Editing Reform Judaism (section)

===Openness===
Its philosophy of continuous revelation made Progressive Judaism, in all its variants, much more able to embrace change and new trends than any of the other major denominations. 

Reform Judaism is considered to be the first major Jewish denomination to adopt gender equality in religious life{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}. As early as 1846, the Breslau conference announced that women must enjoy identical obligations and prerogatives in worship and communal affairs, though this decision had virtually no effect in practice. [[Lily Montagu]], who served as a driving force behind British Liberal Judaism and WUPJ, was the first woman in recorded history to deliver a sermon at a synagogue in 1918, and set another precedent when she conducted a prayer two years later. [[Regina Jonas]], ordained in 1935 by later chairman of the Vereinigung der liberalen Rabbiner Max Dienemann, was the earliest known female rabbi to officially be granted the title. In 1972, [[Sally Priesand]] was ordained by [[Hebrew Union College]], which made her America's first female rabbi ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/americas-first-female-rabbi-reflects-on-four-decades-since-ordination/|title=America's First Female Rabbi Reflects on Four Decades Since Ordination - eJewish Philanthropy|date=8 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.usm.edu/spcol/exhibitions/item_of_the_month/iotm_june_2013/|title=University of Southern Mississippi|website=www.lib.usm.edu}}</ref><ref name="Zola20">{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_qkP-xe7Lp4C&pg=PA20| title=Women Rabbis: Exploration & Celebration: Papers Delivered at an Academic Conference Honoring Twenty Years of Women in the Rabbinate, 1972–1992 | publisher=Hebrew Union College Press | editor=Zola, Gary Phillip | year=1996 | page=20 | isbn=0-87820-214-5}}</ref> Reform also pioneered family seating, an arrangement that spread throughout American Jewry but was only applied in continental Europe after World War II. Egalitarianism in prayer became universally prevalent in the WUPJ by the end of the 20th century.

Religious inclusion for [[LGBT]] people and ordination of LGBT rabbis were also pioneered by the movement. Intercourse between consenting adults was declared as legitimate by the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] (CCAR) in 1977, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion accepted its first open LGBTQ students in 1990 (Leslie Bergson, Stephen Roberts and Burt Schuman) and the CCAR openly gay clergy were admitted in 1990.<ref>{{cite news |title=Reform Jews open door to gay clergy: FIN Edition |work=Toronto Star |agency=Torstar Syndication Services |publisher=Toronto Star Newspapers |date=1990-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldman |first=Ari L. |last2=Times |first2=Special To the New York |date=1990-06-26 |title=Reform Judaism Votes to Accept Active Homosexuals in Rabbinate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/26/us/reform-judaism-votes-to-accept-active-homosexuals-in-rabbinate.html |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Acceptance of Openly Gay and Lesbian Rabbinic Students at HUC-JIR |url=https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/acceptance-openly-gay-and-lesbian-rabbinic-student/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Central Conference of American Rabbis |language=en-US}}</ref> Same-sex marriage was sanctioned by the year 2000.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reform rabbis affirm same-sex unions |journal=The Christian Century |date=19 April 2000 |volume=117 |issue=13 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A62023939/EAIM?u=usaskmain&sid=bookmark-EAIM&xid=ab5f7cbf |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref> In 2015, the URJ adopted a Resolution on the Rights of [[Transgender]] and Gender Non-Conforming People, urging clergy and synagogue attendants to actively promote tolerance and inclusion of such individuals.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McDonald |first1=James |title=Reform Judaism Just Became the Country's Most Trans-Inclusive Religious Group |url=https://www.out.com/news-opinion/2015/11/05/reform-judaism-just-became-countrys-most-trans-inclusive-religious-group |website=Out |publisher=Pride Publishing |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref>

American Reform, especially, turned action for social and progressive causes into an important part of religious commitment. From the second half of the 20th century, it employed the old rabbinic notion of ''[[Tikkun Olam]]'', "repairing the world", as a slogan under which constituents were encouraged to partake in various initiatives for the betterment of society. The [[Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism]] became an important lobby in service of progressive causes such as the rights of minorities. ''Tikkun Olam'' has become the central venue for active participation for many affiliates, even leading critics to negatively describe Reform as little more than a means employed by Jewish liberals to claim that commitment to their political convictions was also a religious activity and demonstrates fealty to Judaism. [[Dana Evan Kaplan]] stated that "''Tikkun Olam'' has incorporated only leftist, socialist-like elements. In truth, it is political, basically a mirror of the most radically leftist components of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] platform, causing many to say that Reform Judaism is simply 'the Democratic Party with Jewish holidays'."<ref>''Contemporary Debates'', pp. 122–123. See also: Darren Kleinberg, ''[https://www.academia.edu/28603703 Reform Judaism and the Jewish "Social Gospel"]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''. CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Fall 2009.</ref> In Israel, the [[Israel Religious Action Center|Religious Action Center]] is very active in the judicial field, often using litigation both in cases concerning civil rights in general and the official status of Reform Judaism within the state, in particular.<ref>[[Aviad Hacohen|Aviad haCohen]], ?בית המשפט ובג"ץ: תל פיות לתנועה הרפורמית, in: Rosenak ed., pp. 439–479.</ref>