Howiedds

[SUPERMAN]

What is the difference between Orthodox and Reform Judaism?

[Howiedds]

Superman:

The development of the 3 most common streams of Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform had its beginning in the late 1700’s, early 1800’s in response to the Age of the Enlightenment. As the principles of that age spread through Europe, the principles of the American Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man of the French Revolution, it seemed incongruous to maintain the isolation of the Jews in their ghettos, denied the rights of citizenship.

The promise of the Enlightenment that all humankind was equal in the sight of God and there was no difference between Englishman, Frenchman, Poles, etc, by its very nature had to include Jews, so the Jews were welcomed into the greater society to be English, French, and German. The only requirement was that they needed to be a little “less Jewish.” The deal struck, whether it was in the minds of the non-Jews or self-imposed, was that to be accepted into the greater society from which they had been excluded, the Jews would have to make changes in their traditional dress, diet, practices, and aspirations to rebuild a lost a homeland. (How could one be a good German if one longed for a rebuilt Israel?)

Initially, the reforms, hence Reform Judaism, were superficial: dress, diet. Language, Sabbath observance, bells, pews, ministerial robes. By the 1840’s, a theology or justification for the changes had developed, the seeds of such thinking actually going back to the 1760’s. That rationale described two kinds of Jewish teachings. On the one hand were the eternal truths that governed all of human kind and were held up to be in full keeping with Enlightenment thinking: fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, morality, justice, mercy, providing for the poor, protecting the powerless, etc.

Then there were other teachings that were the product of a bygone age, that reflected that age, that were ways to express the universal truths in that long ago time. Did it really matter if the Sabbath was Saturday or Sunday or did it matter that their be one day in which no work was done? Did it really matter if the prayers were in French or in Hebrew? Weren’t the traditional Jewish teachings simply the expression of a place and time that no longer existed?

That was the beginning of Reform Judaism in Western and Central Europe, but it barely got off the ground before the principles of the Enlightenment disappeared in the second half of the 19th century in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Jews bought the false promise that if they would only change their traditions and blend in, they could fully participate in the body politic of the nation as full citizens with all the rights that such participation promised.

But the world took a couple of turns and the age of the Enlightenment became the Romantic period of nationalism bordering on chauvinism, when differences between nationalities and “races” became paramount. No matter how the Jews changed to accommodate modernity, they remained the alien, the other, never accepted as equal members of the national groups in which they found themselves. So Reform Judaism began in Europe but didn’t get very far.

Where Reform Judaism really took off was in America. America, for the most part, and certainly more than Europe ever did, kept the promise of its Enlightenment Declaration, which was that if you looked like everyone else, spoke like everyone else, ate like everyone else, prayed like everyone else, if you melted a bit, you could stay in the pot. In the 20th century, Reform Judaism became a home grown, North American form of Judaism that exists few other places. There are some “Liberal” congregations in England and some Reform Congregations in Israel, but it’s pretty much and American form of Judaism.

Some of the Reformers in Europe and mainly those who came to America thought that too much tradition was being given up. They wanted to “conserve” some of the tradition (diet, language, Israel), and they came to be the Conservative stream of Judaism. Tweedle dee and tweedle dum in my opinion. The officials in both streams would probably object to such a flippant description, but once you decide to change/reform, it only becomes a question of how much. The words of their platform statements may be different in that Reform Jews would say that the Jewish way, Halacha, reflects a bygone age and should be set aside, whereas the Conservative movement would say that it should not be set aside but strongly considered before it’s partially set aside or reinterpreted.

The Orthodox never needed a name until there were the other two. They were the ones to whom the Enlightenment never reached in Europe, in Eastern Europe under the Czars, who came to America without that Enlightenment experience of western and central Europe. They tried to do in America what they had done in White Russia and Eastern Poland, but of course they could not for very long.

If you think of the Reform as being the least traditional and the Orthodox the most traditional and the Conservative somewhere in between, that is the most you could say about their relationship because the lines are becoming increasingly blurry. By the 21st century, the  Reform have been moving to the middle, the “modern” Orthodox have been moving to the middle, and the Conservatives have had to dig deeper.

The most important thing to know about them is that they are not on their way to becoming separated sects or denominations that don’t recognize each other as valid Jews.

[Acumen]

Howie,

The most important thing to know about them is that they are not on their way to becoming separated sects or denominations that don’t recognize each other as valid Jews.

They may recognize each other as valid Jews, but do the Orthodox Jews think that the reform movement betrayed the true principles of Judaism, at least to a small degree?

-Acumen

[Howiedds]

Acumen:

They may recognize each other as valid Jews, but do the Orthodox Jews think that the reform movement betrayed the true principles of Judaism, at least to a small degree?

Yes, traditional Jews think that less traditional Jews have turned their back on traditional Jewish practices for the sake of modernity. In the words of William Wordsworth, We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon

[agricola]

Hello howie:

I think what's remarkable about Judaism is that after 2500 years or thereabouts, and without a real 'hierarchical structure', we are still one family, with fewer than five, I believe, 'movements'. I agree with howie, that  the movements don't 'rise to the status' so to speak, of 'denominations'.

[Howiedds]

agricola:

I agree with howie, that  the movements don't 'rise to the status' so to speak, of 'denominations'.

The existence of these modern movements of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform is an American phenomenon. I think one of the reasons they have not evolved into denominations so distinct that one might say that members of the others are not Jewish is that the members of an American Jewish congregation tend to live a middle of the road Reform/Conservative/Modern Orthodox life style that differs in only minor ways from their fellow Jews of other streams. We may pick different synagogues for many of the same reasons that Protestants pick their churches within their respective denominatios, i.e. comfort level, but our theologies are hardly so different that it justifies "denomination."