Judaism, Reconstructionist

Mordecai M. Kaplan and the Central Ideas of Reconstructionism

Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881–1983), the founding thinker of the Reconstructionist movement accomplished a lot during his 102 years. In addition to writing the many books and articles that embodied his ideas, Kaplan served “in the field” for most of his life as a congregational rabbi, teacher of teachers and rabbis, lecturer, and community organizer. Kaplan was also a man of many contradictions, whose strong opinions and commitment to honesty stirred up controversy. The Sabbath and festival prayer books he developed in the 1940s were so controversial that the Union of Orthodox Congregations of the United States and Canada pronounced a ban against them and went so far as to burn a copy of his prayer book. Such dramatic gestures did much to create misunderstanding as to what Kaplan was all about. Today however, thanks to ongoing scholarly work, Kaplan's place in the Jewish life of the 20th century is slowly being established. Many of the innovations that he championed or pioneered are commonly accepted today, including the bat mitzvah ceremony for girls and the idea of a Jewish Center (what some called a shul with a school and a pool) as a multi-dimensional community [Page 242]focus for study and leisure. The ideas he developed starting in the 1920s and expressed in his major work Judaism as a Civilization (Kaplan, 1934) remain fresh, challenging, and current in the 21st century.

Throughout his life, Kaplan fought against being bound by traditional practices that did not serve the well-being of Jews in the here and now. He fought as well for a way of life that included strong and joyous identification not just with America or only with the Jewish people but with both. It was his firm conviction that Jewish leaders should not compel people to follow traditional practices but that they should instead help to make Jewish life attractive, “interesting, significant, and beautiful” so people would want to be involved. This belief rested on an interconnected set of ideas that Kaplan worked his way through to ideas about God, about the sources of authority in society and about the importance of community and religion in making human life vibrant and meaningful.

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