Classical Reform Judaism is an approach to Judaism that emphasizes reason, personal autonomy, social justice, and humanitarian religious values. The foundations of Classical Reform Judaism were first enunciated in 1885 in a document known as The Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Judaism. Its two principle authors—Kaufmann Kohler and Emil G. Hirsch—both served as rabbis at Chicago Sinai Congregation. While the Pittsburgh Platform no longer serves as the primary theological expression of Reform Judaism, it continues to influence many Reform Jews and remains a lucid statement of several core beliefs of liberal Reform Judaism. For an award-winning essay on the Rabbis Kohler and Hirsch and the Pittsburgh Platform, click here.
The Pittsburgh Platform, written and signed at Congregation
Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, 1885
In view of the wide divergence of opinion, of conflicting ideas in
Judaism today, we, as representatives of Reform Judaism in America,
in continuation of the work begun in Philadelphia in 1869, unite upon
the following principles.
We recognize in every religion an attempt
to grasp the Infinite, and in every mode, source or book of revelation,
held sacred by any religious system, the consciousness of the indwelling
of God in man. We hold that Judaism presents the highest conception
of the God-idea as taught in our Holy Scriptures and developed and
spiritualized by the Jewish teachers, in accordance with the moral and
philosophical progress of their respective ages. We maintain that Judaism
preserved and defended, midst continual struggles and trials and under
enforced isolation, this God-idea as the central religious truth for
the human race.
We recognize in the Bible the record of the consecration of the Jewish
people to its mission as priest of the one God, and value it as the
most potent instrument of religious and moral instruction. We hold
that the modern discoveries of scientific researches in the domains
of nature and history are not antagonistic to the doctrines of Judaism,
the Bible reflecting the primitive ideas of its own age, and at times
clothing its conception of Divine Providence and justice dealing with
man in miraculous narratives.
We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish
people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today
we accept as binding only the moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies
as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted
to the views and habits of modern civilization.
We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet,
priestly purity and dress originated in ages and under influences of
ideas altogether foreign to our present mental and spiritual state.
They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of holiness; their
observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern
spiritual elevation.
We recognize in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect
the approaching of the realization of Israel’s great Messianic
hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice and peace
among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious
community, and, therefore, expect neither a return to Palestine, nor
a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of
any laws concerning the Jewish state.
We recognize in Judaism a progressive religion, ever striving to be
in accord with the postulates of reason. We are convinced of the utmost
necessity of preserving the historical identity with our great past.
Christianity and Islam being daughter religions of Judaism, we appreciate
their providential mission to aid in the spreading of monotheistic
and moral truth. We acknowledge that the spirit of broad humanity of
our age is our ally in the fulfillment of our mission, and, therefore
we extend the hand of fellowship to all who cooperate with us in the
establishment of the reign of truth and righteousness among men.
We reassert the doctrine of Judaism that the soul of man is immortal,
grounding this belief on the divine nature of the human spirit, which
forever finds bliss in righteousness and misery in wickedness. We reject,
as ideas not rooted in Judaism, the beliefs both in bodily resurrection
and in Gehenna and Eden (Hell and Paradise) as abodes for everlasting
punishment and reward.
In full accordance with the spirit of Mosaic legislation, which strives
to regulate the relation between rich and poor, we deem it our duty
to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the
basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts
and evils of the present organization of society.
Professor Michael Meyer, the world’s leading scholar
of Reform Judaism, describes his understanding of Classical Reform
Judaism in remarks delivered at Chicago Sinai Congregation in June,
2006, click here.