Why has Reform Judaism changed?

Rabbi Jeffrey Wolfson Goldwasser explains

The authority to interpret Jewish texts is in no way limited to "rabbis and scholars. Reform Judaism asks every Jew to know enough about Jewish ideas and tradition to make their own Jewish choices.

The name of our movement is "Reform," and that implies a constant process of adaptation within our unchanging principles. Here are the major areas of change, as I see them, that Reform Judaism has experienced over the last thirty years:

1) RE-ADOPTION OF TRADITIONAL PRACTICES. Did you ever think you'd see Reform Jews embracing the practice of immersing in a mikveh, putting on tallit, or marking the end of Shabbat with havdalah blessings? Those rituals were proudly rejected by the Reform Movement of the 19th century. Yet, in a single generation, Reform Jews have re-examined and re-adopted these and other rituals. In doing so, however, contemporary Reform Jews have not "reverted" or "become more traditional." In each of these cases, Reform Jews have adopted ancient rituals to fulfill a contemporary spiritual need. In doing so, they often have given rituals new meanings and new applications. For example, the cleansing waters of the mikveh are now used by some Reform Jews to mark the end of cancer treatment, a divorce, or other life experiences from which they seek to be spiritually purified.

2) GREATER PARTICIPATION AND INTIMACY IN WORSHIP. Most contemporary Reform congregations have moved away from the aesthetic of elevation and grandeur and toward an aesthetic of intimacy, community and participation. Today in a Reform congregation you are likely to see a rabbi or cantor with a guitar inviting the congregation to sing along to folk music settings of the prayers.

3) EMPHASIS ON HEBREW. Hebrew was never absent from Reform Jewish practice. Every Reform prayerbook published, going back to the 19th century, has included Hebrew. However, there has been a notable increase in the use of Hebrew in recent decades. The increased use of Hebrew can be seen as a response to the increased importance of the state of Israel to American Jews. It is also a recognition of the fact that Hebrew is the language of Jewish prayer and thought.

The encouragement of aliyah, emigration to Israel, was not part of mainstream Reform Judaism in the pre-state era. However, Zionism and encouragement of aliyah is not a recent innovation either. In the Reform Movement's Centenary Perspective of 1976, the Reform Movement stated, "We encourage aliyah for those who wish to find maximum personal fulfillment in the cause of Zion."