I grew up in a religious, modern Orthodox community in north west London. My family were shomrei mitzvot – ‘keepers of the commandments’ – and this approach to Jewish life was reinforced in the frum schools and shul I attended.
Given that I now serve as rabbi in a Reform synagogue, and am committed to a vision of Progressive Judaism, people often ask me to explain my journey from the Judaism of my youth to the Judaism I practice today. All too often we focus on what sets different communities apart but I believe that Progressive and modern Orthodox approaches to Judaism share far more in common than we like to admit.
Just under two thousand years ago two sweeping changes happened that would fundamentally alter the course of Jewish practice.
The first was the tragedy of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The second, born out of this tragedy, was the birth of Rabbinic Judaism.
While the Divine text of the Torah records the foundational moments, traditions and laws of our Israelite ancestors it is the evolution of these over time, through discourse comprising conversation and debate, that continues to shape Jewish identity today.
Progressive, Orthodox and Masorti – each are inheritors of this rich tradition: living it, wrestling with it and adding to it in our time and in our turn.
Around 350 years ago Jewish thought and practice was altered once more, this time in Europe in response to the Enlightenment and the Haskalah (often known as the Jewish Enlightenment).
Jewish philosophers and teachers, such as fellow students and friends Rabbi Abraham Geiger and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, sought to ensure Judaism remained meaningful and authentic to its practitioners.
Geiger would go on to become a founding figure of the Reform movement whilst Hirsch would create the precursor to Modern Orthodoxy: Neo-Orthodoxy.
As their responses to modernity grew further apart, unfortunately, so did their friendship. Yet Geirger and Hirsch continued the tradition of the foundational text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud, which records a vast array of differing voices.
For me, the most radical and enduring aspect of being a Jew is being part of this tradition. To me a religious Jew is one who constantly engages with the wisdom of all those successive generations of Jews who sought Divine wisdom in order to live a meaningful, just and good life. It is through the living voices of the Torah and rabbis that I have shaped, and continue to shape my Jewish practice.
The unique voices of today’s Reform and Liberal rabbis have enabled me to reconcile some of our traditions’ most challenging teachings by addressing issues such as chained women trapped in broken marriages (agunot), the punishing of children for the actions of their parents (eg mamzerim), and the ability to resolve Jewish status issues in a fair and timely manner.
In this way Progressive Judaism is a necessary and vital voice in the broader, unbroken chain of our tradition.
Rabbi David-Yehuda Stern is at Radlett Reform Synagogue
