Talk:Progressive Judaism
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Progressive Judaism is an umbrella term for all strands of Judaism which do not view the oral law as binding. The terminology c hello my name is inese white and my mum lives at 31 fraser st middle park omes from seeing the Halakha ("Jewish law") as evolving through a progressive process of revelation, with some laws, as interpreted from scripture, being relevant for limited time periods. This is distinct from Halakhic Judaism (e.g. Orthodox Judaism), which believes that religious legislation was spontaneously revealed in its entirety, though written down and codified by Moses and others in later generations, making it binding for all time. In the U.K. Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism together make up Progressive Judaism.
[edit] Definitions that have sources
In contrast, I have only heard of Progressive Judaism as being defined in the following way:
Progressive Judaism refers to any form of Judaism that rejects halakha, loosely translated as Jewish law and tradition, as having normative status, and instead holds that one's personal autonomy supercedes halakha.
- A type of Reform Judaism in the United Kingdom
- A type of Reform Judaism in the State of Israel
- The World Union for Progressive Judaism]
- Any form of non-halakhic Judaism, i.e. any form of Judaism which rejects the character of halakha as normative. This would include all of Reform Judaism in the USA, Progressive Judaism in the UK and in Israel, as well as Reconstructionist Judaism.
I have not come across any definitions of this term which center only on Judaism's oral law. In fact, that definition cannot be correct. As written, the article implies that Reform Judaism views the written law (The Torah) as binding, but only rejects the oral law. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. To the best of my knowledge, no form of progressive Judaism accepts any part of the written law (Bible) or oral law (rabbinic literature) as normative (i.e. to be accepted upon one's self as binding.) All forms of Progressive Judaism encourage the individual to reject any Jewish beliefs, laws or traditions that violates "contemporary conscience or consciousness", as shown below:
- Progressive Judaism sees Judaism as a way of life and an overall perspective that includes, among others, mitzvot (commandments) between people and God; yet the fulfillment of these mitzvot is not necessarily the focal center of action. Progressive Judaism emphasizes the central importance of mitzvot between people, of personal morality and social justice - Tikkun Olam. Progressive Judaism rejects ideas and commandments that contradict the contemporary Jew's conscience or consciousness.
- Progressive Judaism opposes any form of coercion on obeying mitzvot. The individual is expected - and obligated - to determine in a sovereign and intelligent manner his or her spiritual life. This means that Progressive Jews are not monolithic in their ways: some, for example, will emphasize the laws of kashrut (dietary laws) while others might see these as being outdated. Some Progressive Jews observe
