Temple Bat Yam

Newsletter June 2010

Rabbi Susan Warshaw

REFORM AND CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM

            Several congregants have recently asked me about Reform and Conservative Judaism. They have wanted to know about the difference between these two movements, and to learn if there is still a social and ideological gap between them. In recent years it has seemed that the differences between Reform and Conservative Judaism may be shrinking, and so my congregants’ curiosity encouraged me to further explore this question.

             Rabbi Micah Streiffer writes that historically there have been at least three (and probably more) distinctions:

·         The ethnic: Reform Judaism was founded by German Jews, who were largely assimilated and were looking for a more assimilated Judaism. The earliest Conservative Jews were immigrants from Eastern Europe who were interested in more traditional Judaism in an American context.

·         The ritual: Reform Jews rejected traditional practices—such as keeping kosher and wearing kippot (yarmulkes)—that were aesthetically or ideologically out of sync with modernity, while Conservative Jews maintained them (possibly because it gave them a sense of Jewish authenticity or a connection to the Orthodox Judaism they had know in Eastern Europe)

·         The ideological: Conservative Judaism remains halachic. In other words it continues to embrace the binding nature of Jewish law (within the scope of modernity) while Reform Judaism affirms that halacha is non-binding or optional.

There is no question that German-dominated Reform Judaism was quick to

discard ritual that many Eastern European Jews found necessary and meaningful. However, today Reform Jews are moving to the right, taking on more traditional (Conservative) observances such as wearing kippot, and using the mikvah (ritual bath),especially for life-cycle events (such as before marriage and for conversion). It is not unusual to find Reform Jews keeping the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher).  

            While the Conservative movement continues to observe traditional halacha, Reform Jews talk about personal autonomy and choice in observing the law. The Conservative movement has always maintained that Judaism is rooted in divine revelation and simultaneously shaped by historical evolution. Reform Judaism similarly embraces the idea that Judaism is based both on external divine (however you define it) commands—the ethical mitzvot—and on historically evolving culture and folkways—the ritual mitzvot. The 1999 Pittsburgh Principles of Reform Judaism reads:

                        We are committed to the ongoing study of the whole range of mitzvot and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as community. Some of these mitzvot, sacred obligations, have long observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention as the result of the unique context of our times.

            For Reform Jews halacha—Jewish law—is non-binding. Reform Jews talk about making choices about ritual practice based on study and understanding of the meaning of those traditions. Conservative Jews also make choices about halacha; Conservative rabbis often talk about teaching their congregants, with the assumption that the more knowledge their congregants have, the more they will choose to fulfill the mitzvot.

            Yes, there are differences between these two movements in Judaism. However, I believe it is possible to think of a continuum of liberal Judaism that includes both the Conservative and Reform movements. There is much that both movements have in common, and the places where we connect are much more significant than the places where we diverge. As the differences between Reform and Conservative Judaism shrink, it seems to me that interdenominationalism may be an important trend in the future.