The Columbus Platform, officially known as The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism, is the 1937 platform for

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

adopted by the

Central Conference of American Rabbis The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. I ...

. The Columbus Platform was the first Reform platform to assert Reform Judaism's support for the Zionist movement, a repudiation of the

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palest ...

of the earlier

Pittsburgh Platform The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 1885 document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith. While it was never formally adopted by the Union of Ameri ...

. The platform also embraced aspects of traditional Judaism that the Reform movement had previously rejected.

The Platform

The 1937 Columbus Platform was brought about by a shift in thinking by both Reform rabbis and Reform lay people. The rise of Nazism in Germany also created a sense of urgency for the Reform movement to reformulate their stance on Zionism. The 1885 Pittsburgh Platform repudiated Zionism, asserting that Jews are a religious community and not a nation, and upholding Reform Judaism as a religion with universal principles and little regard for religious ritual. The Columbus Platform endorsed Zionism, as well as the value of the particularism inherent in observing Shabbat and Jewish holidays. The immigration of

Eastern European Jews The expression 'Eastern European Jewry' has two meanings. Its first meaning refers to the current political spheres of the Eastern European countries and its second meaning refers to the Jewish communities in Russia and Poland. The phrase 'Easte ...

during the late 1800s and early 1900s had a profound influence on the Reform movement. While earlier

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

immigrants were more acculturated, the new wave of Eastern European Jews tended to be more traditional in their observance. The 1937 Columbus Platform was largely the work of

Samuel S. Cohon Samuel Solomon Cohon (22 March 1888 – 22 August 1959) was a rabbi and Chair of Theology at Hebrew Union College, a prominent leader of American Reform Judaism in the mid-20th Century. Biography Early life Cohon was born in Lohi (modern Belorus ...

References

External links

The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism
text of the 1937 Columbus Platform {{Portal bar, Judaism 1937 in Judaism Platforms of Reform Judaism Reform Judaism in Ohio Reform Zionism Zionism in the United States

The Platform

See also

References

External links