Jeremy Rosen
The Emergence of Reform Judaism
Summary
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen discusses the history of the reform movement in Judaism and the issue of whether it has or has not succeeded, as well as what its future is.
Jeremy Rosen
Manchester-born Jeremy Rosen was educated at Cambridge University England and Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He has practiced as an orthodox rabbi, as principal of Carmel College in the UK, and as professor at the Faculty for Comparative Religion in Antwerp, Belgium. He has written and lectured extensively in the UK and the US, where he now resides and was the rabbi of the Persian-Jewish community in Manhattan.
It’s a good point. You know, in New York we have something called the Ethical Society, which is an example of, it was founded by Jews, and they wanted to have a system of ethics, but without any trappings of religion. I think you have to say that what still defines reform Judaism is a religious movement. How they define their religion is entirely up to them. And most of them define it in moral, ethical terms, similar to the ethical society. But the truth of the matter is, all of Judaism defines itself as ethical. All of Judaism follows the ethical standards of the Torah and of the prophets. We all think that’s a divine, those are divine commandments, and we have to keep them. And just as we are failing if we don’t keep the ritual, so we are failing if we don’t keep the ethical. But I think that the vast majority of the reform movement consider themselves to be an ethical religion. Interestingly enough, only a small number consider themselves to be pro-Zionist.
Arlene, that’s a very good question, and I think one of the reasons is that the more successful moderate orthodoxy is, the more its children move to the right. Some move to the left and move out, but almost every modern orthodox community per family I know has a child or children who have moved to the right and joined the Haredi movement, either in Israel, mainly in Israel, but also here. So, the whole, if you like, agenda of modern orthodoxy is to strengthen the Haredi. And so, even though my children have made their own choices, some of them are Haredi and some of them are not. I’m delighted that they are still strongly contributing to Jewish survival in Israel and in the diaspora. It’s common to say modern orthodoxy is losing numbers, and it is as all groups are losing numbers who feel, let’s fit into western society, it’s easier. No restrictions, we can do what we like, we can have fun. We don’t have anybody breathing down our back, and that was what Paganism was. And so you know, we are living in an era of paganism. Religion is hanging on, and in parts, it’s surviving and growing, but we’re still living in a battle between a religious world and a pagan world.
I think the core issue is the extent to which a modern orthodox, and I don’t like to put myself in any category, but by and large to say the modern Orthodox is prepared to say there is something of value in western civilization, and western culture, even though we make our Jewish life a priority.