Editing Reform Judaism (section)

===The New Reform Judaism===
[[File:ReformJewishService.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|right|Contemporary Reform service held in [[Sinai Synagogue (Leeds)|Sinai Synagogue]], with some congregants wearing head coverings and prayer shawls.]]
Kohler retired in 1923. Rabbi [[Samuel S. Cohon]] was appointed HUC Chair of Theology in his stead, serving until 1956. Cohon, born near [[Minsk]], was emblematic of the new generation of East European-descended clergy within American Reform. Deeply influenced by [[Ahad Ha'am]] and [[Mordecai Kaplan]], he viewed [[Judaism as a Civilization]], rather than a religion, though he and other Reform sympathizers of Kaplan fully maintained the notions of [[Jews as the chosen people|Election]] and revelation, which the latter denied. Cohon valued Jewish particularism over universalist leanings, encouraging the reincorporation of traditional elements long discarded, not as part of a comprehensive legalistic framework but as means to rekindle ethnic cohesion.<ref name="Eis">Arnold M. Eisen, ''The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious Ideology'', [[Indiana University Press]] (1983), {{ISBN|9780253114129}}. pp. 59–65.</ref> His approach echoed popular sentiment in the East Coast. So did [[Solomon Freehof]], son to immigrants from [[Chernihiv]], who advocated a selective rapprochement with ''halakha'', which was to offer "guidance, not governance"; Freehof advocated replacing the sterile mood of community life, allowing isolated practices to emerge spontaneously and reincorporating old ones. He redrafted the [[Union Prayer Book]] in 1940 to include more old formulae and authored many responsa, though he always stressed compliance was voluntary.<ref>[[Joan Friedman|Joan S. Friedman]], ''"Guidance, Not Governance": Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof and Reform Responsa'', Hebrew Union College Press (2013). {{ISBN|9780878204670}}. pp. 68–80.</ref>

Cohon and Freehof rose against the background of the [[Great Depression]], when many congregations teetered on the threshold of collapse. Growing Antisemitism in Europe led German Liberals on similar paths. Rabbis [[Leo Baeck]], [[Max Dienemann]] and Seligmann himself turned to stressing Jewish peoplehood and tradition. The [[Machtergreifung|Nazis' takeover in 1933]] effected a religious revival in communities long plagued by apathy and assimilation. The great changes convinced the CCAR to adopt a new set of principles. On 29 May 1937, in [[Columbus, Ohio]], a "Declaration of Principles" (eschewing the more formal, binding "platform"), promoted a greater degree of ritual observance, supported Zionism – considered by the Classicists in the past as, at best, a remedy for the unemancipated Jewish masses in Russia and Romania, while they did not regard the Jews as a nation in the modern sense – and opened not with theology, but by the statement, "Judaism is the historical religious experience of the Jewish people". The Columbus Principles signified the transformation from "Classical" to the "New Reform Judaism", characterized by a lesser focus on abstract concepts and a more positive attitude to practice and traditional elements.<ref name="Neusner1993" /><ref>Dana Evan Kaplan, ''The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism'', Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|9780521529518}}. pp. 119–123.</ref>

The [[Holocaust]] and the establishment of the [[State of Israel]] reinforced the tendency. The Americanization and move to the suburbs in the 1950s facilitated a double effect: the secular Jewish ideologies of the immigrants' generation, like [[Bundism]] or [[Labour Zionism]], became anachronistic. Military service exposed recruits to the family-oriented, moderate religiosity of middle-class America. Many sought an affiliation in the early years of the [[Cold War]], when lack of such raised suspicion of leftist or communist sympathies. The "Return to Tradition", as it was termed, smoothed the path for many such into UAHC. It grew from 290 communities with 50,000 affiliated households in 1937 to 560 with 255,000 in 1956. A similar shift to nostalgic traditionalism was expressed overseas. Even the purist Liberals in Britain introduced minor customs that bore sentimental value; [[Bar Mitzvah]] replaced confirmation.<ref name=DEK>Dana Evan Kaplan ''The New Reform Judaism: Challenges and Reflections'', University of Nebraska Press (2013). {{ISBN|9780827611337}}. pp. 260–263.</ref><ref name="UbR">[[Jakob Josef Petuchowski|J. J. Petuchowski]], ''Reform Judaism: Undone by Revival'', [[First Things]], January 1992.</ref>

World War II shattered many of the assumptions about human progress and benevolence held by liberal denominations, Reform included. A new generation of theologians attempted to formulate a response. Thinkers such as [[Eugene Borowitz]] and J.J. Petuchowski turned mainly to [[existentialism]], portraying humans in a fragile, complex relationship with the divine. While [[religious humanism]] was ever-present, it remained confined to a small group, and official positions retained a [[theist]]ic approach. But the main focus in American Reform lay elsewhere: in 1946, Rabbi [[Maurice Eisendrath]] was appointed President of the UAHC. He turned the notion of [[Tikkun Olam]], "repairing of the world", into the practical expression of affiliation, leading involvement in the [[civil rights movement]], [[Vietnam War opposition]] and other progressive causes. In 1954, the first permanent Reform congregation was established in the State of Israel, again at Jerusalem. The [[Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism]] was registered in 1971, and the worldwide movement moved the WUPJ's headquarters to Jerusalem in 1974, signalling its growing attachment to Zionism.

The 1960s and 70s saw the rise of [[multiculturalism]] and the weakening of organized religion in favour of personal spirituality. A growing "return to ethnicity" among the young made items such as [[tallit|prayer shawls]] fashionable again. In 1963, HUC-graduate [[Sherwin Wine]] seceded to form the openly atheistic [[Birmingham Temple]], declaring that for him Judaism was a cultural tradition, not a faith. Knowing that many in their audience held quite overlapping ideas, the pressure on the CCAR to move toward nontheism grew.<ref name="JWB">Kaplan, ''Contemporary Debates'', pp. 136–142, 242–270.</ref>

In 1975, the lack of consensus surfaced during the compilation of a new standard prayer book, "[[Gates of Prayer]]". To accommodate all, ten liturgies for morning service and six for the evening were offered for each congregation to choose of, from very traditional to one that retained the Hebrew text for God but translated it as "Eternal Power", condemned by many as de facto humanistic. "Gates of Prayer" symbolized the movement's adoption of what would be termed "Big Tent Judaism", welcoming all, over theological clarity. In the following year, an attempt to draft a new platform for the CCAR in San Francisco ended with poor results. Led by Borowitz, any notion of issuing guidelines was abandoned in favour of a "Centenary Perspective" with few coherent statements.<ref>Dana Evan Kaplan, ''Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal'', Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 119–121.</ref> The "Big Tent", while taking its toll on the theoreticians, did substantially bolster constituency. The UAHC slowly caught up with [[Conservative Judaism]] on the path toward becoming the largest American denomination.<ref name="Sar"/> Yet it did not erase boundaries completely and rejected outright those who held [[syncretic]] beliefs like [[Jewbu]] and [[Messianic Judaism]], and also Sherwin Wine-style [[Humanistic Judaism|Secular Humanistic Judaism]]. [[Congregation Beth Adam]], which excised all references to God from its liturgy, was denied UAHC membership by a landslide vote of 113:15 in 1994.<ref name="JWB"/>

In 1972, the first Reform female rabbi, [[Sally Priesand]], was ordained at HUC. In 1977, the CCAR declared that the biblical ban on male same-sex intercourse referred only to the pagan customs prevalent at the time it was composed, and gradually accepted openly LGBT constituents and clergy. The first LGBT rabbi, [[Stacy Offner]], was instated in 1988, and full equality was declared in 1990. Same-sex marriage guidelines were published in 1997. In 1978, UAHC President [[Alexander Schindler]] admitted that measures aimed at curbing intermarriage rates by various sanctions, whether on the concerned parties or on rabbis assisting or acknowledging them (ordinances penalizing such involvement were passed in 1909, 1947 and 1962), were no longer effective. He called for a policy of outreach and tolerance, rejecting "intermarriage, but not the intermarried", hoping to convince gentile spouses to convert. In 1983, the CCAR accepted patrilineal descent, a step taken by British Liberals already in the 1950s. UAHC membership grew by 23% in 1975–1985, to 1.3 million. An estimated 10,000 intermarried couples were joining annually.<ref name="Sar">[[Jonathan Sarna]], ''Contemporary Reform Judaism: A Historical Perspective'', in: Rosenak, ''היהדות הרפורמית'', pp. 499–509.</ref><ref>Joseph Berger, [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/01/us/rise-of-23-noted-in-reform-judaism.html "Rise of 23% Noted in Reform Judaism"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 1 November 1985.</ref>

On 26 May 1999, after a prolonged debate and six widely different drafts rejected, a "Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism" was adopted in Pittsburgh by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It affirmed the "reality and oneness of God", the Torah as "God's ongoing revelation to our people" and committed to the "ongoing study of the whole array of Commandments and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community. Some of these sacred obligations have long been observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention." While the wording was carefully crafted in order not to displease the estimated 20%–25% of membership that retained Classicist persuasions, it did raise condemnation from many of them.<ref>Kaplan, ''An Introduction'', pp. 236–238.</ref> In 2008, the [[Society for Classical Reform Judaism]] was founded to mobilize and coordinate those who preferred the old universalist, ethics-based and less-observant religious style, with its unique aesthetic components. SCRJ leader, Rabbi Howard A. Berman, claimed that the neo-traditional approach, adopted by the URJ, alienated more congregants than those it drew in.<ref>Kaplan, ''Challenges and Reflections''. p. 89; [https://www.jta.org/2009/12/09/lifestyle/classical-reform-revival-pushes-back-against-embrace-of-tradition "Classical Reform revival pushes back against embrace of tradition"]. [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]], 9 December 2009.</ref>