Explain how Reform Judaism has altered Orthodox rituals

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Reform Jews, although deeply committed to the religious faith, have altered many of the rituals. Women and men sit together in Reform congregations, and both sexes participate in the reading of the Torah at services. Women have been ordained as rabbis since 1985 . A few Reform congregations have even experimented with observing the Sabbath on Sunday and freely allow its members to drive to attend (thus violating an Orthodox prohibition against operating machinery on the Sabbath). Circumcision for males is not mandatory. Civil divorce decrees are sufficient and recognized so that a divorce granted by a three-man rabbinical court is not required before remarriage. Reform Jews recognize the children of Jewish men and non-Jewish women as Jews with no need to convert. All these practices would be unacceptable to the Orthodox Jew.

Jews historically have not embarked on recruitment or evangelistic programs to attract new members. Beginning in the late 1970s, Jews, especially Reform Jews, debated the possibility of outreach programs. Least objectionable to Jewish congregations were efforts begun in 1978 aimed at non-Jewish partners and children in mixed marriages. In 1981, the program was broadened to invite conversions by Americans who had no religious connection, but these very modest recruitment drives are still far from resembling those that have been carried out by Protestant denominations for decades.

Some Reform leaders are rethinking the requirement that one has to attend three or four years of religious school as a prerequisite to bar or bat mitzvahs. Others are considering dispensing with the youth reading from the Torah in Hebrew—once regarded as a central point of the ceremony.