Judaism Reflection
Learning about the Jewish religion was very interesting to me. From the early
stages of the religion to modernization there was always something very interesting. After
reading through the chapter in our book I chose to focus on Reconstructionism for my
reflection. I chose this topic because I believe that if I was Jewish, I would follow this
form of Judaism. The Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative movements all began in
Germany, whereas Reconstructionism was started here in North America. “Mordechai
Kaplan (1881-1983), began his career as an Orthodox rabbi but soon grew uncomfortable
with the Orthodox movement” (pg. 126). After Kaplan started having these thoughts
about the Orthodox movement he established a Reconstructionist synagogue (1922), and
also wrote ‘Judaism as a Civilization’(1934). In his book he explained that “Judaism was
not supernaturally revealed but is an ever-changing religious civilization involving
language, literature, art, social organization…” (pg. 126). Kaplan also called the
synagogue a place of social interactions rather than a place for religious practices. After
reading about Reconstructionism this is the form of Judaism I would follow. I agree with
Kaplan that Judaism should be more about culture, art, and social interactions rather than
strict religious practices. I also found it very interesting that this was the first movement
of Judaism that was founded in North America, because when I think of North America I
think of freewill, and Reconstructionism reminds me of that. Judaism was all very
interesting to me, and I really enjoyed learning from the beginning of the religion to
modernization.
Hussain, A., Amore, R. C., & Oxtoby, W. G. (2019). Chapter 3 Jewish Traditions- Recent
Developments. In
World religions
. essay, Oxford University Press.
