The 'Sins' of the Fathers

Leaders of the Reform Movement at a hastiy called conference (JNS)

What a tragedy. These were my thoughts after reading a JNS story about a moment of crisis for the Reform Movement. The tragedy is that it exists in the first place. Or that any denominations exist. If not for denominations there would be no conflict. You can’t have conflict with a movement if it doesn’t exist.

What is also tragic is the fact that at a hastily arranged conference, leaders of that movement like Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch asked challenging questions about Reform Judaism that many Orthodox leaders  have asked. For example there is the following: 

A critical issue for us in terms of the future of the synagogues is: What is our (Reform) theology?

There were a few things said there that sounded like they could have been said to crowd at an Agudah convention: 

The concept of tikkun olam, or “repairing the world,” which has some basis in Jewish mystical thought and which derives from a reference to “repairing the world with Divine majesty” in the Aleinu prayer, is often cited on Jewish organizational mission statements, particularly those on the left.

The concept, which critics say often wraps left-wing social-justice politics in a thin veil of Judaism… should be better rooted in traditional Jewish practice.

 Another participant at the conference, Rabbi Hara Person, said the following: 

“It’s not about tikkun olam for the sake of tikkun olam… Instead, Reform Jews ought to put Jewish values and mitzvot into practice, via kindness (chesed) and charity (tzedakah)… 

“It’s for the sake of living out what we believe as Reform Jews and what we believe comes directly out of our texts, out of Torah, out of the whole Jewish library of texts and writing,” she said.

The original intent of Reform was to rid themselves of all the burdensome archaic traditions that they saw as meaningless in the new world. And an impediment to their goal of full assimilation. They mistakenly rationalized that the reasons for those Mitzvos no longer applied since they were all made to inspire ethical behavior. Now that we know the reasons, we can concentrate on that goal without resorting to those ‘meaningless rituals’. all of which inhibit our progress toward becoming full fledged, completely assimilated Americans. Making the American Jewish people fully equal to our Christian neighbors. 

This may be a bit of an oversimplication. But I think it captures the ethos of Reform’s founding fathers. At least those that lived in the ‘new world’.

Reform leaders like Ammiel Hirsch  see the folly of that philosophy. A philosophy that stripped all vestiges of Jewish identity from us. What those founding fathers did was to just about guarantee the ultimate extinction of a Jewish people in America. As Pew has sadly shown us. Assimilation is so complete that being a Jew has no meaning any more. Tikun Olam is not unique to Judaism. It is a universal good that is practiced by Christians too. 

Think about all the Christian missionaries feeding the hungry in 3^rd world countries. While their goal might be conversion to Chirtianity, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that they are helping to counter the starvation that is so common in many parts of the 3^rd world - and saving many lives in the process.

To be absolutely clear, the Reform Movement is not anywhere near a Halachic movement. They still believe that the Torah’s Mitzvos are just suggestions. Not commandments.

It makes me wonder what would have happened if Reform Judaism or any other denomination never existed. Would American Jews be better off now? Would there have been any less assimilation by virtue of the fact that there would not have been any Reform rabbis advising them to actually abandon observance? 

Hard to know the answer to that question.  The pull of becoming fully  assimilated in a country that officially grants equality to all men - including Jews -  is very strong. It would have probably happened regardless.  Especially at a time where a decent Jewish education was practically non existent. 

It also didn’t help matters that keeping a job required working on Shabbos. The idea of not being able to feed your family was a very strong motivator to ‘bite the bullet’ and work on Shabbos – even though they may not have really wanted to do that. That too made the Reform Movement very attractive. 

But the goal of Reform Judaism of creating a fully assimiltated Jew by virtue of abandoning all observance has backfired big time. In removing obstacles that they saw as impediments to full acceptance by their Christian neighbors, the pioneers of Reform Judaism may have been well intended. But the unintended consequences were not anticipated. 

There is no longer any reason to identify as a Jew. There is nothing unique about Reform Jews that distinguishes them from anyone else. Which is why they are now doing a 180 on Mitzvah observance - albeit in a voluntary way. And why they convened this hasty conference.

While it is certainly not tragic that the Reform movement is redirecting attention towards Torah and Mitzvos, (a process that began a few years ago), it’s tragic that their founders removed those very things from their newfound denomination in the first place. 

With Reform rabbis looking for ways to bring back Jews into their fold, they will still be lost to what I firmly believe is the most authentic form of Judaism: Orthodoxy. Which considers Mitzvah observance to be commandments. Not suggestions. 

It would have been a lot better had there been no denominational split-offs. Retaining Jewish identity would have been better served had  there been no movements removing their public identity as Jews. No Orthodox. No Conservative. and No Reform. Just one people called the Jewish people.