Association for Progressive Judaism talk

By Rabbi Jack Bemporad

Reform Judaism is the last and most radical of all reform movements in Judaism with the possible exception of Zionism, and even Zionism would have been impossible without Reform Judaism

Throughout Jewish history there have been numerous reform indeed revolutionary movements beginning with the great Prophets of the eighth century. Then ensued the canonization of the Book of Deuteronomy. This reform made the legal code of the book of Deuteronomy normative and it replaced Prophetic authority. Next came Priestly Judaism with the authority of Aaron as the high priest. The Pharisaic revolution followed which rejected Priestly authority and replaced it with the authority of the Rabbis. There were two reforms or modifications of Rabbinic Judaism with its insistence on the written and the oral Torah. The first was Philosophical Judaism and the second Mystical Judaism. Both forms of Judaism rejected the centrality of Jewish Law and replaced it with Philosophical or mystical understanding These forms of Judaism did not do away with Halachah or Jewish law since the societies of which they were a part functioned according to the Halachah.

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