Chaverim y'karim - dear friends,

 

As some of you may recall from our Fall study of Can Robots be Jewish?, my wife is the Conservative Movement's voice for the "Ask the Rabbi" section of the Jewish magazine, Moment. This month's volume is a celebration of the magazine's 50th anniversary and thus the question posed to their panel of rabbis was: "What would astonish a time traveler from 1975 about your denomination today?" You may enjoy reviewing the depth and breadth of responses from my colleagues across various streams and stripes found in America. 

 

While I have a Reform colleague who offered an answer, far be it from me not to offer my own! I liked the idea of taking a moment to reflect on what has changed since I was seven years old in 1975! The truth is: having grown up in an active Reform Jewish family (my mother was pregnant with me when serving as Sisterhood president), watching my father as he served as regional president for the UAHC, attending a Reform Jewish summer camp going from camper to staff member (my CIT picture from 1985 above - free coffee if you can find me), and then ultimately becoming a Reform rabbi, I very much am a product of the Movement. My perspective is neither unique nor definitive but I can offer what I have seen and where I see the Movement has changed in 50 years.

 

In 1975, there were only a handful of female rabbis and no openly gay clergy. Today, women and members of the LGBTQ community fill the ranks of rabbinic roles ranging from senior congregational leadership to chaplaincy, seminary professors to Movement leaders. A few years ago, the Reform rabbinic union (the Central Conference of American Rabbis) celebrated 50 years of women rabbis and this past Spring at the CCAR's annual conference, Reform clergy honored the various shades of the rainbow by toasting 35 years since the Reform seminary, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, allowed open clergy and their many contributions and accomplishments since then.

 

In 1975, the remarkably impactful and talented singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman (z"l) was only twenty-four years old!! Her singing was being embraced and adored in the Jewish summer camps and simultaneously being shunned by many congregations. Today, not only has her music reshaped the Reform liturgical experience but the Cantorial School at HUC-JIR was named in her honor! Furthermore, Debbie's musical "descendants" are beyond number leaving us singing and stretching musically in novel and creative ways constantly. (See: Debbie in her own words part one. Part two.)

 

In 1975, the Yom Kippur War had happened only two years prior and Anatoly (now Natan) Sharansky was still in the USSR. Issues of Jewish peoplehood were front and center on the Reform Jewish agenda and within the coming ten years, the Reform Movement would found not one but TWO kibbutzim in Israel (Yahel, 1977; Lotan, 1983) and a moshav (Har Halutz, 1985) - all seeded by American Jews who made aliyah. Whereas the Reform movement in Israel in 1975 had only a handful of synagogue communities, today, there is an Israeli rabbinic program at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem and over 50 Reform communities throughout Israel who identify with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, which is supported significantly by American Jews.

 

Going back even further than 1975 for a moment, the Reform Movement in North America, from our earliest of days (see: 1885 Pittsburgh Platform), paid great attention to being a part of larger, societal needs. Today, we might call it g'milut chasadim (deeds of loving-kindness) or tikkun olam (repairing the world), but we have always sought ways to help better our world. But there are two significant changes worth noting. First, instead of pursuing social action primarily, over the last decade-or-so, many Reform communities have begun to prioritize social justice. While I could (and probably should) write an entire column about the difference between social action and social justice, for now I will say social justice is typically advocating for political policies to address societal injustices. Social action, on the other hand, addresses a need and works to repair, support, and literally give a hand. In 1975, Reform congregations focused on the former while the national movement focused on the latter, principally through the Reform Movement's Religious Action Center in Washington, DC. Today, congregations - led by activist rabbis - often spend more time on social justice campaigns and advocacy addressing universal values and concerns from a progressive standpoint. Over the past half century, the equation of balancing particular Jewish needs versus universal concerns has shifted toward addressing the universal. Over the past few years, you can see where the Reform Movement's statements address universal matters far more than uniquely Jewish ones. 

 

In 1975, education in a Reform setting combined Hebrew, history, Israel, American Judaism, and Jewish culture. Classes met midweek as well as on Sundays or Saturdays. Total number of instructional hours has dropped precipitously in most communities. In supplemental Reform Jewish religious schools, most classes meet only once a week and the school year is 26 weeks instead of 35 weeks thus impacting overall learning substantially.  

 

In 1975, when it came to mitzvot (commandments), Reform Judaism taught "informed choice" which gave me the language as a young person to consider that I needed to be richly educated - perhaps even more than other streams of Judaism. Why? Because I needed to know what Jews do ... and why *Reform* Jews may choose to do some things and not to do other things. I believe we need to be educated in biblical Judaism, rabbinic Judaism, and modernity ... and all the forces that influenced each era. To me, I still believe that a Reform Jew needs to be an educated, thinking, practicing Jew feeling a sense of obligation to be in the communal covenant our people forged with one another and God. Over the last decade or so, our Reform Movement has adopted a slogan of "Judaism your way" which removes the requirement of a broad education and communal commitment. Furthermore, it puts the onus on our institutions (and clergy) to accommodate and, at times, even accept the demands of the individual. 

 

Here may be one of the largest changes as it has to do with "Who is a Jew?": In 1975, a Jewish child could only be considered Jewish only if his mother was Jewish. In the early 1980s, Reform rabbis in North America (exclusively) declared that a child born of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother but raised in an expressed Jewish home could be considered Jewish. In so doing, the Reform movement broke with the rest of organized Judaism in order to embrace interfaith families in an effort of keruv (drawing near). Relatedly, whereas a distinct minority of Reform rabbis of the 1970s performed intermarriage, today, the vast majority offer to do so (myself included). 

 

Alas, there are many changes to show our time traveler.

 

I want to add one more point in closing: I believe deeply in the core tenets of Reform Judaism which allow for such things as creative use of liturgy and sacred text, musical expression and inspiration from sources even beyond the Jewish pale. Reform Judaism is based on the same foundational ideas related to God, Torah, and Israel (the people and the land) as are central to all other streams of Judaism. We share with all other Jews the foundational texts of our Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the vast trove of rabbinic literature over the many centuries of its development. Reform Jews strive to merge our modern understandings with ancient ideas and practices - sometimes to our benefit and other times to our - and the tradition's - detriment. At the end of the day, we are all 'just' Jews. And so I am and proudly remain. I welcome and enjoy being on this journey with you! Here's to the next 50! 

 

The rabbis in Moment Magazine are only given 250 words. I took a few more. Thank you for staying with me. I would love to hear about the changes YOU have noticed! Feel free to reach out - l'shalom,

 

Rabbi Mark Cohn, 16 July 2025

 

*****************************

PERFORMING DEEDS OF G'MILUT CHASADIM (ACTS OF LOVING-KINDNESS)

 

The recent floods in Texas are a humanitarian disaster in need of many hands, hearts, and organizations. Below is a short list of three groups who are intimately involved with relief and/or similarly aligned with Camp Mystic, which was the Christian girls' camp so severely devastated by the flood.

 

Give as you are able. By donating to Jewish organizations (like Shalom Austin), you help make sure a Jewish presence is on the ground supporting our fellow Americans.

 

We Are Blood

Shalom Austin: Flood Relief Campaign

Foundation for Jewish Camp