Reform Judaism (North America) - Reform Jewish Theology

Reform Jewish Theology

Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut writes "there is no such thing as a Jewish theological principle, policy, or doctrine." This is because Reform Judaism affirms "the fundamental principle of Liberalism: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut, the freedom to decide what will be harut - engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life."

Reform Judaism has always promoted monotheism. This belief is reaffirmed in its new statement of principles. In recent decades, however, a minority of Reform rabbis and laity have come to affirm various beliefs, including deism. At least one edition of the former official American Reform prayerbook, Gates of Prayer, The New Union Prayerbook, is predominantly theistic, but also includes a service that omits all references to God in English while retaining them in Hebrew (pp. 204–218).

The Reform movement has had a number of official platforms. The first was the 1885 Declaration of Principles, the Pittsburgh Platform. The next platform was written in 1937 by the Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). The CCAR rewrote its principles in 1976 with its Centenary Perspective and rewrote them again in the 1999 A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism. While original drafts of the 1999 statement called for Reform Jews to consider re-adopting some traditional practices on a voluntary basis, later drafts removed most of these suggestions. The final version is thus similar to the 1976 statement. According to the CCAR, personal autonomy still has precedence over these platforms.