Editing Reform Judaism (section)

===Messianic age and election===
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: petitions expressing hostility towards gentiles were toned down or excised, and practices were often streamlined to resemble surrounding society. "New Reform" laid a renewed stress on Jewish particular identity, regarding it as better suiting popular sentiment and need for preservation.

One major expression of that, which is the first clear Reform doctrine to have been formulated, is the idea of universal [[Messiah in Judaism|Messianism]]. The belief in redemption was unhinged from the traditional elements of [[return to Zion]] and restoration of the [[Third Temple|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.<ref>Borowitz, ''Reform Judaism Today'', pp. 81, 88–90.</ref>

Another key example is the reinterpretation of the [[Jews as the chosen people|election of Israel]]. The movement maintained the idea of the Chosen People of God, but recast it in a more universal fashion: it isolated and accentuated the notion (already present in traditional sources) that the mission of Israel was to spread among all nations and teach them divinely-inspired ethical monotheism, bringing them all closer to the Creator. One extreme "Classical" promulgator of this approach, Rabbi [[David Einhorn (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, although 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 [[Cultural Judaism|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.<ref name="Eis"/> The 1999 Pittsburgh Platform and other official statements affirmed that the "Jewish people is bound to God by an eternal ''b'rit'', covenant".