The Minhag of Reform Judaism

Is Reform a proper noun or a verb? Is the process of "reforming Judaism" a continuous endeavor that adapts to the needs of the time or was there a great moment of reform and now Reform Jews are left with Reform Judaism?

These are critical questions for the thinkers of Reform Judaism and apparently there are those within their camp that are advocating essentially the halakhic argument of minhag avoteinu b'yadeinu, which literally translates as the custom of our forefathers is in our hands. In other words, we have a received tradition and we can not alter it. According to a recent JTA report an entire organization has been created to promote and advocate for the preservation of Classical Reform Judaism.

What are the central Classical items that these individuals are fighting to preserve? According to the news story: "... its distinctive worship style -- services conducted mainly in English, accompanied by organ music and a choir." In a world that is constantly changing, where cultural and political shifts are happening all around us, it is tremendously comforting to have religion be an anchor amidst turbulent waters. I do not believe it is a coincidence, as the article points out that "the split is largely generational."

I remember when I first had moved to the neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. I was so thrilled to attend services at K'hal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ), the German Orthodox synagogue that is the direct heir to the legacy of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. One of the unique innovations of Rav Hirsch was to increase the meaningfulness, access and relevancy of services to the members of his congregation by instituting a weekly sermon in German and creating a choir. The spirit behind those changes was to continue to seek ways to make Jewish ritual meaningful and inspiring while still staying true to the eternal truth of the Torah. I was very curious to see what the institution that he began in Frankfurt am Main would look like now, over a hundred years later, in New York City.

To my surprise the services looked pretty much like they probably did in Frankfurt during the time of Rav Hirsch. The sermon was in English but other than that, the melodies employed were the same and they still kept with the style of a Hazzan, with the grandiose Hazzan's hat, and a choir. What had happened? The original innovations of Rav Hirsch developed into the status of minhag avoteinu b'yadeinu and thus unalterable.

Perhaps to the chagrin of the new Society for Classical Reform Judaism, in order to preserve a tradition which declared the "Mosaic Law" irrelevant they end up using -- albeit unintentionally -- a principle of the very same Mosaic Law to do so.