Reform jewish dating

Reform Judaism also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of the faith, the superiority of its ethical aspects to the ceremonial ones, and a belief in a continuous revelation not centered on the theophany at Mount Sinai. A liberal strand of Judaism , it is characterized by a lesser stress on ritual and personal observance, regarding Jewish Law as non-binding and the individual Jew as autonomous, and openness to external influences and progressive values.

The origins of Reform Judaism lay in 19th-century Germany , where its early principles were formulated by Rabbi Abraham Geiger and his associates; since the s, the movement adopted a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities, rather than theoretical clarity. Its greatest center today is in North America. Founded in , the WUPJ estimates it represents at least 1.

Its inherent pluralism and great importance placed on individual autonomy impede any simplistic definition of Reform Judaism; [1] its various strands regard Judaism throughout the ages as derived from a process of constant evolution. They warrant and obligate further modification and reject any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices. This largely overlapped with what researchers termed as the transition from "Classical" to "New" Reform in America, paralleled in the other, smaller branches across the world.

This shift was not accompanied by a distinct new doctrine or by the abandonment of the former, but rather with ambiguity. The leadership allowed and encouraged a wide variety of positions, from selective adoption of halakhic observance to elements approaching religious humanism. The declining importance of the theoretical foundation, in favour of pluralism and equivocalness, did draw large crowds of newcomers.

It also diversified Reform to a degree that made it hard to formulate a clear definition of it. Early and "Classical" Reform were characterized by a move away from traditional forms of Judaism combined with a coherent theology; "New Reform" sought, to a certain level, the reincorporation of many formerly discarded elements within the framework established during the "Classical" stage, though this very doctrinal basis became increasingly obfuscated.

Critics, like Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan , warned that Reform became more of a Jewish activities club , a means to demonstrate some affinity to one's heritage in which even rabbinical students do not have to believe in any specific theology or engage in any particular practice , rather than a defined belief system. In regard to God, while some voices among the spiritual leadership approached religious and even secular humanism — a tendency that grew increasingly from the midth century, both among clergy and constituents, leading to broader, dimmer definitions of the concept — the movement had always officially maintained a theistic stance, affirming the belief in a personal God.

The God-Idea as taught in our sacred Scripture" as consecrating the Jewish people to be its priests. It was grounded on a wholly theistic understanding, although the term "God-idea" was excoriated by outside critics. So was the Columbus Declaration of Principles, which spoke of a "One, living God who rules the world". Challenges of modern culture have made steady belief difficult for some. Nevertheless, we ground our lives, personally and communally, on God's reality.

British Liberal Judaism affirms the "Jewish conception of God: One and indivisible, transcendent and immanent, Creator and Sustainer". The basic tenet of Reform theology is a belief in a continuous, or progressive, revelation , [8] [9] occurring continuously and not limited to the theophany at Sinai , the defining event in traditional interpretation.

Other Alabama Cities:

According to this view, all holy scripture of Judaism, including the Pentateuch, were authored by human beings who, though under divine inspiration, inserted their understanding and reflected the spirit of their consecutive ages. All the People Israel are a further link in the chain of revelation, capable of reaching new insights: The chief promulgator of this concept was Abraham Geiger , generally considered founder of the movement.

After critical research led him to regard scripture as a human creation, bearing the marks of historical circumstances, he abandoned the belief in the unbroken perpetuity of tradition derived from Sinai and gradually replaced it with the idea of progressive revelation. As in other liberal denominations , this notion offered a conceptual framework for reconciling the acceptance of critical research with the maintenance of a belief in some form of divine communication, thus preventing a rupture among those who could no longer accept a literal understanding of revelation.

No less importantly, it provided the clergy with a rationale for adapting, changing and excising traditional mores and bypassing the accepted conventions of Jewish Law, rooted in the orthodox concept of the explicit transmission of both scripture and its oral interpretation. While also subject to change and new understanding, the basic premise of progressive revelation endures in Reform thought.

In its early days, this notion was greatly influenced by the philosophy of German idealism , from which its founders drew much inspiration: This highly rationalistic view virtually identified human reason and intellect with divine action, leaving little room for direct influence by God.

Geiger conceived revelation as occurring via the inherent "genius" of the People Israel, and his close ally Solomon Formstecher described it as the awakening of oneself into full consciousness of one's religious understanding. The American theologian Kaufmann Kohler also spoke of the "special insight" of Israel, almost fully independent from direct divine participation, and English thinker Claude Montefiore , founder of Liberal Judaism , reduced revelation to "inspiration", according intrinsic value only to the worth of its content, while "it is not the place where they are found that makes them inspired".

Common to all these notions was the assertion that present generations have a higher and better understanding of divine will, and they can and should unwaveringly change and refashion religious precepts. In the decades around World War II , this rationalistic and optimistic theology was challenged and questioned.

It was gradually replaced, mainly by the Jewish existentialism of Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig , centered on a complex, personal relationship with the creator, and a more sober and disillusioned outlook. However, while granting higher status to historical and traditional understanding, both insisted that "revelation is certainly not Law giving" and that it did not contain any "finished statements about God", but, rather, that human subjectivity shaped the unfathomable content of the Encounter and interpreted it under its own limitations.

1. Chriss the Jew; Dating as a Reform Convert.
2. Religion & Beliefs.
3. .
4. .
5. Reform Jewish Dating.
6. best dating startups.

The senior representative of postwar Reform theology, Eugene Borowitz , regarded theophany in postmodern terms and closely linked it with quotidian human experience and interpersonal contact. He rejected the notion of "progressive revelation" in the meaning of comparing human betterment with divine inspiration, stressing that past experiences were "unique" and of everlasting importance. Yet he stated that his ideas by no means negated the concept of ongoing, individually experienced revelation by all. Reform Judaism emphasizes the ethical facets of the faith as its central attribute, superseding the ceremonial ones.

Reform thinkers often cited the Prophets ' condemnations of ceremonial acts, lacking true intention and performed by the morally corrupt, as testimony that rites have no inherent quality. Geiger centered his philosophy on the Prophets' teachings He named his ideology "Prophetic Judaism" already in , regarding morality and ethics as the stable core of a religion in which ritual observance transformed radically through the ages. However, practices were seen as a means to elation and a link to the heritage of the past, and Reform generally argued that rituals should be maintained, discarded or modified based on whether they served these higher purposes.

• cool dating site quotes.
• baseball fans dating site.
• Navigation menu.
• dating a compulsive gambler.
• heartbreak of dating an emotionally unavailable guy.

This stance allowed a great variety of practice both in the past and the present. In "Classical" times, personal observance was reduced to little beyond nothing. The postwar "New Reform" lent renewed importance to practical, regular action as a means to engage congregants, abandoning the sanitized forms of the "Classical". Another key aspect of Reform doctrine is the personal autonomy of each adherent, who may formulate his own understanding and expression of his religiosity. Reform is unique among all Jewish denominations in placing the individual as the authorized interpreter of Judaism.

This highly individualistic stance also proved one of the movement's great challenges, for it impeded the creation of clear guidelines and standards for positive participation in religious life and definition of what was expected from members. The notion of autonomy coincided with the gradual abandonment of traditional practice largely neglected by most members, and the Jewish public in general, before and during the rise of Reform in the early stages of the movement. It was a major characteristic during the "Classical" period, when Reform closely resembled Protestant surroundings.

Later, it was applied to encourage adherents to seek their own means of engaging Judaism. Though by no means declaring that members were bound by a compelling authority of some sort — the notion of an intervening, commanding God remained foreign to denominational thought. The "New Reform" approach to the question is characterized by an attempt to strike a mean between autonomy and some degree of conformity, focusing on a dialectic relationship between both.

The movement never entirely abandoned halakhic traditional jurisprudence argumentation, both due to the need for precedent to counter external accusations and the continuity of heritage, but had largely made ethical considerations or the spirit of the age the decisive factor in determining its course. The German founding fathers undermined the principles behind the legalistic process, which was based on a belief in an unbroken tradition through the ages merely elaborated and applied to novel circumstances, rather than subject to change.

Rabbi Samuel Holdheim advocated a particularly radical stance, arguing that the halakhic Law of the Land is Law principle must be universally applied and subject virtually everything to current norms and needs, far beyond its weight in conventional Jewish Law. While Reform rabbis in 19th-century Germany had to accommodate conservative elements in their communities, at the height of "Classical Reform" in the United States, halakhic considerations could be virtually ignored and Holdheim's approach embraced.

In the s and onwards, Rabbi Solomon Freehof and his supporters reintroduced such elements, but they too regarded Jewish Law as too rigid a system. Instead, they recommended that selected features will be readopted and new observances established in a piecemeal fashion, as spontaneous minhag custom emerging by trial and error and becoming widespread if it appealed to the masses.

The advocates of this approach also stress that their responsa are of non-binding nature, and their recipients may adapt them as they see fit. Reform sought to accentuate and greatly augment the universalist traits in Judaism, turning it into a faith befitting the Enlightenment ideals ubiquitous at the time it emerged.

The tension between universalism and the imperative to maintain uniqueness characterized the movement throughout its entire history. Its earliest proponents rejected Deism and the belief that all religions would unite into one, and it later faced the challenges of the Ethical movement and Unitarianism. Parallel to that, it sought to diminish all components of Judaism that it regarded as overly particularist and self-centered: One major expression of that, which is the first clear Reform doctrine to have been formulated, is the idea of universal Messianism.

The belief in redemption was unhinged from the traditional elements of return to Zion and restoration of the Temple and the sacrificial cult therein, and turned into a general hope for salvation. This was later refined when the notion of a personal Messiah who would reign over Israel was officially abolished and replaced by the concept of a Messianic Age, of universal harmony and perfection. The considerable loss of faith in human progress around World War II greatly shook this ideal, but it endures as a precept of Reform. Another key example is the reinterpretation of the Election of Israel.

The movement maintained the idea of the Chosen People of God, but recast it in a more universal fashion: One extreme "Classical" promulgator of this approach, Rabbi David Einhorn , substituted the lamentation on the Ninth of Av for a celebration, regarding the destruction of Jerusalem as fulfilling God's scheme to bring His Word, via His people, to all corners of the earth. Highly self-centered affirmations of Jewish exceptionalism were moderated, though the general notion of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" retained. On the other hand, while embracing a less strict interpretation compared to the traditional one, Reform also held to this tenet against those who sought to deny it.

When secularist thinkers like Ahad Ha'am and Mordecai Kaplan forwarded the view of Judaism as a civilization , portraying it as a culture created by the Jewish people, rather than a God-given faith defining them, Reform theologians decidedly rejected their position — although it became popular and even dominant among rank-and-file members.

Like the Orthodox, they insisted that the People Israel was created by divine election alone, and existed solely as such. As part of its philosophy, Reform anchored reason in divine influence, accepted scientific criticism of hallowed texts and sought to adapt Judaism to modern notions of rationalism.

In addition to the other traditional precepts its founders rejected, they also denied the belief in the future bodily Resurrection of the dead. It was viewed both as irrational and an import from ancient middle-eastern pagans. Notions of afterlife were reduced merely to the Immortality of the Soul. While the founding thinkers, like Montefiore, all shared this belief, the existence of a soul became harder to cling to with the passing of time.

In the s, Borowitz could state that the movement had nothing coherent to declare in the matter. The various streams of Reform still largely, though not always or strictly, uphold the idea. Along these lines, the concept of Reward and Punishment in the World to Come was abolished as well. The only perceived form of retribution for the wicked, if any, was the anguish of their soul after death, and vice versa, bliss was the single accolade for the spirits of the righteous. Angels and Heavenly Hosts were also deemed a foreign superstitious influence, especially from early Zoroastrian sources, and denied.

The first and primary field in which Reform convictions were expressed was that of prayer forms. From its beginning, Reform Judaism attempted to harmonize the language of petitions with modern sensibilities and what the constituents actually believed in. Jakob Josef Petuchowski , in his extensive survey of Progressive liturgy, listed several key principles that defined it through the years and many transformations it underwent. The prayers were abridged, whether by omitting repetitions, excising passages or reintroducing the ancient triennial cycle for reading the Torah; vernacular segments were added alongside or instead of the Hebrew and Aramaic text, to ensure the congregants understood the petitions they expressed; and some new prayers were composed to reflect the spirit of changing times.



But chiefly, liturgists sought to reformulate the prayerbooks and have them express the movement's theology. Blessings and passages referring to the coming of the Messiah, Return to Zion, renewal of the sacrificial cult, Resurrection of the Dead, Reward and Punishment and overt particularism of the People Israel were replaced, recast or excised altogether. In its early stages, when Reform Judaism was more a tendency within unified communities in Central Europe than an independent movement, its advocates had to practice considerable moderation, lest they provoke conservative animosity.

German prayerbooks often relegated the more contentious issues to the vernacular translation, treating the original text with great care and sometimes having problematic passages in small print and untranslated.