Theology Today - Vol 42, No. 3 - October 1985 - BOOK REVIEW - Profiles in American Judaism: The Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist Traditions in Historical Perspective

398 - Profiles in American Judaism: The Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist Traditions in Historical Perspective

Profiles in American Judaism: The Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist Traditions in Historical Perspective
By Marc Lee Raphael
San Francisco, Harper: Row, 1984. 238 pp. $19.95.

Does Judaism have denominations similar to those found in Christianity? The answer to this perplexing question could clarify many enigmas for the students of Judaism, be they Jewish or Gentile. Marc Lee Raphael, a Reform rabbi and currently Professor of History and

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Director of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at Ohio State University, provides insight into the labyrinth of American Judaism through his study of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist traditions. To a certain extent, the gamut of Jewish beliefs and practices ranging from the non-Zionist, separatist Satmar Hasidim on the right to the agnostic, Polydox Reformers on the left rivals the polarity within Christianity. But, on the other hand, there is a certain spirit of communality among the majority of Jews encompassing support for Israel and a fear of anti-Semitism which suggests that unity rather than sectarianism is a characteristic of Judaism. Utilizing a variety of primary sources, the author traces the evolution of the various movements in Judaism from their European antecedents through their latest developments in America, analyzing ideologies, institutions, and personalities.

What is significant about this volume is its lucid synthesis of rather complex information not easily available to laypeople or to students of Judaism. Enhancing the author's description of the various movements within Judaism are his incisive generalizations, perhaps at times at variance with conventional scholarship, but extremely thought-provoking at the very least. Bringing to the readers attention statements of pulpit rabbis in the Reform movement rather than merely the published writings of some leaders, Raphael gives a realistic picture of nineteenth century Reform Judaism. Darwinism, or more properly Social Darwinism, was the revelation for a generation of Reform rabbis. As immigrants from Eastern Europe permeated the membership both of Reform synagogues and the Reform rabbinate, there was a significant trend within the movement toward tradition. Raphael's synthesis of Conservative theology is as authoritative as his description of the variations within this branch of American Judaism. Contrary to the widely held notion among Jews as well as Christians is the concept that Orthodoxy is monolithic, an idea which our author lays to rest. Finally, his description of Reconstructionism will bring to the general reader an awareness of Judaism's latest religious movement-a product of the American environment as much as that of either Europe or Israel.

In this study, as in any synthesis, there is a problem of simplistic generalization as well as omission. When dealing with the origins of non-traditional Judaism in Europe, the author could have stressed the effects of Napoleon's internal and external treatment of Jews and Judaism and included other pioneers, such as Solomon Maimon, subjects that are described in detail in Mordecai Kaplan's The Greater Judaism in the Making. Relegating a consideration of the relationship of Reform to the Italian Jewish renaissance of the sixteenth century to a mere footnote seems to be an oversight. Attributing the origin of Conservative Judaism to Solomon Schechter does an injustice to precursors. While it may be true that the official Orthodox-Conservative Reform delineation did not specifically exist in the ninteenth century, those tendencies were present at the time. Even under Schechter'`s

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regime and under his successors, it was difficult to understand how the "Conservative" Jewish Theological Seminary differed from Orthodox institutions, as the reviewer can attest from personal experience. From my study of Judaism in the nineteenth century, I would also question the author's assertion that Orthodoxy did not begin in America until the arrival of the East European immigrants. Finally, contemporary trends within Reform, such as Polydoxy, and a summary chapter could have enhanced Raphael's well-documented and scholarly study.

Designed more for the student of Judaism and the general public desiring to obtain a knowledge of Judaism than for the scholar, Profiles in American Judaism merits a place on the library shelf. Despite certain omissions and questionable generalizations, the Raphael volume will be consulted for years to come.

Myron Berman
Temple Beth-El
Richmond, Virginia