Denominations

Modern Jewish denominations

Orthodox Judaisms

“The term Orthodoxy is applied to Jewish traditionalist movements that have consciously resisted the influences of modernization that arose in response to the European Emancipation and Enlightenment movements. It is not usually employed to designate Jewish traditionalism prior to the modern era, nor does the phenomenon appear in communities that were unaffected by the Reform movement; e.g., in North Africa, or in Eastern Europe before the mid-nineteenth-century.”

– Prof. Eliezer Segal

On this topic see the classic essay Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy.

Orthodox Judaism is characterized by:

• What historians refer to as a fundamentalist teaching of Jewish principles of faith:  the Torah was literally revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, and transmitted down to this day, without any (other than the most minor) textual errors.
• The belief that the rest of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) was also revealed by God to the later prophets..
• God has made a covenant with the Israelites and their descendants, to have Hebrew as their language, and the laws of the Torah as their covenant.
• belief that the Torah must be understood within a particular cultural context – what historians call an oral tradition. Further, it is believed that God literally transmitted much additional detail about how to interpret the laws, which also is a basis of the oral law.
• This oral law later became written down in the Mishnah, and the early classic rabbinic Midrash collections.  It was then expounded upon and analyzed in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, and later rabbinic works.
• Reading the Torah through the lens of the oral law is one of the primary ways to distinguishes Judaism from other faiths.
• A rejection of most historical scholarship/critical text study for most Jewish religious texts.
• Scrupulous adherence to the latest codes of Halakhah (Jewish law), especially in the form of the medieval Shulkhan Arukh.
• The centrality of yeshivas as schools of Talmudic study and learning. Following the teachings of rabbis as authoritative.
• Acceptance of a literal reading of Maimonides’ 13 Principles Jewish principles of faith ; other principles of Jewish faith are generally held to be heresy (which can be problematic when it turns out that their reading of his 13 Principles goes against Maimonides’ own explanation of them in his Guide for the Perplexed)
• A skeptical attitude toward modern culture, including the classical western tradition, and Enlightenment values.
• Significant differences in gender roles.

Orthodox Judaism is composed of many different groups with intersecting beliefs, practices and theologies. They maintain significant social and halakhic (legal) differences due to their varying attitudes concerning (a) the role of women in Judaism, (b) relations with non-Orthodox Jews, (c) attitudes toward modern culture, (d) how to relate to the modern State of Israel, and (e) the value of non-Jewish culture and knowledge.

Modern Orthodox Judaism has a positive attitude toward modern culture, including studying the classical western tradition, and accepting Enlightenment values.

Haredi Judaism, including Hasidic and Yeshivish, has a negative attitude towards most modern culture. Haredi Judaism  generally forbids studying the classical western tradition, and does not accept Enlightenment values.

Modern Orthodox Judaism

A philosophy that one can not only be an Orthodox Jew and interact with the surrounding gentile, modern world, but that if guided by Jewish values, this interaction desirable and intellectually profitable. Two of the founders of Modern Orthodoxy were rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) and Azriel Hildesheimer (1820-1899).

Rabbi Hirsch developed  motto of Modern Orthodoxy that is still used today, ”Torah im Derekh Eretz”, – “Torah with the way of the (surrounding) world”. This means that one should accept as positive, the integration of traditional Judaism with secular education: At that time Hirsch’s definition of secular education included not only the basic academic topics and the sciences, but also German literature, philosophy and culture, and the classical Greek historical, scientific and philosophical literature. {adapted from the Wikipedia article}

Orthodox Jewish groups – The Soc.Culture.Jewish FAQ

The major varieties of Orthodox Judaism are noted here: We learn about each group’s origin, politics and philosophy:  Eli Segal on Orthodox groups

Conservative Judaisms

Conservative/Masorti Judaism views itself as traditional, rabbinic Judaism – a form of rabbinical Judaism which recognizes that throughout Jewish history there was been a fairly wide array of acceptable views on theology and law.

Unlike Orthodoxy, Conservative Judaism encourages it’s adherents to study the development of law, belief and culture with critical scholar methods – just like many of Judaism’s own great rabbis (e.g. Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides, etc.)

Conservative Judaism – like early modern Orthodoxy – has a positive attitude towards many aspects of modern culture, including the literary, philosophical and musical canon of western civilization, from Socrates and Aristotle to Shakespeare, Beethoven and Bach. It simultaneously teaches a literate and proud Jew is at least as literate in the canon of Jewish civilization, including the Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash, and Jewish music, art and modern philosophy.

Rabbi Mordecai Waxman describes the Conservative position in this way:

“Reform has asserted the right of interpretation but it rejected the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the principle of authority, but has in our own and recent generations rejected the right to any but minor interpretations. The Conservative view is that both are necessary for a living Judaism. Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds itself bound by the Jewish legal tradition, but asserts the right of its rabbinical body, acting as a whole, to interpret and to apply Jewish law.”

Conservative Judaism is characterized by:

• A non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish principles of faith:  how Torah and Tanakh was revealed by God is a subject of philosophical discussion.
• God has made a covenant with the Israelites and their descendents, to have Hebrew as their language, and the laws of the Torah as their covenant.
• belief that the Torah must be understood within a particular cultural context – what historians call an oral tradition.
• This oral law later became written down in the Mishnah, and the early classic rabbinic Midrash collections.  It was then expounded upon and analyzed in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, and later rabbinic works.
• Reading the Torah through the lens of the oral law is one of the primary ways to distinguishes Judaism from other faiths.
• Acceptance of historical scholarship/critical text study for Jewish religious texts.
• A commitment to following traditional Jewish laws and customs, but no particular code of law is considered the final word for all communities.
• Judaism has principles of belief, yet no one statement of faith principles was ever accepted as binding by Klal Yisrael. A variety of views are considered acceptable.
• A positive attitude toward modern culture, including the classical western tradition, and Enlightenment values.
• Embracing modern culture in customs. Gender equality in religious study, ritual, and observance.

Conservative/Masorti Jews view the laws and customs from the various law codes as the basis for normative Jewish law. However, it also takes note that “however great the literary value of a code may be, it does not invest it with infallibility, nor does it exempt it from the student or the Rabbi who makes use of it from the duty of examining each paragraph on its own merits, and subjecting it to the same rules of interpretation that were always applied to Tradition”. – Rabbi Solomon Schechter.

Professor Solomon Schechter emphasized the centrality of halakha in Jewish life in a speech in his inaugural address as President of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1902:

“Judaism is not a religion which does not oppose itself to anything in particular. Judaism is opposed to any number of things and says distinctly “thou shalt not.” It permeates the whole of your life. It demands control over all of your actions, and interferes even with your menu. It sanctifies the seasons, and regulates your history, both in the past and in the future. Above all, it teaches that disobedience is the strength of sin. It insists upon the observance of both the spirit and of the letter; spirit without letter belongs to the species known to the mystics as “nude souls” nishmatim artilain, wandering about in the universe without balance and without consistency…. In a word, Judaism is absolutely incompatible with the abandonment of the Torah.”

A Masorti website notes that “while the legal framework of halakha is based in the divine, and accepted as normative, it is also axiomatic that following Mitzvot must ultimately be by choice as opposed to legal or physical coercion.”

Conservative Judaism: Our Ancestors to Our Descendants – The history, development, theology and practices of the Conservative Jewish movement.

Liberal Judaisms

There are several different groups in this category, including:

The Central Conference of American Rabbis and URJ (Union of Reform Judaism) – North America
Liberal Judaism (Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues) – UK
Movement for Reform Judaism (Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) – UK
Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism – Israel

While their policies and prayer services vary, what they have in common is this: They hold that halakhah – the Jewish way of life is no longer normative. They also hold that Jewish people no longer need to study or believe any of the classic formulations of Jewish belief, apart from monotheism.

Often liberal forms of Judaism teaches that halakhah is no longer even acceptable: for instance, most Reform teachings on kashrut and using tefillin, since the late 1800’s, until the 1970’s, stated that such ideas were outdated and should be abandoned.

On an individual basis many Reform rabbis have hewn closer to a halakhic way of life; some have authored volumes of responsa. However, this is done on an individual basis, and is not the position of the movement. On Mail.Liberal.Jewish Rabbi John M. Sherwood writes:

“There are no authoritative sources in the Reform movement. Every position taken by the CCAR and/or the UAHC has no authoritative power. All resolutions make recommendations, but are not binding. The only phenomenon that would appear to be an exception to this position was the refusal of the UAHC to admit a Jewish Humanist Synagogue that had applied for membership, and that issue was argued at length on both sides by a number of movement leaders. The congregation’s rabbi remains a member in good standing of the CCAR.”

Similarly, we read in the Encyclopaedia Judaica:

“Reform Judaism’s manifestations vary from place to place, and have undergone constant change in the course of time. They all share the assertion of the legitimacy of change in Judaism, and the denial of eternal validity to any given formulation of Jewish belief or codification of Jewish law. Apart from that, there is little unanimity among Reform Jews either in matters of belief or in practical observance. Conservative and radical positions coexist and enjoy mutual respect.”

The Reform movement holds that Jews don’t have any specific principles of Jewish faith, whether from the Talmud, Maimonides, or otherwise. Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut writes:

“there is no such thing as a Jewish theological principle, policy, or doctrine.” This is because Reform Judaism affirms “the fundamental principle of Liberalism: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut, the freedom to decide what will be harut – engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life.”

– Bernard Martin, Ed., Contemporary Reform Jewish Thought, Quadrangle Books 1968

As Reform teaches that there are almost no binding beliefs or practices, it has been criticized by Conservative and Orthodox rabbis for taking away precisely what they seek when they turn to religion for guidance:

… [the Reform] method – which seeks to determine morality on the basis of each individual’s interaction with God – poses a severe danger of anarchy, for each person will be on his or her own in determining what is right and good. One wonders how community is supposed to be maintained under such a system. Reform idealogues like Eugene Borowitz have claimed that Jews are identified by their common commitment to the Covenant, but I, for one, doubt whether this has any meaning in practice without specification of authoritative norms under that Covenant. Moreover, this “covenantal” method ironically robs individuals of precisely what they seek when they turn to religion for guidance in these matters, for it tells them to seek God and decide for themselves!

 – “A Methodology for Jewish Medical Ethics” by Elliot N. Dorff

Reform is characterized by:

• A non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish principles of faith:  how Torah and Tanakh was revealed by God is a subject of philosophical discussion.
• Ancient Israelites believe that God made a covenant with the Israelites and their descendents.
• belief that the Torah must be understood within a particular cultural context – what historians call an oral tradition.
• The Mishnah, Midrash and Talmuds are generally studied significantly less than in other denominations; they are not considered normative or authoritative.
• Nonetheless, reading the Torah through the lens of the oral law is one of the primary ways to distinguishes Judaism from other faiths.
• Acceptance of historical scholarship/critical text study for Jewish religious texts.
• Jewish law is no longer normative.
• Complete autonomy of the individual as to deciding which observances to follow – if any.
• Complete autonomy of the individual as to deciding what Jewish principles of faith to maintain, if any – other than monotheism (which is mandated.)
• A positive attitude toward modern culture, including the classical western tradition, and Enlightenment values.
• Embracing modern culture in customs. Gender equality in religious study, ritual, and observance.

Classic German Reform Judaism

Between 1810 and 1820, {Reform} congregations in Seesen, Hamburg and Berlin instituted fundamental changes in traditional Jewish practices and beliefs, such as mixed seating, single ­day observance of festivals, and the use of a cantor/choir. Many leaders of the Reform movement took a rejectionist view of Jewish practice and discarded traditions and rituals. For example:

Circumcision was not practiced, and was decried as barbaric.

The Hebrew language was removed from the liturgy – and replaced with German.

The hope for a restoration of the Jews in Israel was officially renounced, and it was officially stated that Germany was to be the new Zion.

The ceremony in which a child celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah was replaced with a “confirmation” ceremony.

The laws of Kashrut and family purity were officially declared “repugnant” to modern thinking people, and were not observed.

Shabbat was sometimes observed on Sunday. Traditional restrictions on Shabbat behavior were not followed.

The_Origins_of_Reform_Judaism

Most Reform Jewish congregations in the United States and England followed, to one extent or another, classic German Reform, until the 1970s.  There was a general sense of hostility to following classical rabbinic literature (e.g. Mishnah, Talmud), and all codes of Jewish law & responsa were held to be unhelpful or superstitious.

Since the 1970s there has been a growing return-to-tradition wing within Reform, showing more tolerance & respect for classical rabbinic literature, and an increasing number of official publications from Reform Judaism approvingly teach that Jews should become educated in these works, and should feel free to experiment with observance of Shabbat, Kashrut, tefillin, and other traditional Jewish practices.

History of Reform Judaism

History of Reform Judaism (alternate link)

Reform Judaism today may refer to:

• Classic German Reform, the historical predecessor of Reform Judaism today that originated in 19th Century Germany (and was the most common version of Reform in England and the USA until the 1970s)
• A positive attitude toward modern culture, including studying the classical western tradition, and accepting Enlightenment values.
• A large denomination of Judaism in America
• Any Jewish movement affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism, including the British Movement for Reform, the Union for Liberal and Progressive Synagogues, etc.

Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut writes

“there is no such thing as a Jewish theological principle, policy, or doctrine.” This is because Reform Judaism affirms “the fundamental principle of Liberalism: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut, the freedom to decide what will be harut – engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life.”

 – Bernard Martin, Ed., Contemporary Reform Jewish Thought, Quadrangle Books 1968

Similarly, Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) President Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin wrote a pamphlet about Reform Judaism, entitled “What We Believe…What We Do…”. It states

“if anyone were to attempt to answer these two questions authoritatively for all Reform Jews, that person’s answers would have to be false. Why? Because one of the guiding principles of Reform Judaism is the autonomy of the individual. A Reform Jew has the right to decide whether to subscribe to this particular belief or to that particular practice.”

Reconstructionist Judaism

In terms of organization this is separate from Reform Judaism. In terms of what it teaches and allows in terms of beliefs and practice, Reconstructionism overlaps entirely with Reform.

Reconstructionist Judaism is in the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the international umbrella organization for Reform, Liberal, and Progressive Judaism.

It was developed by Rabbis Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (1881–1983) and Ira Eisenstein during the 1930s/40s, and formally became a separate denomination with the foundation of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Seminary in 1968.

“Kaplan argues that with the breakdown of certain traditional beliefs, Jewish identity had become attenuated. Jews remain loyal to their faith despite hardship and suffering because they believe that adherence to Judaism assures them of salvation in the next world. But in Kaplan’s view, this is no longer credible. Consequently, Judaism must transform itself from a civilization orientated toward the life hereafter into one which can help Jews to attain salvation in this world. Belief in the possibility of this salvation is crucial to Kaplan’s thought. It means the progressive improvement of the human personality and the establishment of a free, just, and cooperative social order. Kaplan maintains that there are adequate resources in the world and capacities in man to achieve such salvation. He defines God as the ‘power that makes for salvation.’ “

“Reconstructionism”, Encyclopaedia Judaica

As in Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism holds that personal autonomy has precedence over Jewish law and theology. It does not ask that its adherents hold to any particular beliefs, nor does it ask that halakha be accepted as normative. In practice, Rabbi Kaplan’s books, especially “The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion” and “Judaism as a Civilization” are defacto statements of principles.

In 1986, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) and the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations (FRC) passed the official “Platform on Reconstructionism” (2 pages). It is not a mandatory statement of principles, but rather a consensus of current beliefs. [FRC Newsletter, Sept. 1986, pages D, E.]

“Reconstructionism self defines as post-halachic. That means that decision making is done outside of the halakhic process of normative Judaism. That doesn’t make it wrong, but it does make it incompatible with the halachic process. That means that much that is considered permissible within the Reconstructionist movement would not be considered permissible in most of Judaism. One cannot pretend otherwise. And the leaders of the movement would not assert otherwise.”

– Mira Winogron Berzofsky

Reconstructionism is characterized by

• The idea of God was redefined by Kaplan as the sum of psychological needs for “human fulfillment or salvation, both individual and collective, which is compatible with the cultural climate of contemporary life.”
• Rejection of religious views of revelation: “Revelation consists in disengaging from the traditional context those elements in it which answer permanent postulates of human nature, and in integrating them into our own ideology…the rest may be relegated to archaeology.” – The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion”
• The idea of chosenness is officially condemned “morally untenable”, and it is stated that such belief “implies the superiority of the elect community and the rejection of others”. In other words, all other denominations of Judaism are racist.
• The Mishnah, Midrash and Talmuds are studied significantly less than in other denominations; they are not normative or authoritative.
• Nonetheless, reading the Torah through the lens of the oral law is one of the primary ways to distinguishes Judaism from other faiths.
• Acceptance of historical scholarship/critical text study for Jewish religious texts.
• Jewish law is no longer normative. Each Recon community is democratic, where the laity can make decisions, not just rabbis.
• Rabbis can marry Christians; laypeople can intermarry, and even if their children are in Christian religion schools, they also can go to Recon Hebrew schools. Non-Jews may ascend to the bimah for an aliyah and say brachot (blessings.) No dividing line between Jews and gentiles, in a style similar to Unitarian-Universalism.
• Complete autonomy of the individual as to deciding which observances to follow – if any.
• Complete autonomy of the individual as to deciding what Jewish principles of faith to maintain, if any.
• A positive attitude toward modern culture, including the classical western tradition, and Enlightenment values.
• Embracing modern culture in customs. Gender equality in religious study, ritual, and observance.

Other Jewish denominations take exception to the Reconstructionist definition of Jewish concepts of chosenness, as they feel that their description legitimizes anti-Semitism. From the Platform on Reconstructionism we read:

Reconstructionism does not accept the traditional concept of the Jews as “the chosen people. Chosenness however reinterpreted is conceptually inconsistent with a naturalistic conception of God, and is morally untenable as IT IMPLIES THE SUPERIORITY OF THE ELECT COMMUNITY AND REJECTION OF OTHERS.

Ancient Jewish groups

The Pharisees (/ˈfærəˌsiːz/) were a political party, social movement in ancient Israel during the time of the Second Temple. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the basis for Rabbinic Judaism. The term ‘Judaism’ today refers to Rabbinic Judaism.

The Jewish historian Josephus (37 – c. 100 CE) records that Pharisees received the backing of the common people, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees…Whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic and monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic. ..Pharisees extended Judaism beyond the Temple, applying halakhah to all worldly activities. Rituals were not monopolized by an inherited priesthood but rather could be performed by all Jews individually or collectively; whose leaders were not determined by birth but by scholarly achievement.

The Sadducees (צְדוּקִים Ṣĕdûqîm) were a Jewish group in ancient Israel from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. It was the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society. It had political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple. Their sect become extinct after the destruction of the Temple but it has been speculated that the later Karaites may have had roots in Sadducean views. Sadducees rejected the Oral Law as proposed by the Pharisees. Rather, they saw the Torah as the sole source of divine authority. Their primary beliefs were:

• There is no fate
• God does not commit evil
• Man has free will; “man has the free choice of good or evil”
• The soul is not immortal; there is no afterlife, and no resurrection of the dead.
• There are no rewards or penalties after death

After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Sadducees appear only in a few references in the Talmud. In the beginnings of Karaism, the followers of Anan ben David were called “Sadducees” and some claimed historical continuity from the latter.

The Essenes (אִסִּיִים) existed from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE. This group was much smaller than the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, and daily immersion in a ritual bath. Some groups practiced celibacy. Many small separate groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic, and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to as the “Essenes.”

– The text on these ancient groups has been loosely adapted from the Wikipedia articles.

From ancient denominations to the modern Jewish groups.

Created by Robert D. Kaiser, Merrimack Valley Havurah

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