President of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz was the guest speaker for Exploring Faiths IV at Dialogue Center.

After the introduction of Judaism, Rabbi Ehrenkrantz presented the evolution of the Reconstructionist Jewish movement in North America.

Historically, the Jewish community lived separate from the society, but around late 18th century, governments of European nation-states decided that they can not have Jewish communities living apart from the society. So, they were asked to blend in with the rest of the population or leave the country. Since then, all, including the Jews themselves, started asking the question “What is Judaism?” Among many different responses to the question, the most common response was that it was a religion; it had some ethnicity in it; but still remained a religion”.

In 1934, Mordecai Menahem Kaplan, founder of the Reconstructionist Movement, had a quite different, and in some sense a fundamental response to what Judaism was. In his book Judaism as Civilization, Rabbi Kaplan brought a whole new perspective to Judaism: Judaism was a civilization, but a religious one.

Rabbi Ehrenkrantz emphasized that Judaism, as a civilization, has changed and will continue to change. This change was a social evolution, and it should not be regarded as neither dangerous nor good; “it is just a part of it, whether we accept it or not.”

The Reconstructionist view argued that God had a role in Judaism and this role was imitated through human beings. However, Judaism was a humanly constructed religion, as it had been the case with other religions. Therefore, in a Reconstructionist view, Jews were not regarded as the chosen people, because this notion would automatically give an impression that Judaism –and Jews- were superior to other religions. Being humanly constructed, religions would always learn things from each other, and continue evolving. Judaism was not better or worse in God’s perception, simply because all religions were attempts to find holiness in this life.

Rabbi Ehrenkrants answered many helpful questions about Judaism in general and the Reconstructionist movement in particular in the Q&A session.

We would like to thank Rabbi Ehrenkrantz for sparing his valuable time and the Dialogue Forum community for making the evening possible.