon~ Theology, and Contemp ./11 R benstein, Ric. h ar d · 1992 · Alfter use. wt . . ./· 18 u Bal timme Johns Hopkins Unive_r;uy ;;~ss;,,ann Cohct!s 'Religion.of Re,,on out of t~e so;'; Schwarzschild, Steven S. 1?~2. "~Re Tit e out :; the Sources ofJudaism, trans. Simon Kap an, - . f] d . ,,, In Religion OJ eason o 'J o u aism. . . 2)· 5-29. Contemporary Forms ofJudaism New York: Fredenck Ungar. . " Ti d't'on-AJournal ofOrthodox Thought 6 ( . h 1964 "Confrontat10n. ra t t . Soloveitchik, Josep . ) ".1 d 1 hia· Jewish Publication Society. 1983 Halakhic Man. 1 hi a e p . bl d Dana Evan Kaplan 1992'. The Lonely Man ofFaith. New York: Df~ ~:~for the Perplexed." In Persecution and the Art "Th L" ry Character o e u . p. Strauss, Leo. 1950. e nera -94 Chicago: University of Chicago ress. ofWriting, ed. Leo Strauss, 3~ . ica o· University of Chicago Press. . nneth Hart 1965. Spinoza's Critique ofReli~:on. Ch. h ~hilosophy and the Crisis ofModernzry, ed. Ke "Wh We Remain . lnJewts k p ss . 1997. 3{1 358 Albany: State University ofNew Y~r ~de . N Haven CT: Yale University Jewish religious practice in the twenty-first century exists in many different Green, - . d . t the Code of Maimom es. ~ ew ' Twersky, Isadore. 1980. Intro uctton o forms. This essay describes the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century origins of this Press. . diversity and discusses the evolution and contemporary manifestations of Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox , as well as other less prominent Jewish groups, in North America. Contemporary forms ofJewish life in are also discussed.

0 GINS OF CONTEMP JUDAISMS

Modern Judaism developed out ofthe Jewish Enlightenment () and polit­ ical emancipation, twin processes that deeply affected the Jews of Western and Central Europe and eventually Eastern Europe as well. As a result of diverse factors that developed in the Early Modern period, a relatively monolithic Judaism began to fragment in the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During these years, increasing numbers of Western and Central European Jews became more involved in European economic, social, and cultural life. In some locations, Jews received political rights that emancipated their communities from centuries of political and economic restrictions. While some Jews continued to believe in and observe their religion in a traditional manner, others, who were becoming more acculturated to the larger society, began to discard ritual practices. Some families continued to share a Sabbath meal or perhaps attend occasionally, particularly on the Days ofAwe and the three pilgrimage festivals. Others dropped all Jewish observances, believing that they conflicted with life in modern European society. Many Jews also converted to Christianity; frequently for pragmatic rather than theological reasons, as complete political emancipation took a long time to materialize. Conversion to Christianity was the most effective way of evading the many social prejudices directed at Jews and of taking advantage of new economic and professional opportunities.1 Traditional European Jewish society had been controlled by community rab­ bis, who followed the halakhic system ofJewish law, which dictated behavior not

Sorkin (1999).

444 445 CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM DANA EVAN KAPLAN

. . e~ facet of life. Although the community to Judaism while becoming more acculturated into German society. By 1840s, only in the ntual realm but ~so m ev h yl al J he had a great deal of religious however, there were a substantial number of rabbinic leaders who identified did not exert civil authority o~er t e ode dsewA%er political emancipation, the themselves with Reform views on the religious issues of the day. Abraham Geiger bl to enforce stnct stan ar . contro1 and was a e . . . . h d nd then dissipated. The Jewish com- (1810-1874) became the best-known leader of the moderate reformers, and Samuel authority of rabbinic leadership :~:;n~s i:t~·nal solidarity and external hostility, Holdheim (1806-1860) became the leader of the more extreme faction. Each of munity was no longer held tog y . . ith which individualJews could these ideological positions also carried over into the nineteenth-century North but rather developed into a voluntary associanon w American Jewish community, discussed in detail later. The Reform movement choose to affiliate. E lture with traditional Judaism was emphasized Judaism's ethical teachings as monotheism's most important contri­ 1 c . · ating uropean cu . The mo de rot mtegr . al h b i· d that natural re 11- bution to Western society. Proponents stressed the universalistic nature of their ( 29 1786) an mtellectu w o e ieve 17 - ' . c l t 2 Convinced that Jews religious creed and deemphasized its national character. d Ch . . ns a basis ror mutua respec . gion gave Je~s an nsna h lakhah and also participate in the larger , As a consequence of this universal focus and a desire to indicate political alle­ could combm~ adherence to a the founder of Haskalah. He provided his fol­ giance with the countries in which they lived, Reform leaders rejected beliefs and Mendelssohn is generally seen la~ . . . traditional piety while engaging practices that they saw as particularistic, including dietary laws and traditional . . ) · h mode ror mamtammg ~ h lowers (mas kt 1tm wit a 1 d . 1 Mendelssohn translated the 1ora modes ofSabbath observance. Nor did they look forward to the daywhen Solomon's the modern world y an fchrelat~ve YJ· s to learn the language of secular Temple would be rebuilt in and the Messiah would arrive to bring all Jews · 11 a means o e pmg ew · into German, parna y as ·d acculturation and assimilation, a back to the Land oflsrael. The very name of their - temples - indicated . Th' built further momentum towar . discourse. is f German-speaking Europe. to d d in t h e larger ones . . o that their permanent houses of worship were be in Germany, the United States, rocess that was most a vance h sc1'ously developed a strategy or wherever else they could live in peace and brotherhood. 4 P · h i· · us movement t at con The first modern J ew1s re ig10 d . c ulturatedJews in modern society During the 1840s, German Jewish reformers held three rabbinic confer­ for building a Jewish theology an pracnce wr ace ences to discuss various issues of importance. These conferences also led to what was . became . This break with Reform was initiated by Zacharias Frankel (1801-1875), who walked out of the Frankfurt Rabbinical Conference of 1845 after the group endorsed a position stating that the use of Hebrew was REFORM J DAISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE AND ITS IMPACT no longer necessary in worship. Frankel envisioned a new type of Judaism that would embrace a historical approach to the evolution ofJewish tradition but retain most of the traditional forms of practice.5 Frankel and like-minded colleagues ) wealth hilamhropist, is generally regarded as the Israel Jacobson (1768-1828 'a ~ p . 1810 he built the first Reform syn- founded the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau in 1854 and began to teach founder of the Reform ~ovement. ~:hi~:~~:;~nfeatu;es usually found in churches. what they termed Positive-Historical Judaism. Its name incorporated "positive" in agogue, a structure that mduded a . f t of the ark rather than in the that it sought to preserve halakhah, and "historical" because it tried to understand The bimah (the reader's platfor~ ;~: l~:~~:~~a:e~~ecame one of the characteris­ Judaism in a historical context. The proponents of this school accepted the idea of center of the sanctuary. Al thou~ . . The inscriptions on the building change, but only if those changes could be justified halakhically and fit in with the c 1 t the nme 1t was umque. tics of a Re1.orm temp e, a . ther obvious deviation from tradition. Perhaps continued development of]udaism. were in Lann as well as Hebrew, ano h d n and services included not During the same time period, traditional Jews in German-speaking Europe h S synagogue a an orga ' most important, t e eesen d ons i'n the vernacular. Men and began to formulate counter-arguments to Reform and the Positive-Historical · b t also prayers an serm only instrumental music, u . h d. . al ao-ogue with women sitting school. Led by (1808-1888), they became known as the . d ted as m t e tra mon syn tJ ' women remame sep~a f h alls behind a physical barrier. This separation of Neo-Orthodox, a designation that indicated that they were making a renewed in the balcony along t ree o t ~ w . d r t e of German Reform Judaism. commitment to traditional Judaism. In 1836, Hirsch wrote "Nineteen Letters on · ship remame a iea ur men and women d urmg wor h . · ftheAmerican Reform . d r ·1 · g became c aractensttc o Judaism," a series of essays defending traditional conceptions of the Jewish reli­ In contrast, mixe or ramt y seatm f h 11 s to , where he gion. Hirsch reiterated that Judaism required Jews to believe that God had given movement. Jacobson later brought many o t ese re orm the to Moses at Mount Sinai and that the Torah included both written and opened a synagogue in his own home.3 . 'ly a lay response to the social need of oral instructions. All of the comm:;i.ndmems were equally important, and no one The early Reform movement was pnman . remain connected had the right to differentiate between ethical and ceremonial laws. Hirsch did those German Jews who were desperately looking for a way to

Sarna (2004). Arkush (1994). Meyer (1988, 84-89). On Jacobson, see Marcus (1972).

446 447 DANA EVAN KAPLAN ______CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM

~~~~~~~~~~-

d or could be utterly rejected; rather, he main inRuence behind the establishment of the Union of American Hebrew not believe that secular knowle ge . h h l Id") an integration of tra- . d kh ("Torah wit t e argerwor ' Congregations (UAHC) in 1873; the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati, stressed Torah zm ere eretz f k . h. wh1'chTorah remained . h l d" in a ramewor wit m Ohio, in 1875 (the first seminary for rabbinic training in North America); and the ditional Judaism wit secu ar stu ies . fhandsome synagogue buildings and Central Conference of American (CCAR) in 1889. 8 Wise was regarded as dominant. He encouraged the constr~ct~on ~ d. . al Judaism and the fact that Jewish schools to indicate both the digmty o tra mon 6 the leader of the moderate wing of the Reform movement, which battled with the radical reformers, most of whom lived in the eastern part of the United States. Jews could conform to external aspect~ o~ th~ larr~ ~ultu~~d a theology and that Led by (1808-1879), the radical reformers eventually succeeded in Reformers argued that,_ like of religious practice. The Chr~~:r:~7~d ~s w~~ creating a de-ritualized form of Liberal Judaism, which became known as Classical theology needed to be and u . . n the basis of Judaism was stud1e~ ~hat Reform. Classical Reform was defined by the 1885 Declaration of Principles, which Nee-Orthodox objected to this emphasis, ardg~1 g . h t halakhah was warped 1 kh h d that Ju aism wit ou became known as the . Ir minimized ritual and emphasized the divinely revea le d haia a ' an . d h · both faith and . . H" . al hool me to emp as1ze ethical behavior in a universalistic context as the central message of Reform Jews, and degenerate. The Posmve- istonc sc d'ated throu h Wissenschaftdes did not interpret the Bible in a literal manner, and therefore they saw no conflict halakhic practice, but insisted that each ~ad to behr_ne i_ al heno~enon. Halakhah h d . d f Judaism as a istonc p between religion and . Most believed that God created the world in some judentums, t e aca em1c stu y ~. 1 fl "bl . der to allow Jewish religious life form or manner and continues to be involved as part of an ongoing process ofpro­ needed to be binding but sufficient y exi e m orh h ld only be deter- to adapt to changing societ. al circumstanc~s.. Sue c anges cou gressive revelation. Late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century reformers mined through the collective will of the Jewish people. stressed the importance of ethical monotheism. They believed that the ethical mes­ sage ofJudaism derived from one beneficent creator God who exists as the source and goal of all humanity. Without the existence of God, any attempt to aspire to T DEVELOPMENT OF ORM JU SM high ethical standards of behavior would be useless. The mission of Israel was to IN NO AMERICA spread the concept of ethical monotheism, serving as God's messengers in an age without prophets.9 · h 1· · denomina- Despite the fact that the three major cont~mporary Jew1hs re 1~1ousmovements, By the late 1940s, the American religious scene had changed, and the Reform h . . ins to German-speaking Europe, t e vanous movement adjusted accordingly. Much of the credit for the successful adapta­ tions trace t e1r ong . h' d their greatest success in North . ularly Reform and Conservative, ac ieve . S h d" tion of Reform Judaism to the post-World War II environment goes to Maurice parnc . . colonial Amenca were ep ar ic Eisendrarh (1902-1973), who became executive director of the Union ofAmerican America. Although the earliest synagogues ;n 1 . the 1820s and 1830s with a Orthodox, the Reform movement began to eve op m Hebrew Congregations (renamed the Union for Reform Judaism in 2003) in 1943 . . · fJ s from Central Europe. and its president in 1946. Eisendrath increased the profile of the movement by growing 1mm1granon o e~ . R fi le in the United States began in moving the national headquarters from Cincinnati to in 1948. The The first attempt at ~ml~mg a ~~::;:;~seven members of Congregation 5 1 "House of Living Judaism" was built on Fifth Avenue and Sixty-Fifth Street in ~:,~:~~~7~ ,~;~:d~~~!:~~,11~0 ,~~oard ofdi,'Yhect.ors redque~ting t;a:!:ri c::~~:~ , beside the major Reform synagogue in New York, Temple Emanu-El. f . ritual reforms including t e mtro ucnon o a In 1950, a second Reform rabbinical seminary was established in New York City a number o mmor d' b 1836 d 1881 the American Reform . i· h I h erio etween an ' with the merger of the Jewish Institute of Religion and Hebrew Union College. In of prayers m Eng is · n t e P . . f b t 250 000 Jews from h d ith the em1granon o a ou ' the early twenty-first century, Hebrew Union College has additional campuses in and Jerusalem. ~~~:~e~~;;~e~r~n~~;1e:t~Tt:ehlargRe-~cale immigraetniotn d:r!~s:;:; :::~~: b . h 1880s t e e1orm movem One of the central issues facing the Reform movement was how to provide its Jewry that egan m t e ho wanted to maintain a Jewish identity and var- members with guidance on ceremonial observance without creating another legal Judaism. It appe~ed to. people w f ulsor ritual adherence. No longer structure. Any obligatory system of religious laws would have been anathema to ious Jewish practices without a system o comp f 0 \ d Judaism members of most Reform Jews. Nevertheless, many religious leaders felt that Reform Judaism ob~gated to observe all tdh:~~::at:1 ~:;:T;r~ctic~~h~t ~:mained d:stinctive and Rewrm synagogues cou1 0 . . allowed for too much freedom and that most laypeople interpreted this as meaning 7 meaningful in a modern Christian-dommated s~c1ety. M Wise (1819- that they did not have to observe any ritual whatsoever. Reform "covenant" theo­ The first leader of American Reform Judaism was Isaac ayer h logians believed that one of the solutions to this problem was to reemphasize the 1900), who arrived in the United States from B o h em1a· m· 1846 . He was t e centrality of the berit, the covenant between God and the children oflsrael. This

Temkin (1998, 258-273). Grunfeld (1956); Rosenbloom (1976). Kaplan (2003, 44-63). See Zola (2002).

448 449 DANA EVAN KAP LAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM

is, as a number of observers have ointed . . . . was presented as an organic historical relationship that was reciprocal and contin­ same time. p out, movmg m two directions at the ued from generation to generation. Emphasis on this covenant provided a liberal framework for helping people to understand that incorporating religious practices into their lives could be an expression of commitment to this relationship with the THE AME divine.10 CAN CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) The Conservative movement has i . h . . . began ordaining women in 1972, and female rabbis have brought an energy and by Zacharias Frankel i 'd . ts rohots mt e Posmve-HIStorical school founded dynamism that have enlivened Reform worship and education in recent decades. nmi -nmeteent -centuryG Am . Judaism emerged as a di f ermany. encan Conservative Similar efforts have been made since the mid-1970s to update Reform liturgy. eth century. In 1902 salmhct Ammove?1ent only at the beginning of the twenti- The Union Prayer Book had been a ubiquitous presence since the closing years of ' we t Y encan comm · I d b Schechter (1847-1915) from C b 'd U . .un~ty ea ers rought Solomon the 1800s, and many younger people found its ponderous language excessively Theological Seminary ofAm _am_ nNge '~1Vkersity m England to lead the Jewish formal and its theological conceptions outdated. There was, however, no consen­ enca rn ew l.Or City d Judaism in North America Sch h d h an to promote Conservative sus on what a new prayer book might look like. The CCAR Liturgy Committee · ec ter argue t at the co . h auth ority for determining change Th J d . h mmurntywas t e religious decided to create a volume reflecting worship preferences of different theological . us, u a1sm ad to be d. d . ern methods of scholarship that could hel C - . stu le usmg mod­ approaches. When the Gates ofPrayer: Ihe New Union Prayer Book was published Judaism developed and changed h p onservat1ve scholars understand how in 1975, it included no fewer than ten different Sabbath-evening and six differ­ b overt e course of cent · Th Tl ah een interpreted and reinterpreted b J h 1 unes. e or itself had ent Sabbath-morning services. The services all followed a similar prayer structure, was understood at any particular : ews t. ro~g iout the ages, and how the Torah but they differed in their wording, their theological focus, and the inclusion of · oment m time was the det · · f settmg communal religious standard S h h d ermmmg actor in additional Hebrew text and other traditional elements. A gender-sensitive version refer to the group of serious Jews h s. c eccl ter use the term "Catholic Israel" to was published in 1994, and an entirely new prayer book, 1"1ishkan Tfilah, incor­ in a maximal manner.12 w o wante to understand and live their Judaism porating many traditional elements that had been excised from the original Union Whereas the Reform movement was controlled . ·1 b . Prayer Book, appeared in 2007. organization, the UAHC th C . pnman Y Y lts congregational In December 1978 UAHC president Alexander Schindler called for a sustained ' e _,onservanve movement was d . , b b inical school and theological seminary th J . h Th l . omma:ed y its rab- effort to reach outto the unaffiliated, and particularly the growing number ofJews Am . Th l ' e ew1s eo ogICal Semmary (JTS) 0 f enca. e ay organization the U · d S who had intermarried. Arguing against the norms of the times, Schindler said that the rabbinic scholars atJTS ra~h hmtefj ynhag~gue ofAmerica, took its cues from intermarriage did not necessarily mean that a couple was lost to the Jewish commu­ er t an rom t en own lay lead Th C on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) became th ers: . e ommittee nity. This led to an extensive outreach effort designed to welcome interfaith couples the movement. Members of the CJLS .e center of declSlon making for as well as potential converts, who were referred to as "Jews-by-choice."11 The Reform . f h were appomted by each of the th . movement also moved toward the full acceptance of gays, lesbians; bisexuals, and w1~gs o t e Conservative movement: ]TS, The Rabbinical Asse bl ree maJor Voting memb m Y(RA), and the transgendered individuals. In 1990, the Hebrew Union College began admitting . ers were expected to be sch 1 f al d. I erature capable of stud in th . oars o t mu lc it- openly gay and lesbian students to their rabbinic program. In 1996, the CCAR guidelines for the Con~rv:tiv: :imary souThrces and fo:mulating practical halakhic passed a resolution supporting the rights of homosexual couples to a civil marriage ovement. e committee could h one opinion as legitimate thus allowing for "hal kh. l al. accept more t an and in 2002 supported the rights of rabbis to officiate at same-sex commitment I h ·ddl d ' a IC p ur ism " n t e mi e ecades ofthe twentieth centur C : . ceremonies. very successful at attracting many h'ld. f. y, . onservanve Judaism proved A new theological platform for Reform Judaism was approved in 1999 at c 1 I en o immigrants fro E E w h o were seeking a "ddl h m astern urope the CCAR annual conference in Pittsburgh, where the original platform had practice but also resp:~dede t~a;he t;:~u:~r;;te: htraditional modes of Jewish been endorsed in 1885. The new platform reintroduced many traditional reli­ from th b · · . g 0 t e modern world. However gious concepts and rituals. Although these were presented as options that could e egmnmg some rntellectuals were troubled by th ' ' ent contradictions. It soon became evid .e 1:1ovements appar- be evaluated rather than as commandments that had to be observed, their Conservative synagogues in the post-~::l~~:~~~ast 1:1donty of t~ose joi~ing inclusion is a clear indication of the Reform movement's increasing return to advocates nor punctilious P . . f peno were neither serious many traditional Jewish practices. Nonetheless, the Reform movement has also ractltloners o Conservative Judaism Wh.l synagogues were supported b . d. l . 1 e many accepted new definitions ofJewish identity and religious fidelity. The movement be a significant gulf b y ~cnve an mvo ved congregants, there tended to etween t e expressed religious goals of the Conservative

10 See, for example, Wolf (1965). 12 Scult (1999, 45-102). Kaplan (2003, 157-160).

450 451 CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM DANA EVAN KAPLAN

Many in the Conservative move b 1· d synagogue, including adherence to Jewish rituals, and the actual reality of most Schechter had de 1 d ment e ieve that the theology that Solomon ve ope was no longer s ffi . d h 13 first theological platform E T;: E u cient, an t. e movement created its members' Jewish lives. ' met ve- munah· Stat J:p · · / Even so, the atmosphere in these congregations was more traditional than in Judaism, in 1988 Facing th . l · ement OJ · rznczpies of Conservative · e same soc1a and · 11 al the typical Reform temple. Hebrew was used more extensively, and ritual items and Reconstructionist move C l~te ectu pressures as the Reform ments, onservat1 J d . h 1 such as the yarmulke (head covering) and the tallit (prayer shawl) were displayed moved to liberalize religious pol· . Tu· h u aism ass owly but steadily ic1es. Is as :emcl d d l more prominently. Conservative rabbis used various strategies to educate their equal roles in worship for wome d . e not on y an emphasis on nan men mdudm~ th d" . f congregants and increase the level of ritual observance in their congregations, gen­ b ut al so the ,acceptance of gay and lesbian rabbin. .g e or mation o women, erally with little success. Dissidents on the left wing felt that the movement paid lip may also officiate at same-sex co . ICal students. Conservative rabbis mmltment ceremonies Th · . service to an outmoded theology and pattern of practice. Many of the theological some to question the need fo C . · ese mnovat1ons have led r a onservanve moveme t all . . radicals were followers of Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983), a popular JTS profes­ becoming almost identical to those o f R erormr J u d aism.14 . n at ' smce Its policies are sor who saw Judaism as a civilization in the broadest sense of that word and rejected "supernaturalism." They formed a subgroup and eventually broke away to create the Reconstructionist movement, ultimately building their own rabbinical school REC NSTRU ONIST JUDAISM and congregational union, a topic discussed in more detail later. The appeal of the Conservative Synagogue was in large part based on conti- Re~onstructionist Judaism is the only one of the four . . nuity with the past and the avoidance of any radical rejection of tradition. Not nations that developed entirel . h U . d ma3or American denomi- . . Y m t e mte States R · · surprisingly, most Conservative synagogues wanted their services to look and msp1red by a single person Mo d . M K l . econstrucnomsm was sound traditional. They were looking for a prayer book that could be used in such a a movement through the effortsro;~~ali :uan (18.81~19.83), and developed into service but would be appropriately up to date and easy to use by a largely unlearned rationalistic approach that en com d alf p of his d1~c1ples. Kaplan espoused a congregation. In 1946, Morris Silverman edited the Sabbath and Festival Prayer a narrow definition fJ d . passel. . aspects of]ew1sh civilization rather than o u aism as a re ig10n In 1909 K l b Book, which contained most of the traditional liturgy with an English translation of homiletics and principal of the 't h ., I ' ap an ecame a professor on the facing page, and this was adopted by most Conservative congregations. The Seminarv. He also led the J . h Ceac ers nstitute at the Jewish Theological ; . ew1s enter an 0 ·th d . most important distinguishing feature between the Conservative and Orthodox Eighty-Sixth Street in Manhattan. In 1922 'K l I 1 ~ ~x Jco~greganon on West synagogue in this era was mixed seating. The Conservative movement also allowed the Society for the Advanceme t f d . ' ap an e t e ew1sh Center to found tion in the country That n o Jhu aism, the first Reconstructionist congrega- congregants to drive to and from synagogue on the Sabbath. . same year, e conducted th fi Am · By the 1970s, however, many Conservative congregations were beginning ceremony for his daughter, Judith.15 e rst encan Bat to resemble their Reform counterparts, including in some cases the use of mixed In 1920, Kaplan published "a fc choirs and instrumental music during worship. In 1977, JTS chancellor Gershom which he wrote that a modern Ju~:~~~ o~~h~ Reconstr.uction ofJudaism" in D. Cohen and Rabbinical Assembly executive vice president Wolfe Kelman called about God and emph . . d h ou dispense with supernatural ideas as1ze mstea t e moral genius f h J . h l for the formation of an interdisciplinary commission to study the possibility of ideas and practices would need to h . ff; .o t e ~w1s peop e. Religious allowing women to take on greater leadership in the movement. This eventu­ Jewish people together and kee i pro~e t ~Ire ecnveness m terms of binding the ally led to the acceptance of ordination for women in 1983, and the ordination Kaplan ublish d h. . P ng t e_m mterested and involved. In May 1934 foundeJ Tih Re IS as a Civilization. Shortly thereafter of the first woman in 1985. Opposition to the ordination of women prompted ma~te~piece,!udaism h~ e econstructzomst a brweekl . I ' the formation of a small group called the Union for Traditional Conservative Jewish Reconstructionist Fou~dat" y :nagazme. n 1940, Kaplan started the Judaism (later renamed the Union for Traditional Judaism), which felt that the within all of the existing o . ~on, a sodc1detyto help promote Reconstructionism rgan1zanons an enominations. . Conservative movement was drifting away from its halakhic moorings. In general, Influenced by the educational philoso h J h however, Conservative Judaism has accepted female rabbis with equanimity. In eral Protestant theologians Henr N 1 p. er o n Dewey, as well as the lib­ 1985, the Conservative movement introduced a new prayer book, Sim Shalom, Ka la l k . . y e son Wieman and Harry Emerson Fosdick which attempted to articulate the movement's distinctive liturgical and theolog­ an ~vo~vi~~ ,:~;~r;~'!~f;z'!::~~~ a naturalistic lens. He taught that Judaism ,.,,; ical approach. A revised edition of Sim Shalom that appeared in 1998 included the most of what he termed " therl~ha~}ust a faith. Kaplan personally rejected names of the matriarchs whenever the patriarchs of the Jewish people are invoked trine of the "ch ls~pbernaturq ism. He particularly objected to the doc- osen peop e ecause it seemed exclusionary, and he also rejected and referred to God in gender-neutral terms such as "Sovereign" and "Guardian,"

rather than "Lord" or "King." 14 Wertheimer (2000). 15 Alpert and Staub (2000). 13 Sklare (1955).

453 452 DANA EVAN KAPLAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM messianism and traditional eschatology. Despite his theological radicalism, Kaplan Contemporary Orthodox Jews divide into two groups: the Modern Orthodox was hesitant to found a new denomination. This may have been because Kaplan and the ultra-Orthodox, although neither of these groups uses these terms today. was deeply committed to kelal Israel, the ideal ofJewish unity, and he . not w~nt The Mo_dern Orthodox tend to prefer the designation "Centrist Orthodox," an to introduce further divisiveness into an already fragmented American Jewish appellation coined by , who served as president ofYeshiva University community. He originally had hoped that Recons~ructi~nism ~ould. "provide a between 1976 and 2003; others use the term "open Orthodoxy." Modern rationale and a program for that conception of Jewish umty whKh might enable Orthodox are those who want to synthesize the best oftraditional Judaism with the Jews to transcend the differences that divide them, assuming, of course, that they . . J "16 b~st of ~ontempora_ry secular culture. While adherents of range are aware of having at least one thing in common, the desire to rem am ews. widely m both belief and levels of halakhic observance the ultra-Orthodox Ira Eisenstein (1906-2001) formally created the Reconstructionist movement strictly Orthodox) are to the right of the Modern Orthodox. Although they gener­ as the fourth American Jewish religious denomination when he founded the ally prefer the designation "Haredim," which means "those in awe of God," they Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in Philadelphia in 1968. Many of t~e also refer to themselves by a number ofother designations. In the State oflsrael, the early graduates took pulpits in Conservative congregations, while other_s ~o~k posi­ term "Haredim" is used to distinguish the ultra-Orthodox from the dati'im, who tions with Jewish organizations or educational institutions. There were 1~11tially fe:V ~re usually the religious Zionists (see following discussion). The ultra-Orthodox Reconstructionist synagogues that could afford to hire full-time rabbis, bur this mclude both Hasidim, who are themselves broken into numerous sects, and the has changed as the Reconstructionist movement has grown significantly in recent so-c~ll_ed yeshivah Orthodox, who stress the intense study of the Talmud. While years. Over time Reconstructionist practice and liturgy have become mor~ attu~ed Bas1~IC .groups a.nd the yeshivah Orthodox have similar religious viewpoints, there to spirituality; the movement encourages nongendered divine language m V:hich are s1gmficant differences among these communities based in both history and God is invoked by such epithets as "Source of Life." New prayer books pub~1shed practice. 18 in recent years include various versions ofKol Haneshem~h (Sabbath ~nd Holidays, Unlike Reform, Conservative, or Reconstructionist Judaisms, Orthodoxy has 1996; Daily Prayer, 1996; and High Holiday, 2000), edited by David A. Teutsch, n__ ever had ~ne set of denominational institutions. The Union of Orthodox Jewish with gender-neutral English translations. The edito~s h~ve tried to bala~ce ~~e Congregattons o~ Am~rica'. also known as the (OU), represents desire for greater spirituality with the need to remam faithful to ~a~lans or~g1- the Modern or Centnst wmg of Orthodoxy. This organization comes the closest nal vision, although this has not always been possible. Reconstrucnomst Judaism to replicating the organizations created by the other denominations. The various prides itself on being on the "cutting e~ge" of Je~ish life and therefo:e accepts a u~tra~Orthodox groups have numerous formal and informal hierarchies and orga­ certain degree of inconsistency, as new ideas germmate and make their way from mzattonal structures. The of the United States and 17 conception to implementation. Canada (~gudas Ha~bbonim) is a relatively small Haredi rabbinical organization fou~ded 1~ 19.02, which was once influential but has now become known primarily for Its penod1c polemical attacks against the non-Orthodox. The main umbrella ORTHO IN ITS FORMS group for the ultra-Orthodox isAgudat Israel ofAmerica. Agudat Israel was founded in 1912 in Kattowirz, which was then in Germany and is now part of Poland, and The term "Orthodox Judaism" refers to a wide variety of religious groups. What the American branch was established in 1939. Agudat Israel has numerous depart­ they share in common is a commitment to the observance of the ~a~khah, based ments that provide educational, legal, or religious programs to its members and upon a belief that the Torah was given by God to Moses at Mount Smai. God m~de other interested parries. 19 an exclusive covenant with the children of Israel, and that covenant was derailed . Orthodoxy _was in decline for most of the past two hundred years. It is only in the laws of Moses. Orthodox Jews believe that there was an Oral Torah given smce 1~67 that it has begun making a dramatic and very unexpected recovery in· to Moses along with the Written Torah, in which God explained verbally those the Urnted States and Israel. The baal teshuvah (pl. baalei teshuvah) movement laws which needed elucidation. These laws were discussed and debated by the began attracting notice in the late 1960s and early 1970s when growing numbers sages and were eventually written down in the form of the Talmud. The laws of ~he of ~oung Je~s who had been raised in non-Orthodox homes began showing inter­ Talmud were later codified, and these legal codes became authoritative for Jewish est m ~dopting more traditional patterns ofJewish life and worship. Much of the observance in every aspect of life. Since the halakhah is seen as a direct expression enthusiasm ~as a result of the startling victory of the State ofisrael in the Six-Day of God's will, Orthodox Jews believe that it cannot be abrogated or altered for War, fought m June 1967. In the weeks leading up to the outbreak of hostilities, historical or sociological reasons. many assimilated felt a visceral connection with the Jewish state

16 Kaplan (1994). 18 Heilman (2006). 17 Alpert and Staub (2000). 19 Mittleman (1996).

454 455 DANA EVAN KAPLAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM for first time. Orthodox believers saw Israel's victory as the beginning of the messianic redemption from galut ("exile"). They held that one of the necessary pre­ ~enerally assumed that all Jews followed matrilineal descent whereby Jewish iden­ requisites for the coming of the Messiah was strict ritual observance, an~ they w_ere tity was determined by Jewishness ofthemother.22 determined to help those non-observant Jews who expressed an interest m learnmg While the Centrist Orthodox community has dealt in different ways with the more about traditional Judaism.20 encroachment of modern ideas, the ultra-Orthodox have tried to shut it out as In the first decade of the twenty-first century, Orthodoxy has moved to the much as possible. Some follow the guiding principle of Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762- right in both the United States and Israel. 21 Practices that were virtually unhe~rd 1839, Pressburg, Hungary), known as the Batam Sofer, who coined the motto of of a generation ago, such as married women covering their hair and _a~stennon radic;J right-wing Orthodoxy: "'!he new is forbidden by the Torah."2.l Certainly, from mixed dancing, have now become the norm in many communltles. Some the re1ect10n ofmodernity has been a central feature ofHaredi society. Nevertheless, have argued that Modern Orthodoxy is a movement under siege. 111e imp.lic~tions ma~y ultra-Ortho~~x families do make substantial use of computer technology of this debate are enormous. Modern Orthodoxy insists that an apprec1anon of whtle carefttlly avo1dmg unnecessary secular influences. Unlike most other types of the positive aspects of Western culture is compatible with a fully traditio.nal ':ay Hared1m, the Lubavitch Basidic sect, also known as Hasidism is active in of life. It is this spirit that characterizes University in New York City. F1_rst religious outreach to fellow Jews. The Lubavitch movement ~as and c~ntinues to founded in 1888, Yeshiva, whose motto is "" ("Torah together with be dominated by the personality of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902- secular studies"), is a research university with graduate schools in business, educa­ 1994) .. Despite his death in 1994, his presence is still very much felt not only at the tion, social work, medicine, and law, among other areas. Students combine Jewish Lubav1tch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, but also Studies with the arts and , and men may also pursue study for rabbinic ordi­ at every Chabad synagogue, center, or house anywhere in the world. Chabad has nation at the affiliated Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, sometimes while also expanded dramatically because of its policy of sending out shlukhim, emissaries, pursuing advanced degrees in secular subjects. 111e Haredim, in co~strast, want to communities, including college campuses, around the world. The Lubavitcher to isolate themselves intellectually as well as culturally from secular mfluences. If Rebbe himself sent out the first shlukhim in the 1950s, and this program has the Modern Orthodox decline in numbers and influence, Orthodoxy will become expanded greatly in subsequent decades. 24 steadily more extreme in both belief and practice. This will certainly contribute to After the Rebbe's death, it seemed inevitable that the movement would either a worsening of relations between a growing ultra-Orthodox community and the diminish or split into warring factions. Adding to the likelihood of decline was the other denominations. m_essian~sm that' dominated the movement. Some Lubavitchers were so impressed Already in 1985, Modern Orthodox Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg argued that with their leaders force ofpersonality that they were convinced that he was destined the American denominations ofJudaism were heading toward a schism. Green berg to be the Messiah. Even his death was not regarded as an insurmountable obstacle. predicted that by the year 2000 there would be dose to a million non-Orthodox Despite a bitter public battle betvveen the messianists and the nonmessianists, in Jews, mostly in the United States, whose Jewish status would be contested by the the first decade of the twenty-first century, the Lubavitch movement holds together and continues to thrive. 25 Orthodox. Greenberg emphasized that unless the denominations could agree on a strategy for handling this incipient crisis, differing definitions of Jewis~ id~~­ The role of women in Orthodox society constitutes one of the most important tity would lead to a permanent split within the Jewish people. Part of t~1s cns1s distinctions among contemporary Modern Orthodox and Haredi Jews. Modern stems from the different standards required for conversion. Reform Judaism does Onhodo~ Jews are committed to the halakhah and would not countenance any not require a commitment to observe halakhah, nor do all ~~for1:1 rabbi~ fol:ow act or policy that would be a direct violation of Jewish law as understood by the halakhic practices in the conversion ceremony, such as requm~g 1mmers10n 1~ a Ort~odox r~bbinate. Nevertheless, most Modern Orthodox women firmly believe ritual bath (mikveh). Conservative rabbis follow the halakhah m the conversion th~t _mnovat10~s that would enhance their religious knowledge and status are per­ ceremony, but their converts might not meet halakhic standards of practice. In any m1ss1ble accordmg to the halakhah. A number of institutions have begun teaching case, most Orthodox rabbis reject all non-Orthodox converts on principle. 1he advanced Talmud studies to women who are motivated to achieve a high level of 1983 decision of the Reform Central Conference of American Rabbis to accept competence in the full spectrum of rabbinic texts. Several of these organizations patrilineal descent exacerbated this problem. 1his decision all~wed childre~ of a_re qu.ietly considering the possibility of providing these women with a gradua­ Jewish fathers and Gentile mothers to be recognized as Jews, provided they received tlon diploma that would be equivalent to the rabbinical degree given to men. In Jewish educations and demonstrated "appropriate and timely public and formal the early twenty-first century, halakhically knowledgeable women are serving as acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people." Prior to this time, it was 22 Greenberg (1986). 23 20 Landau (1993); Heilman (1992). Liebman and Cohen (1990); Susser and Liebman (1999). 24 21 Heilman (2006). Fishkoff (2005). 25 Berger (2001); Lcnowitz (1998, 215-223); Schneerson (1995).

456 457 DANA EVAN KAPLAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM

. M dern Orthodox congregations in North America rabbinic m some o l al issues connected with women's status communal prayer could bind them together, but they differed on type of and as recogmzedassis~ants expert advocates on eg communities they wished to form. Some had the idea of creating rural communi­ in Israel. . . al l king for ways to alleviate the ties, others hoped to create residential urban centers, and still others were inspired Other Orthodox feminist activists are so o.o. al d . ' n1"lareral mar- by the monastic life of the ancient Dead Sea Scroll sect. 27 . h t · tradmon Ju a1sms u halakhic disadvantages for women m eren . m . . . t in her marriage . l . h. ha woman is a passive parnc1pan Some original members spoke oftheir desire to engage in a deep search for the riage and divorce aws m w ic h b d t her a divorce Of particular meaning of life, and they expressed the sentiment that the Jewish religion could d ed us an to gran · and must depen on an estrang h " h h . d oman " If a woman divorces provide them with a usable framework. However, this required a reinvention of . 1. h f h a r e c ame w · concer~ is the p ~g ~ o ~ e ~g:~usband will not or cannot provide her with a get Judaism as a revolutionary religious force that could work toward the liberation of accordmg to secu ar aw ut e h . ·11 e arded as married and cannot move the individual. Adherents of the pavurah movement wanted to create an "authentic (a Jewish divorce do.cument), t~e~ s ~is shn fir g d d f the twenty-first century Jewish community'' that took tradition seriously but was willing to institute necessary h 1.r 0 h d £ mists m t e rst eca e o on with er ne. rt o ox em . he rabbinic le al authorities, have not moved changes. These included gender equality and an array of other political and social remain concerned that the poskzm, t . bl g hi.ch i·s a human tragedy for causes, such as peace activism, social justice, ecology, and, for some, vegetarianism. . 1 l h · halakh1c pro em, w more aggressive y to reso ve t is . ft t find solutions in indi- Havurat Shalom Community Seminary was the first such commune, established in Al h h bb · · representatives o en try 0 manywomen. t oug ra mic . . . I" ted and that they are Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1967. Initially the bavurah movement attracted little vidual cases, they argue that the halakhic issues :I~ co:~~~aded 26 attention. However, the 1973 publication of lhe Jewish Catalog brought widespread not able to make the types of wholesale changes emg e . attention to the movement. Subtitled "A Do-It-Yourself Kit," this anthology was modeled on the contemporaneous counterculture Whole Earth Catalog. lhe Jewish Catalog stressed that readers could actually "do" Judaism rather than just watch rab­ NEW-AGEJ bis and synagogue elders perform liturgy and rituals. It also suggested that individu­ als could incorporate Jewish ideas and observances into their own lives, transforming f h thirty years has been the both Judaism and themselves in the process. 28 b:thiea;:nd prachtice gOr0n:r~f ~;~a:~~: ~np;:~:~~:s ~~~:~fs~~~~~i~u; thar falrlthuond:~ A growing number of f;avurah fellowship groups eventually developed into what d . " A ·t many ot er non- the broad rubric of "New-Age Juda~smsh. dsevwe1loped and been centered0 in the became known as the Jewish Renewal Movement, a broad coalition of Jews inter­ . . h fNew-Age Ju aism as . 1nnovadt1Sons, m1huc. ~ because the United States has the largest Jewish population ested in new approaches to spirituality and sometimes liberal political activism. Some Unite tates. 1s is . . f Am · an advocates ofJewish Renewal are primarily interested in left-wing political activism, . the world outside ofisrael and also because of the plurahsn~ ~ature o k elnc " which they justify by appealing to the biblical prophets and other Jewish texts that m . · "rehgwus mar etp ace. society, where different religious groups ca~ comJpete m a d to the suburbs where emphasize social justice. Others are involved in meditation and other forms of con­ l b f Amencan ews move In the postwar era, arge oerftseon built unprecedented numbers of large and templation originating in religious traditions such as Buddhism. Many continue to · J ish communmes~~m b growmg ew . . the children of the original members ecame see themselves as neo-Ijasidic, while some emphasize feminism and the spiritual impressive synagogue bmld~nfe:1 ~~at their parents' Judaism lacked spiritual sub- sources of femininity. This spiritual diversity has been harnessed into a movement young adults, some creJ 1 tion of the 1960s provided an ideological context with an increasingly sophisticated organizational arm. In the early twenty-first stance. The countercu mr revo u . f the oun Jews who became century, Jewish Renewal is ordaining rabbis and has established a full range of affili­ for this inchoate sense of religio~s searchmg. M;y ~ d~o brfng radical spiritual ated institutions. Among those central in the development of this form of New-Age active in secular political and social movements so ope Judaism were Arthur Waskow (b.1933) and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (b.1924).29 transformations to Judaism.. . . f l" . hange was the development of The first concrete manifestation o re 1g10us c 1 h ot) was an experi- the havurah movement in the late 1960s. The bavurah (p .. avur h the could FORMS OF JEWISH LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY me~tal fellowship set up by young activitists ;~: :~~t::~:;;~:i:r:~:rs h:d seen ISRAEL engage in heartfelt prayer and stu~y. Many o t d t~e~ wanted to create a Jewish how groups of hippies had forme communes, a:avannah the intention to con­ The nineteenth-century development of political and the ultimate estab­ religious alternative. They placed the stress I on h' . 'Hebrew these groups lishment of the State oflsrael have had a major impact on all forms ofcontemporary

centrate during prayer. In addition to r~gu ar _wors ip ~ 1h' hoped that 27 Prell (1989); Weissler (1989). sang niggunim, wordless ljasidic melodies, with great ervor. ey 28 Siegel, Strassfeld, and Strassfcld (1973); Srrassfeld and Strassfeld (1976); Strassfeld and Strassfeld (1980). See Chapter 14, 20, and 21. 29 See Waskow and Berman (2002); Schachter-Shalomi and Segel (2005).

458 459 DANA EVAN KAPLAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM

Jewish practice. Reform Judaism, with its emphasis on the rel~gious ~nd ~niversal Middle Eastern co~ntries (Mizral;im). Most attend an Orthodox synagogue on the nature of Judaism, could not support an affirmation of Jewish and Sabbath and sometimes during the week and maintain dietary laws (). Many opposed the early Zionist movement. Orthodox Jews were divided by the develop­ of the me~ ~ay put on tefillin (phylacteries) during morning prayers. What makes ment of an organized Zionist movement led by the secular journalist 1heodo: Herzl them tradmonal rather than Orthodox is that most will drive and use electricity on because they believed that only the Messiah could bring the Jews of the Diaspora the Sabbath. Many go to pray at an Orthodox synagogue Saturday morning and back to the Land oflsrael and rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. Eventually, some tra­ then attend a soccer game or watch television in the afternoon. Many masorti'im ditional Jews developed a Zionist vision that was both Orthodox and nationalistic, have s~pported th~ Sephardic Torah Guardians political movement (), which while others remained vigorously opposed to Zionism as a secular heresy.. In the has bmlt an educational and social-service network that helps poor Jews of Middle aftermath of the Holocaust and the creation oflsrael in 1948, Reform Judaism ~as Eastern origin thro~gho~t the country. Shas was founded by young Haredi rabbis become an enthusiastic supporter of the Zionist endeavor, as are the Conservative who ~ere mostly tramed m Ashkenazi yeshivot but grew dissatisfied with what they and Reconstructionist movements.30 perceived to be discrimination. They advocated a fun damen talist and an The State oflsrael is based upon Jewish models, and Israeli social policy inc~r- ~xtremel~ strict level of observance, both of which were foreign to the vast major­ porates a great deal of religious content, even in aspects of life _that hav~ nothmg ity ~f their supporters. Yet, because they were seen as religiously authentic, they to do with religion. The national tongue is Hebrew, a modermzed version of ~he received a great deal of social and economic support. In recent years, the movement has suffered corruption scandals, and new forms of Mizrahi Haredi J d · h language used in the Bible. Since Israel is a Jewish state, the Sabbath a~d all Jew1s_h yi • u atsm ave holidays are officially observed, and Jewish dietary laws are follo':ed ~n all pu~hc appeare d . ~ cafeterias. However, Jewish life in Israel does not display the denommanonal vanety ~any I.sraelis identify themselves as secular, but this term includes any Jewish that characterizes North American Judaism. Religious attitudes in Israel tend to be Israeli who rs no: Or~hodox or traditional. Among the secularists, a slight majority narrowly religious or completely secular. Many of the Ashke~azic fo~nders of t~e say that they believe m God, an obvious indication that the term hiloni needs to be State of Israel identified as Jews nationally but did not practice Judaism as a reli­ understood cautiously. The majority participate in at least some J~wish ritual, such gious tradition. The majority of Ashkenazic Jews in Israel _emigrated from Eastern as the Passover se.der. Some Israelis may practice a considerable number ofJewish Europe, where their exposure to the Reform, Conservative, and Neo-Orthod.ox observanc~s, but mter_pret them in nationalistic rather than religious terms. movements that originated in Central and Western Europe and North Ame~tca . Hared1 Jews consider their belief system and religious practices to extend back was minimal or nonexistent. Similarly, after the establishment oflsrael, the maJOr­ 1~ a~ unbroken chain to the divine revelation of the Torah to Moses on Mount ity of new immigrants came from Sephardic or ~iddle ~aste~n communities where Smai. They believe that every aspect of life should be governed by the laws of the there had never been significant efforts to rethmk Judaism m modern terms. As a Torah, and they aspire to live in a completely religious society, removed from all result, many Israelis believe that traditional Judaism should be honored regardless or al:nost all secular influences. While the early secular Zionist establishment was 31 of whether an individual chooses to practice it in its entirety. hosnle to the Haredim and Orthodox Judaism generally; these communities were The only officially accepted sources of Jewish religious authority in Israel ab_le. to u~e their ~umbe:s. to pressure David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime are Orthodox rabbis who are recognized by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. They are mm1ster, mto making ~el1g10us ~ccommodations for them. The country also agreed the only individuals authorized to perform Jewish weddings_ and con_duct Jewish to observe central Jewish pracnces, at least in part. A status quo agreement estab­ funerals in accordance with guidelines set down by the Chief Rabbmate. There ~ished certain ground rules: Buses could run on the Sabbath in some areas, but not is no mechanism for a civil marriage in Israel, nor is marriage between individu­ m others. Essential utilities could run, but government offices would close on the als from different faith communities possible. Israel has both a Sephardic and an Sabbath, and so forth. 1he .Haredim were also able to claim military exemptions or Ashekenazi Chief Rabbi, a recognition of the regional and cultural differences t~at deferrals, and many Hared1 couples were eligible for subsidies available for families have developed in Judaism over the centuries. While the Reform an~ C~nse:vanve with large numbers ofchildren. movements have established a small number of congregations and msmunons of Israeli Orthodox leaders, including prominent politicians, frequently argue learning in the country, they and their rabbinic leaders are unable to achieve official that the Reform and Conservative movements have encourao-ed assimilation in recognition and thus have received little state funding. . . . the Diaspora and proven themselves to be a destructive fore:. Israeli Orthodox Israelis divide into four groups in terms of degree of Jewish religious prac­ rabbinical leaders ~av~ attacked the non-Orthodox movements in the strongest of tice: Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), dati'im (religious Zionists), masorti'im (traditional, terms and have penod1cally launched r.::ampaigns to rewrite the Law of Return the but not Orthodox), and bilonim (secular). The traditionalists are usually Jews from legi~latio_n_ that ~ra_nted every Jew the right to immigrate to the Jewish state' and receive c1t1zensh1p nnmediately upon arrival. The definition of a Jew in the Law of

3o Abramov (1976). 32 Leibman (1990); Leibman and Katz (1997). Susser and Liebman (1999).

460 461 DANA EVAN KAPLAN CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF JUDAISM

Return is a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has converted to Judaism. nocommunity . h connection h . . a n d person al practlce. t h at bring spiritual meaning and The Orthodox parties frequently demanded that the government amend the uns ment to t eir lives. law to add that the conversion must be done "according to halakhah." Thus far, pressure from the Diaspora has convinced Israeli leaders that allowing such a change would severely harm Israeli-Diaspora relations, and the proposed amendment has REFERENCES 33 Abramov, Zalman. 1976. PerpetualD 'ii ·Ji . . . . been shelved. Dickinson University Press. t emma. ew1sh Religion m the Jewish State. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Alpert, Rebecca T., and Jacob J. Staub 2000 . lo . . Philadelphia· Rec . . p · · Exp ring Judaism: A Reconstructionist AMroach. . · onstruct10nist ress r r T E FUTURE FJU Arku~~:e~lan. 1994. Moses Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment. Albany: State University of New York

Although many Jewish writers over the last two thousand years have predicted the Berger, David. 2001. The Rebbe the Messiah a d h · Library ofJewish Civiliz:tion. , n t eScandalofOrthodoxlndiffirence. London: Littman demise ofJudaism, it has continued to survive and thrive. Certainly, the future of Judaism depends on manyfactors that cannot be predicted. First and foremost is Fishkoff, Sue. 2005. The Rebbe'sArmy: Inside the World o+'Chaba . Greenberg, Irving.1986 Will The .. ,,B r. . h n ?b d-Lubavttch. New York: Schocken. . , • e 0 ne .lewis reopie 'Y the Yt 2000? N Y< the social, political, and religious course of the State oflsrael. Despite the ongoing Center for Learning and Leadership. ear · ew ork: National Jewish hope that Israel and its neighbors would find a way to live in peace, this is not yet a Grunfeld, I., ed. 1956. Judaism Eternal Selected Essa sfr h .. reality at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Israel faces an ongo­ Hirsch. 2 vols. London: Soncino. :Y om t e Wntmgs of Rabbi Samson Raphael ing conflict with the Palestinians, but also has to plan for the possibility that more Heil~~~c~:uel C. 1992. Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry. New York: distant enemies might launch a preemptive attack, an act that would be devastating for Jews everywhere. 20~~i~:::~:;;:~~Right: The Contest for the Future ofAmerican Orthodoxy. Berkeley: University of Barring any such catastrophe, there is still a great deal of uncertainty. The KaplanU, ~an~ Evpan. 2003. American Reform Judaism: An Introduction. New Brunswick NJ· R t most important consideration is the future of relations between Orthodox and mvers1ty ress. ' · u gers non-Orthodox Jews. The two groups, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, are rapidly 20U09'. Co~temporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal. New York· C I b' mvers1ty Press. · o um 1a moving apart. Unless there is some development that helps the two parties to rec­ Kaplan, Mordecai M. 1957 [1994] 'udaism as a c· ·L· . -r oncile in the years to come, there will be two or more groups ofJews with different r. . h · P tvt tzatzon: 1 oward a Rec t t · ""A . .lewis Lift. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publ1' t' S . fAm . ons rue ton OJ merzcan values, different definitions ofwho is a member of their religious group, and differ- L d . . ca wn oCJety o cnca an ~~:~::.993. Piety and Power: The World ofJewish Fundamentalism. New York: Farrar, Straus, ent normative practices. :d In 2004, Rabbi Paul Menitoff, the executive vice president of the Central Leib7e:ss::::l~e~~:990. Religious and Secular: Conflict and Accommodation between Jews in Israel. Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), predicted that virtually all knerican Jews would be either Orthodox or Reform within twenty years. There would be Leibman, Charles S., and Steven M. Cohen. 1990. Two Worlds o+ u . . . . Experiences. New Haven CT Yal U . . p 'J) dazsm. The Israeli andAmerzcan an era of dual denominationalism, which would replace the tripartite division of . ' , · e niversity ress. Leibman, Charles S., and Elihu Kat d 1997 Th r . knericanJudaism that developed in the early years of the twentieth century. While Report. Albany· Stat U . . z, feNs. . e .Jewishness ofIsraelis: Responses to the Guttman . · e nivers1ty o ew York Press. it seems likely that each of the existing movements will continue to maintain its LenowU1t~, H~rrips. 1998. The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heio'hts New York· Ox£ d own institutions, MenirofFs general thesis may turn out to be true. In Israel, the mvers1ty ress. o· · . or stark division between the Orthodox and the secular is likely to continue, despite Malki;dgwYa:vl}KO·OM4'.Sehcullila;{~dai!m: Faith~ Values, and Spirituality. Foreword by Sherwin T. Wine. the best efforts of the non-Orthodox denominations and new groups of indigenous ' · rtc e vaiennne and Company. 34 Marcus, Jacob Rader. 1972. Israel Jacobson: The Founder ol' . advocates of various types of"secular Judaism." Cincinnati· Hebrew Union C 11 p 'J the Reform Movement m Judaism. · o ege ress. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Jewish religious life continues to Mazie, Steven V. 2006 Israel's R' h L R L' . Lexington Books. . t~ er aw: e igion and Liberal in the Jewish State. demonstrate significant signs of vitality and creativity, in both the State of Israel and the Diaspora. Jews of all backgrounds are increasingly involved in serious Meye~e~~:r~I~fiol9rd88U.n~esp~nseI) To Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism. Jewish study at various levels. While many Jews lose interest in Judaism and choose · ivers1rv ress Mittleman, Alan L 1996 Th p,, L' · :.r: Tl h to leave the community, others deepen their involvement and establish modes of Agudat Is a L Nb '. S e Uo z~tcs o~ orq : The Jewish Political Tradition and the Founding of . • r, e . any. tate mvers1ty of New York Press. Phillips, Bruce 2005 "Ameri J d · · th ~ to Americ~n Jud~ism ed c; u ;s; I~ e wenty-First Ce~ tury. ,, In The Cambridge Companion Prell Riv-Ell 1989 p' . a;a . ap an, 397-415. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 33 Abramov (1976). , Stat U e.n. . p. rayer an Community: The Havurah in American Judaism. Detroit: Wayne 34 Kaplan (2008). e n1vers1ty ress.

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Rosenbloom, Noah H.1976 . 1rar. d'ztzon . zn . anAge. o/Reform: . fA The. Religious Philosophy o/Samson Raphael h. J . h p bl' ti 0 n Society o mcnca. Hirsch. Philadelp ta: ewis u tea . N H CT Yale University Press. 4 A · T daism ·A History. ew aven, · l r · h Sarna Jonathan. 200 · mmcan Ju · . h . hp, f' . A Guide to Meaningfa Jewzs Scha;hter-Shalomi, Zalman, and Joel Segel. 2005.]ewzs wzt ee mg. 19 Practice. New York: Riverhead Books. . :gful U£. The Wisdom of the Rebbe. Schneerson, Menach em M en de l . 1995 . Toward A Meanzn t;e. New York: William Morrow and Company. d' . R d· A Histon1 o+ the Jewish Theological Jewish Popular Culture " h h ' S · ry" In Tra ztzon enewe . J 'J • al Scult, Mel. 1999. Sc ec ters emma . . 1·45-102. New York: Jewish Theolog1c Seminary o/America, 2 vols., ed. Jack Wertheimer, . Jeffrey Shand/er Seminary. . r d . . An American ReliO'ious Movement. New York: The Free Sklare, Marshall. 1955. Conservative JU azsm. 6

. 1Press. Ri h d Michael Strassfeld, an d Sh aron Strass feld · 1973, The. First Jewish Catalog: A Siege , c ar , . . h Publication Society of Amenca. Do-It-YourselfKit. Philadelphia: Jew1s T 1780-1840 Detroit: Wayne State Sorkin, David. 1999. The Transformation of German Jewry, . Jews' encounters with modernity- through new political, economic, intellectual, University Press. c Th Second Jewish Catalog: Sources and Resources. and social institutions, as well as new technologies and ideas - have engendered S f; ld Michael and Sharon StrassfelcL 1976. e trass e , , . . S . f Am rica a wide array of responses that have transformed Jewish life profoundly. Nowhere Philadelphia: Jewish Publication octety o ;e Third rewish Catalog: Creating Communi"ty. Strassre c ld , Sharon, ' and Michael Strassfeld... 1980.f Am . J' is this more evident than in those practices that might be termed Jewish popular Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society o :tca: S . l· Strategies for a Jewish Future. culture. In phenomena ranging from postcards to packaged foods, dance music Susser, Bernard, and Charles S. Liebman. 1999. C oosmg urvzva. to joke books, resort hotels to board games, feature films to T-shirts, Jews in the New York: Oxford University Press: ,r, z d . . The Life and Times ofIsaac Mayer W7ise. modern era have developed innovative and at times unprecedented ways of being Temkin, Sefton D.1998. Creating America~ ~eJo~mJu aism. Jewish. L. L'b ofJewish Cmhzat10n. u London: mman I rary . 2002 A Time for Every Purpose under neaven. Waskow, Arthur Ocean, and Phyllis Ocean Berman. . While these works and practices reflect the diversity of]ewish life ideologically and geographically, they share a common rubric that distinguishes them from other New York: Farrar, Straus, and Gir~ux. . nt:. l- A bivalence and Tradition in a Havurah Weissler, Chava. 1989. Making Judaism Meamnl:Ju. m . forms ofJewish culture. Many examples of]ewish popular culture manifest notions Community. New York: AMS ~reshs. C . C t ative S11nagogues and Their Members. New ofJewishness that owe nothing to the traditional rabbinic concepts that have defined ;vrwen h e1mer, . Ja ck , ed · 2000 · J'Tews tn t e enter. onse v J Jewish life for generations. But even those examples that do draw on Jewish tradi­ Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UniversitydaP~ess. R,.R . n tl New Theology. Chicago: Quadrangle Wolf, Arnold]. 1965. Rediscovering ju ism: e_;.ections o tions emerge from literacies, protocols, authorities, economies, and sensibilities that are distinct from and sometimes at odds with established Jewish precedents. Books. ,.r C''- 1 _ ,. Jewish Reformer and Intellectual. Z oa,1 G ary.P 2002 · Isaac Harb11"' o; fJaneston, 1788 1828 The term "popular culture" intimates something different from other kinds Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. of culture, different especially from what might be thought of as elite, official, or "high" culture. Rather than try to establish fixed criteria for distinguishing popular WEB SITES OF JEWISH RELIGI OUS DENOMINATIONS culture from other cultural modes, it proves more valuable to note when culture is AN_D GROUPS claimed as popular, who makes these claims, and to what ends. Similarly, scholars Union for Reform Judaism - www. urj ·org of Jewish Studies have identified numerous examples of what is termed "popular United Synagogue -www.uscj.org religion," that is, texts, beliefs, and practices that are not regarded as normative. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations -wv.rv:.ou.org notion of popular religion is sometimes used to separate ideas or activities thought The Jewish Rcconstructionist Federation-www.jfforg Chabad/Lubavitch-www.chabad.org of as extrinsic to the essence of Judaism; these might include narratives, beliefs, Aish HaTorah-www.aish.com and practices that are often identified, disparagingly, as "superstition" or "folklore." UnionforTraditionalJudaism-www.utj.org In fact, such distinctions, often made many years in retrospect, oversimplify the diversity and complexities that have been typical of]ewish religious life in every era and characterize it in terms unfamiliar to the time and place under investigation. In other cases, popular religion is juxtaposed to normative religion as an important alternative or complementary form of observance, as in the case of women's prayers composed in Yiddish beginning in the seventeenth century. 1

Weissler (1998).

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