Teacher: Rev. R. Woods-Barrant, Pastor
Since Christianity wouldn’t exist were it not for Judaism, it is incumbent on Christians to know some basic facts about Judaism in the United States of America.
Scripture Reading: II Timothy 2:15
Important Information: The different sects or denominations of Judaism are generally referred to as movements. The differences between Jewish movements today are not so much a matter of theology, but more a matter of how literally they take the scriptures, how much they think biblical requirements can be changed, and whether those requirements are mandatory. Approximately 5.5 million of the world's 14.5 million Jews live in the United States. There are basically three major movements in the U.S. today: Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. Some people also include a fourth movement, the Reconstructionist movement, although that movement is substantially smaller than the other three. Orthodox and sometimes Conservative are described as "traditional" movements. Reform, Reconstructionist, and sometimes Conservative are described as "liberal" or "modern" movements. And a lot of American Jews (37%) identify themselves as "just Jewish" with no affiliation with any movement.
Orthodoxy is actually made up of several different groups. It includes the modern Orthodox, who have largely integrated into modern society while maintaining observance of Jewish Law, the Chasidim, who live separately and dress distinctively (commonly, but erroneously, referred to in the media as the "ultra-Orthodox"), and the Yeshivish Orthodox, who are neither Chasidic nor modern. The Orthodox movements are all very similar in belief, and the differences are difficult for anyone who is not Orthodox to understand. They all believe that God gave Moses the whole Torah at Mount Sinai. The "whole Torah" includes both the Written Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Oral Torah, an oral tradition interpreting and explaining the Written Torah. They believe that the Torah is true, that it has come down to us intact and unchanged. They believe that the Torah contains 613 mitzvot which are binding upon Jews but not upon non-Jews. The 2017 report of America's Changing Religious Identity produced by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that 10% of Americans who identify as Jewish by religion (rather than just by culture) identify as Orthodox.
Reform Judaism does not believe that the Torah was written by God. The movement accepts the critical theory of Biblical authorship: that the Bible was written by separate sources and redacted together. Reform Jews do not believe in observance of commandments as such, but they retain much of the values and ethics of Judaism, along with some of the practices and the culture. There are approximately 900 Reform synagogues in the United States and Canada.
Conservative Judaism grew out of the tension between Orthodoxy and Reform. It was formally organized as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 1913, although its roots in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America stretch back into the 1880s. Conservative Judaism maintains that the truths found in Jewish scriptures and other Jewish writings come from God, but was transmitted by humans and contain a human component. Conservative Judaism generally accepts the binding nature of the Law, but believes that the Law should change and adapt, absorbing aspects of the predominant culture while remaining true to Judaism's values. There is a great deal of variation among Conservative synagogues. Some are indistinguishable from Reform, except that they use more Hebrew; others are practically Orthodox, except that men and women sit together. Some are very traditional in substance, but not in form; others are traditional in form but not in substance. This flexibility is deeply rooted in Conservative Judaism, and can be found within their own Statement of Principles. The PRRI report found that 14% of American Jews by religion identify themselves as Conservative. There are approximately 600 Conservative synagogues in the world today.
Reconstructionist Judaism is theoretically an outgrowth of Conservative, but it doesn't fit neatly into the traditional/liberal, observant/non-observant continuum that most people use to classify movements of Judaism. Reconstructionists believe that Judaism is an "evolving religious civilization." They do not believe in a personified deity that is active in history, and they do not believe that God chose the Jewish people. From this, you might assume that Reconstructionism is to the left of Reform; yet Reconstructionism lays a much greater stress on Jewish observance than Reform Judaism. Reconstructionists observe the Law if they choose to, not because it is a binding Law from God, but because it is a valuable cultural remnant. Reconstructionism is a very small movement but seems to get a disproportionate amount of attention, probably because there are a disproportionate number of Reconstructionists serving as rabbis to Jewish college student organizations and Jewish Community Centers. According to the PRRI report, only about 2% of the Jews in America identify themselves as Reconstructionist. There are about a hundred Reconstructionist synagogues world-wide.
Though most Jews do not have any theological objections to praying in the synagogues of other movements, liberal services are not "religious" enough or "Jewish" enough for traditional Jews, and traditional services are too long, too conservative, and often basically incomprehensible to liberal Jews (because traditional services are primarily, if not exclusively, in Hebrew). Some Orthodox will not attend liberal services because of the mixed seating arrangements and because the liberal prayer book cuts many required prayers.
If one were to attend services in Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues, you will found that although there are substantial differences in length, language, and choice of reading materials, the overall structure is surprisingly similar.
Questions:
1. What do you think is meant by the opening statement on page 1?
2. Name 3 similarities between Judaism and Christianity in the U.S.?
3. What surprised you in tonight’s lesson?
4. Are there other issues you want to discuss about tonight’s lesson?