"Reform Judaism has its own traditions and religiosity."

I wouldn't even go that far. Though we do have our own traditions, we are still Jews. We have the SAME traditions and the SAME religion. We are traditional and we are religious.

Take and Orthodox Jew from Spain, one from Russia, and one from Yemen and you'd see very different things, hear very different music, but the source of the sights and the sounds is the same religion and the same tradition. And so it is for us also.

Does this mean you reject the core of progressive thought, the belief that each generation's culture is an improvement on the previous generation? I'm all for rejecting the concept of linear progressive cultural evolution.

i like the term "frum reform".... i think it's less about not using the terms "religious" and "tradition" but rather about owning those terms as ours!

There are a couple of general reasons for praying in Hebrew. Prayers, like poems, normally lose their cadence when translated. The flow of an affective Hebrew prayer can work like a meditative breathing exercise. Praying in Hebrew also connects Jews across different countries and generations that might speak different vernaculars. An individual congregant might be better off praying in the vernacular if this makes it possible to focus more on the meaning of each word. Adding more silent meditations to the service would allow each congregant to choose the language that is best for him.

However, it's okay to say G-d's name when we are praying

I think that when people talk about "tradition" and "religious," they are referring to ritual practice that is identifiably Jewish. Many people who are not Jewish eat healthy, adopt an athletic lifestyle, care about the environment and treat others respectfully. It is a stretch to claim these traits to be Jewish (as opposed to Christian or secular). Perhaps we need a way to distinguish between those Jews who find meaning in particular customs and rituals and those who do not, or who would prefer to reinterpret the "traditional" customs and rituals but maintain some of their forms.

As a religious Reform Jew, I choose which traditional Jewish practices I will observe. As one who attends synagogue services every Shabbat, am I more or less "religious" than my friend who identifies as Conservative, doesn't eat pork, shellfish, or cheeseburgers, but goes to shul only on the High Holy Days and for Yahrtzeit? Am I more or less religious than my neighbor who identifies as Orthodox, keeps strict kashrut and whose Sabbath observance precludes driving, turning on lights, etc, but who contributes little to charity and who oppresses his employees?

Thus, while understanding David Fair's concerns about the co-optation of terms like religious and traditional as somehow excluding Reform, we have to be careful about justifying our Reform religiousity by actions like healthy lifestyle and environmental concerns, which are consistent with our Judaism but are nonetheless not inherently Jewish. My Christian neighbor who is good to his body and to the environment is not thus performing what Rabbi Lawrence Kushner calls primary Jewish acts.

As Reform Jews, we can't divorce ourselves from either our Jewish history or our Reform history. At the end of the nineteenth century, our Reform rabbis saw their job as teaching Jews how to be Americans; today the challenge is to teach Americans how to be Jews.

There are many ways to be a "good Jew," and they don't all involve religious expression -- but they do have to have Judaism at their center. Just being a good person of Jewish ethnicity doesn't qualify -- you have to "do" Jewish!

David hits one of my hot buttons with his hypothetical of RJC, who is unaffiliated but gives to Jewish and Zionist charities. I'll buy into the conclusion that he's a good Jew (great Jew may be going too far) -- but not that he's a Reform Jew.

Reform Judaism enforces very few demands on us -- but the one binding obligation, IMHO, is affiliation with a Reform institution. Reform is NOT a synonym for non-observant -- rather it is a descriptor for a religious movement that leaves level of observance for its adherents up to the individual.

If we don't protect our trademark, who will protect it for us?

I am responding to the subjects David Fair raises. I am not attacking David's comments per se.

Reform Judaism is being confronted with two decisions, which, so far, it has failed to recognize. The two questions are its identity and the second is its authenticity. The two questions are related. I subscribe to two blogs, and the members do not want to discuss the issues. They sometimes become angry even when the issues are raised.

Who are we? Are we only a descendent of Orthodox or Traditional Judaism that believes in a written divine Law derived only from the Talmud, that believes a liturgy that promises an after-life in return for obedience, that believes blood plays any role what-so-ever in religious identity, etc? If we are, then we can never authentically determine who we Jews are and what we Jews should do without first obtaining permission from the parent Talmud. If we are, we must necessarily use the words, concepts, definitions and rhetoric of the Talmud even though we modern liberal Jews recognize the words, concepts, definitions, and rhetoric have changed during the past thirteen hundred years since they were first written. Those words include notions of God, Law, peoplehood, good, etc.

It is true Reform Judaism maintains a principle of "informed consent," but the quality of required information is so loose it make the authorizing principle almost worthless, and it permits the rabbi (it is almost always a rabbi and almost never a congregant) permission to ignore a Talmudic Law rather than create a new one.

We have become an umbrella (a tent) protecting so many different groups under the heading of "Jew" that we hardly recognize one another and often do not want to recognize each others desires and needs. The largest group is certainly not religious, the original purpose of Judaism; it is now social and nostalgic. In the absence of overt increased anti-Semtisim, this group will disappear. In the absence of a younger generation (not us) that perceives a positive religious benefit of Reform Judaism, secularism and/or Chritianity will claim it for its own. The younger generation needs a protective social group less and less - certainly less than their parents and grandparents. If Reform Judaism is to appeal to them, it will necessarily be religious and/or spiritual and it will have to be a benefit they can readily identify and access.

So a major question we should all be asking, always asking, is what benefits can we find in our religion that we can offer to our kids and their kids. To this date, we have not found any. The number of congregants who voluntarily and independently attend Shabbat services, the only religious activity of our congregations, are adults - children can't drive. (Young aduts who can drive only rarely attend services. They sometimes attend social funictions so they can meet people of the opposite sex, but these functions are social, competeing with secular mating activities; they are not religious) The number of adults who attend religious services are older and comprise only five to ten percent of the congregation.

The next generation of Reform Jews depends on desire of the children of converts to want a religion and to want Reform Judaism. So far, they don't want it. The majority of the next generation will probably not join a temple because of Sisterhood or the Mens Club.

The blogs frequently argue about what constitutes authentic Reform Judaism, including the various rituals, congreational and individual religious autonomy, Classical versus contemporary Reform judaism, etc. The conversations often degenerate into "what I want" versus "what you want." Or whose Judaism is authentic and whose is not. Or, who is right and who is wromg. Or, who is the good Jew and who is not.

I am asking a different question. Do we modern liberal Jews, Reform Jews, have the courage, to disregard even for a moment, our own religious comforts and preferences, and attempt to design a form and content of Judaism that will have some unique and bona fide religious appeal to the young Reform Jews who will succeed us? They are not us. Their needs are not ours. Even their expectations and language differ from ours. But, if history is judge, they will seek a power that is greater than them, that requires the actualization of eternal qualities that can benefit them, their children and all of mankind. Jews have been wrestling with these aspirations for five thousand years. Their solution has been Judaism - first a Judaism of our mythic Fathers and Mothers, then a Judaism of Moses and Covenant, then a Judaism of the Prophets, then a Judaism of the Sages, then a Judaism of the Reformers. Each was an improvement a refeinement of its predecessor. So, what do we offer our kids? What improvements, refinements of Judaism, by definition a new authentic Judaism, do we offer them? And, what are we willing to sacrifice to give it to them?

Are we willing to give up an old definition of God and replace it with another? Are we willing to remove the Sage on the Stage and replace him/her with a new kind of leader? Are we willing to reject some of the Traditional prayers and create new ones, "better" ones, more "authentic" ones, or more "effective" ones? Are we willing to establish a new and collegial relationship with our rabbis so that he/she does not appear to be a Jewish human sacrifice for those of us who don't want to keep kosher or obey the Laws? Do we want to reduce our reliance on the Hebrew language (perhps fifty percent of Reform Jews cannot read Hebrew) and/or somehow require a minimum standard of Hebrew competence?
Do we want to inauguarate a discussion between congregants and rabbis regarding the nature of God,prayer, Choseness, etc. so that we are in some way at least on the same page when we use these concepts?

Autonomy is "good," but what are our responsibilities? Not the rabbi's responsibilities; ours. The congregants' repsonsibilities. Until we Reform congregants begin to assume responsibilities for ourselves and Judaism, which, by nature requires the sacrifice of dependency, Reform Judaism will contimue to diminish.

Marty Graffman

I appreciate Marty Graffman's concern about formulating a Reform Judaism that will resonate with the next generation. But I promise him that it will not be formulated by senior citizens.

Each generation develops the Judaisms it needs. On this blog, on our list-servs, we focus constantly on the changes in Reform -- especially the revival of ritual and the increase in the use of Hebrew -- because this generation wants what the predecessor generation did not. Parallel changes are taking place in the other streams -- yes, even among the Orthodox.

Much of what Marty is calling on us Reform congregants to do -- to step up to the plate and assume responsibility for our Judaism -- is taking place in many congregations across the movement. While he tells us to wake up and smell the coffee, we are already drinking it.