Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan Writes Article Leading to Reconstructionist Movement

August 4, 1920

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, a professor of homiletics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, publishes “A Program for the Reconstruction of Judaism” in the Menorah Journal. This article continues the thoughts he shared at an informal meeting of rabbis and lay leaders earlier in the year. Kaplan observes that institutional Jewish life in America has been defined by European immigrants. He and his colleagues are concerned about the failure to engage second-generation American Jews. Kaplan writes,

Judaism in America has not given the least sign of being able to perpetuate itself…Judaism under democratic conditions such as obtain in this country has thus far not been able to develop that vitality which could endow it with creative power and make it capable of sustained effort and adaptability.

He also emphasizes that Zionism is a key component in his “reconstruction” of American Judaism, arguing that “the fate of Judaism is bound up with the success of Zionism.”

In 1934, Kaplan further expounds on his views in the book Judaism as a Civilization. As a leader in the Conservative movement, Kaplan hopes to stimulate change within the denomination. However, his ideology eventually leads to the creation of a fourth American Jewish denomination, the Reconstructionist (now Reconstructing Judaism). The movement is officially born in 1968 when it opens its own rabbinic seminary in Philadelphia.