When did we become Orthodox?

A frequently asked question in many Reform congregations, often spoken with a derisive tone, is, "When did we become Orthodox?" This might be in response to the news that the synagogue is moving to kosher food for community celebrations, or perhaps in reaction to a new prayerbook and accompanying worship that emphasizes Hebrew. Perhaps one of the greatest lightning rods for such questions is the practice of wearing kippa and talit during prayer. There has been a sea change in the last ten years in Reform congregations across the country.

What was once seen as unthinkable for most of the Reform community to do is now done regularly - men and women wear kippot and talitot when praying our when called to the Torah. To understand why this is, we should first take a look at the history of Reform Judaism and its relationship with these symbols and ritual objects.

The first statement made by American Reform on the subject of dress was the foundational 1885 Declaration of Principles, issued by the first rabbis ordained in America. They said, in part,

We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state…Their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.

The meaning was plain - to be separated from modernity in any way would be to lessen the authenticity of our religious experience. Any outward observance that cast differences between our neighbors and ourselves was to be avoided. Religion was to be contained to the words spoken in worship, and those distinctive rituals that anyone would recognize as religious: largely candles, wine, family meals, and synagogue services. Talit and kippah didn't fit.

Kippah one might make a case for being a later addition to Judaism. There are no halachot (religious laws) regarding a head covering, and some have pointed out that there were times and places that Jews made a point of uncovering their heads when praying. For instance, in the time of the Maccabees, there was great resistance to a Greek order that all people wear hats. The Talmud also tells us that the priests of the ancient temple worked bareheaded. The kippah custom probably came about under the influence of the Babylonian Jewish community responsible for the Talmud, who would wear a head covering in the presence of a scholar. This custom no doubt grew and expanded to encompass much of the Jewish community, although it was never a matter of law. The power of custom was strong enough to bind this observance to almost all Jews. When Reform did away with kippot, it was with the idea of strengthening religious observance, the same motivation claimed by most today who have returned to the tradition.

Talit, however, falls into a different category. It is specifically commanded in the Torah, "The Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'Make for themselves fringes upon the corners of their garments for evermore, and they shall put in the fringe of the corner a thread of blue.'" This is a Biblical injunction to wear the tallit, which is to remind us of the mitzvot we should be occupied with. At Temple Emanu-El it is now custom to wear a talit when called to the Torah for an aliyah.

Be that as it may, we never became Orthodox. We are a Reform Jewish community that clings to the Reform ideal of informed choice. We should reject no Jewish observance out of hand, but rather encourage all Jews to explore and try on meaningful ritual and practices. This is how we expand our depth of religious conviction. In much the way we get someone to sample a new food, I say, "Try it! You'll like it!" But if after trying out a custom, one feels it isn't right, there is no shame in putting aside a given ritual. Reform Judaism long ago rejected compulsion as a religious force, and far be it from any of us to try and bring it back.