The Role Of Reform Judaism In America

Jonathan Sarna’s book American Judaism: A History is a well-written account of the history of American Judaism. In his book, he closely navigates this history by examining its path from the colonial period to shortly after the Civil War. In doing so, the author unpacks American Jewish history with a plethora of sources that helps to contextualize the importance of American Judaism in U.S. history. When examining Sarna’s book, it is important to dig a little deeper by providing a more substantiated analysis. This is where things such as themes, sources, and argument come to mind.

Reform synagogues often have a service on Friday evenings, but not one on Saturday morning. Some may do both, but the ones I've been in have only had the Friday service. Orthodox synagogues will always have a substantial Saturday morning service, usually 3 hours long, with some worshipers staying this whole time, and others coming in later or leaving at various times.

As displayed by Revealing World Religions, Judaism contains many sects, and Hasidic and Reform Jews are perhaps the most contrasting. Reform Jews use their religion as a segway to adapt traditional beliefs to today’s world. Their form of Judaism serves as a middle ground between modernism and tradition. Hasidic Jews are entirely different in that they utilize their religion as a means by which to form a direct connection to God. This is done by the strict observance of Jewish laws which as a result segregate them from modern life.

Why should this demand for change be limited to secular life? Something that Reform Judaism embraces is the fact that it changes and adapts to the times. Their outdated argument was proven invalid as women began balancing their family lives with full time jobs and other

Judaism was founded by Abraham, although Jews trace their history all the way back to Moses. Judaism history, beliefs, and traditions were recorded in the Hebrew bible as early as the 8th century B.C. and is considered one of the oldest religions that still exists today. There are 3 main branches of Judaism: Orthodox; Conservative; and Reform. Orthodox focuses on the traditional teachings of the Jewish law, while Conservative Jews allow a little bit of change to help them adapt to society. Then Reform Judaism believes that there should be a lot of change and adaptation to the modern world today. Additionally, Judaism is one of the three Abrahamic Religions. The Abrahamic Religions include Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. There are approximately 14 million people who identify themselves as Jews. Most of them live in the U.S. and Israel. The state of Israel was founded in 1948. Jews are the descendants of an ancient people called the Hebrews. The Hebrews’ country fell to a series of conquerors and the Jews scattered across the world. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and they wandered the wilderness for 40 years, trying to get to the promised land,

How Orthodox and Reform Jews follow God’s Revelation in the form of the Torah is the primary difference between the two movements and is the impetus for the other differences between the two groups. The Orthodox tradition maintains that the Torah is God’s word and that it cannot be altered (Graber, 2013). Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah applies to both the past and future. The Reformist movement that has developed in the United States holds that the Torah was

Throughout the history of Judaism, Jewish people have faced ongoing persecution and discrimination. Despite these conflicts, the faith remains alive, strong, and continuously growing. Like many religions faced with adversity, Judaism has had to assimilate its faith to survive in an ever-changing world. One significant moment of change in the Jewish history, the fall of the Second Temple, had the opportunity to destroy Judaism, but the Jewish people bonded together and reformulated their religion in order to save their faith. The falling of the Second Temple marks a distinct change in the Jewish faith through the modification of ritual practices to accommodate their new mobile lifestyle. This change would forever impact the Jewish

Throughout the decades and centuries in American history, the Jews have undergone various events and experiences that have affected them positively and negatively. In the article of “The Periodization of American Jewish History”, Jacob Marcus goes to the roots of Jewish foundation. He says that American Jewish history is divided into four periods. The four periods are the Spanish-Portuguese, the German, the East European, and the American periods. The Spanish-Portuguese Jews moved into America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During these times, the Jews did not have full religious and economic rights, and as a result, the Sephardic Jewish community failed to thrive. The situation was like this until 1776, the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Jews received economic opportunities along with fair civil and religious rights. By this time, lots of German and Polish Jews immigrated to America, outnumbering the Sephardic Jews. The German and Polish Jews made their own communities and synagogues, and they became dominant between 1841 and 1920.

During the course of the nineteenth century, the Jewish community underwent cataclysmic changes. While most of world Jewry was religiously observant in 1800, a large majority were no longer devoted to halakhic tradition by 1900. During the 19th century the Orthodox rabbinic leadership had to cope with the rise of Reform Judaism. The massive changes within the 19th century led to various responses among the Orthodox rabbis. Rabbi Moses Sofer known as the Hatam Sofer, was recognized as the most authoritative Orthodox voice who shaped traditionalist opposition to Reform Judaism and, indeed, to all those who challenged the hegemony of halakha.

Reform Judaism is a religion that has a very covenantal relationship with God through correct practices. Through the Torah scroll, Jews are able to read the stories of the Five Books of Moses and learn what God would like from his people otherwise known as his “will” for the people (Fisher 261). The Torah is in existence because Jewish people believe that “…there is one Creator God, the ‘cause of all existent things’” (Fisher 262) and that the Torah scroll is the main way that God communicates with them. Jews typically reflect on the past quite often requiring correct and strong practices in and out of the temple. Reflecting causes much of Reform Judaism to focus on thanking God and worshiping Him for helping them through tough times.

Judaism is a religion that almost seems uncommon in today’s era. Currently, the United States is occupied with just two percent of individuals who believe in judaism; Globally, only .2 percent of the population is Jewish, which means this religion isn’t practiced heavily by many. The USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) indicates that World War II was responsible for the death of more than six million innocent jews; this still impacts the jewish community today. Jews

In the years just after World War II, Zionism (the desire to rebuild a Jewish national presence in the Promised Land) became a popular Jewish cause all around the world. Many Jews who were not practicing Judaism at all with religion became involved with the establishment of the State of Israel. Even today, many years after the successful founding of the State of Israel, there are Jews whose only real tie to Judaism is their belief in Zionism and their support for the State of Israel. They are joined by many Jews who are members of synagogues and support a modern Jewish religious movement, but who also find their prime identity as Jews in the Zionist cause.

Judaism follows “the Ten Fundamental Principles” which was derived from the Torah. The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. The Jew’s Torah is essentially the Christian’s Bible. Although Judaism is the main religion, it branches off into three denominations. These denominations include: orthodox, conservative, and reform Judaism. Orthodox Judaism is then divided into modern orthodox and ultra-orthodox Judaism. Because Jews are often offended by the term ultra-orthodox, they refer to themselves as Haredi. An orthodox Jew is a person who follows the principles and practices of traditional Judaism strictly. Modern orthodox Judaism is a orthodox practice that synthesizes Jewish values and laws with the modern world, while an ultra-orthodox, or Haredi Jew, distances themselves from modern culture. Compared to orthodox Jews, conservative Jews adhere by the principles and practices of traditional Judaism but allow some departure. Similar to orthodox Jews, conservative Judaism once broke off into a branch called reconstructional Judaism. A reconstructionist Jew followed the modern american movement that viewed Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization rather than a religion during the late 1920s until the 1940s. This movement was based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan, a rabbi, an essayist, and a Jewish educator. The final denomination is reform Judaism. Reform Judaism is also known as liberal or progressive Judaism. Reform Judaism is the abandonment of orthodox Jew aspects in order to adjust to modern changes in political, social, and cultural life. Although the main goal of reform Judaism is to adjust to modern changes, the denomination stills follows the moral lessons of the Torah. Because there are denominations that fit to everybody’s needs, it can be assumed that more people will convert to Judaism based on their desire to

Before we can totally dive into how the Temple destruction changed Judaism, we must gain some knowledge of the Jewish faith itself, as well as Jewish terms. One of the first ideas many people may discover about the term “Jew” is its lack of use in the Old Testament scriptures.

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish people have suffered persecution through the holocaust, they were left with nothing. No leader or land to call their own as everything was taken from them.