Orthodox and Reform Judaism

For most of Jewish history there were no movements called Orthodox or Reform. Communities differed in custom and in learning, but almost all accepted the authority of the Torah and of rabbinic law as set out in the Talmud and later codes. The division arose in Western and Central Europe in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when Jews gained civil rights and entered universities, professions and city life. Many began to ask how Judaism should look for citizens of modern states.

Reformers answered that Judaism had always developed and should do so again. In 1810 Israel Jacobson opened a temple in Seesen with an organ and prayers in German, and the Hamburg Temple, opened in 1818, published a revised prayer book the following year. Scholars such as Abraham Geiger studied Jewish history critically and argued that its ethical teaching, not its ritual law, was its lasting core. Reformers shortened services, introduced sermons in the local language and removed prayers for a return to Zion and for the restoration of Temple sacrifices.

Traditionalists responded in different ways. In Hungary, Moses Sofer, known as the Chatam Sofer, rejected change with the slogan that anything new is forbidden by the Torah. In Frankfurt, Samson Raphael Hirsch taught strict observance combined with secular education and loyalty to the modern state. The name “Orthodox”, first used of them by reformers, came to describe all who held that Jewish law could not be altered by human decision. In between, Zacharias Frankel argued that Jewish law was binding but had grown historically, the root of what became Conservative Judaism.

The deepest difference concerns revelation. In Orthodox belief, God gave Moses at Sinai both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, later recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud. Halakha is therefore divine command, and rabbis apply it faithfully to new situations, from electricity to medicine, without abandoning it. Reform Judaism sees the Torah as the record of an ancient people’s encounter with God, written by human beings and open to historical study. Its commandments carry moral and spiritual weight, but they do not bind in the same way, and each Jew is asked to study and choose.

This shows clearly in daily life. An Orthodox Jew keeps the Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday night by refraining from work as halakha defines it, which includes driving, cooking and switching on electrical devices. Orthodox Jews keep kosher at home and away, pray three times a day and keep most festivals for two days outside Israel. Reform Jews observe the Sabbath and festivals as times of rest, family and worship in ways they find meaningful, and many keep some dietary practices without regarding them as obligatory.

Worship and the role of women differ too. In an Orthodox synagogue men and women sit separately, divided by a screen or gallery called a mechitza, and only men lead the main prayers and serve as rabbis, although Modern Orthodox women increasingly teach and lead in other roles. Reform synagogues have mixed seating, prayer in Hebrew and the local language and often music. The Reform movement ordained Sally Priesand as the first woman rabbi in the United States in 1972, and in 1983 American Reform rabbis recognised as Jewish a child of either a Jewish mother or a Jewish father who is raised as a Jew. Orthodox Judaism holds to the traditional rule of descent through the mother.

Conservative Judaism keeps halakha as binding while adapting it through its own legal committees; it allows driving to synagogue on the Sabbath and has ordained women since 1985. Reconstructionist Judaism, based on the thought of Mordecai Kaplan, describes Judaism as the evolving civilisation of the Jewish people and treats tradition as having “a vote, not a veto”. Outside the United States the names vary: in Britain, Liberal Judaism stands close to American Reform, while British Reform has historically been somewhat more traditional, and Masorti is the name used for Conservative Judaism in Israel and Europe.

In the United States, the Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey found that about 37% of Jewish adults identify with Reform, 17% with Conservative, 9% with Orthodox and about 4% with smaller movements such as Reconstructionism, while about a third identify with no movement. Orthodox Jews are a small share of American Jews but a growing one, because they tend to be younger and have larger families. In Israel the balance is very different: Orthodox Judaism, in its religious-Zionist and Haredi forms, is by far the largest organised current, while Reform and Conservative communities are small. In the United Kingdom, Orthodox synagogues are the largest group, alongside Reform, Liberal and Masorti communities.

Orthodox Judaism itself is varied. Modern Orthodox Jews combine observance with full participation in secular education and work. Haredi Jews, including Hasidic groups, keep greater distance from the wider culture, often in close-knit communities. Reform Judaism also varies, from congregations that have restored more Hebrew and ritual in recent decades to those focused mainly on ethics and social action.

Relations between the movements combine shared identity with real disagreements. Orthodox authorities do not recognise Reform conversions or rabbis, and in Israel, where the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate oversees marriage and conversion, this remains a subject of public debate. Yet Jews of all movements share the same calendar, the same scriptures and the same sense of being one people, and families often include members of several movements.