Editing Reform Judaism (section)

==Organization and demographics==
{{World Union for Progressive Judaism}}
The term "Reform" was first applied institutionally – not generically, as in "for reform" – to the Berlin Reformgemeinde (Reform Congregation), established in 1845.<ref>Meyer, ''Response'', p. 425.</ref> Apart from it, most German communities that were oriented in that direction preferred the more ambiguous "Liberal", which was not exclusively associated with Reform Judaism. It was more prevalent as an appellation for the religiously apathetic majority among German Jews, and also to all rabbis who were not clearly Orthodox (including the rival [[Conservative Judaism|Positive-Historical School]]). The title "Reform" became much more common in the United States, where an independent denomination under this name was fully identified with the religious tendency. However, [[Isaac Meyer Wise]] suggested in 1871 that "Progressive Judaism" was a better epithet.<ref>Isaac Meyer Wise, ''Reformed Judaism'', 1871. [https://archive.org/stream/selectedwriting00assogoog#page/n276/mode/1up p. 261.]</ref> When the movement was institutionalized in Germany between 1898 and 1908, its leaders chose "Liberal" as self-designation, founding the Vereinigung für das Liberale Judentum. In 1902, [[Claude Montefiore]] termed the doctrine espoused by his new Jewish Religious Union as "Liberal Judaism", too, though it belonged to the more radical part of the spectrum in relation to the German one.

In 1926, British Liberals, American Reform and German Liberals consolidated their worldwide movement – united in affirming tenets such as progressive revelation, supremacy of ethics above ritual and so forth – at a meeting held in London. Originally carrying the provisional title "International Conference of Liberal Jews", after deliberations between "Liberal", "Reform" and "Modern", it was named [[World Union for Progressive Judaism]] on 12 July, at the conclusion of a vote.<ref>For the protocol of the vote, see: [https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/09311/26F57247875C95E15D8A3BFD44937A2F0D87D56B.html "International conference of liberal Jews, Saturday, July 10th – Monday July 12th, 1926"], Jewish Religious Union. pp. 118–130.</ref> The WUPJ established further branches around the planet, alternatively under the names "Reform", "Liberal" and "Progressive". In 1945, the Associated British Synagogues (later [[Movement for Reform Judaism]]) joined as well. In 1990, [[Reconstructionist Judaism]] entered the WUPJ as an observer. Espousing another religious worldview, it became the only non-Reform member.<ref>[[American Jewish Committee]], ''American Jewish Year Book, 1992'', [[University of Nebraska Press]], 1992. p. 257.</ref> The WUPJ claims to represent a total of at least 1.8 million people – these figures do not take into account the 2013 PEW survey, and rely on the older URJ estimate of a total of 1.5 million presumed to have affinity, since updated to 2.2 million – both registered synagogue members and non-affiliates who identify with it.

Worldwide, the movement is mainly centered in North America. The largest WUPJ constituent by far is the [[Union for Reform Judaism]] (until 2003: Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in the United States and Canada. As of 2013, a [[Pew Research Center]] survey calculated it represented about 35% of all 5.3 million Jewish adults in the U.S., making it the single most numerous Jewish religious group in the country.<ref>[http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/ A Portrait of Jewish Americans], 1 October 2013.</ref> [[Steven M. Cohen]] deduced there were 756,000 adult Jewish synagogue members – about a quarter of households had an unconverted spouse (according to 2001 findings), adding some 90,000 non-Jews and making the total constituency roughly 850,000 – and further 1,154,000 "Reform-identified non-members" in the United States. There are also 30,000 in Canada.<ref name="Cohen">Steven M. Cohen, [http://forward.com/news/national/324227/ "As Reform Jews Gather, Some Good News in the Numbers"], ''[[The Forward]]'', 5 November 2015.</ref><ref name="Co2">[[Steven M. Cohen]], [http://synagoguestudies.org/files/S3KReportFall2006_MembersAndMotives.pdf "Members and Motives: Who Joins American Jewish Congregations and Why"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222093658/http://synagoguestudies.org/files/S3KReportFall2006_MembersAndMotives.pdf |date=2015-12-22 }}, S3K Report, Fall 2006</ref> Based on these, the URJ claims to represent 2.2 million people.<ref>[http://www.urj.org/who-we-are/reform-movement "Nearly 2.2 million Americans and Canadians identify as Reform Jews": The Reform Movement], urj.org.</ref> It has 845 congregations in the U.S. and 27 in Canada, the vast majority of the 1,170 affiliated with the WUPJ that are not Reconstructionist.<ref>[https://www.urj.org/find-a-congregation/keywords Find a Congregation (under the rubric 'country')], urj.org. For the mutually exclusive of list of Reconstructionist congregations worldwide, see [https://jewishrecon.org/directory Directory of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222104605/https://jewishrecon.org/directory |date=2015-12-22 }}, jewishrecon.org.</ref> Its rabbinical arm is the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]], with some 2,300 member rabbis, mainly trained in [[Hebrew Union College]]. As of 2015, the URJ was led by President Rabbi [[Richard Jacobs (rabbi)|Richard Jacobs]], and the CCAR headed by Rabbi [[Denise Eger]].

The next in size, by a wide margin, are the two British WUPJ-affiliates. In 2010, the [[Movement for Reform Judaism]] and [[Liberal Judaism (UK)|Liberal Judaism]] respectively had 16,125 and 7,197 member households in 45 and 39 communities, or 19.4% and 8.7% of British Jews registered at a synagogue. Other member organizations are based in forty countries around the world. They include the [[Union progressiver Juden in Deutschland]], which had some 4,500 members in 2010 and incorporates 25 congregations, one in Austria; the [[Nederlands Verbond voor Progressief Jodendom]], with 3,500 affiliates in 10 communities; the 13 Liberal synagogues in France; the [[Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism]] (5,000 members in 2000, 35 communities); the Movement for Progressive Judaism (Движение прогрессивного Иудаизма) in the [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] and [[Baltic States]], with 61 affiliates in [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]] and several thousands of regular constituents; and many other, smaller ones.