Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022 June 30

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June 30

Reform Judaism

Does Reform Judaism include the Brit Milah, ritual circumcision? And do Reform Jews observe kosher? Thank you. 93.41.96.190 (talk) 14:58, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Reform Judaism is, by its nature, not monolithic in how its adherents observe the various rituals and beliefs. The same is true for any group of people, but even more so when the group identifies itself as specifically being more open to reinterpretation and new understandings. From our article: "Another key aspect of Reform doctrine is the personal autonomy of each adherent, who may formulate their own understanding and expression of their religiosity. Reform is unique among all Jewish denominations in placing the individual as the authorized interpreter of Judaism." (emphasis added). For circumcision particularly, see here for more info. If by "observe kosher", you mean kashrut our article has some material here. Matt Deres (talk) 15:41, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Brit milah#Reform Judaism notes that: Although the issue of circumcision of converts continues to be debated, the necessity of Brit Milah for Jewish infant boys has been stressed in every subsequent Reform rabbis manual or guide. Alansplodge (talk) 10:03, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

But see also When Jewish Parents Decide Not to Circumcise (NYT, 2017). Alansplodge (talk) 12:11, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Depends on the specific Reform Jews. Different Reform Jews likely have different attitudes in regards to this. 68.4.99.100 (talk) 19:57, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

Our article, as kindly suggested by Matt above, isn't too helpful on the question of kashrut. This article is useful.

Where our article is somewhat helpful is that once you go outside of the Orthodox world, definitions become fuzzier - in practice, defining "kosher" is difficult in this conversation. Most Reform Jews do not keep kosher, in the eyes of the Orthodox, but if you asked the person themselves some would take a different view, and say they do keep kosher - they may also be rather offended. They may keep a lot of the laws, or even try to keep all of them. Or they may not have studied some of the less well-known issues or regard some as out-of-date or stringencies, for example, our article here is poorly written, implying that checking vegetables for insects is an issue with restaurants, but a normative Orthodox position is that it is an issue whenever/wherever (and for many fruits too).

Other Reform Jews would readily assert that they do not keep kosher, but a 3rd party observer may disagree, because they may refrain from eating pork, and/or shellfish, or mixing milk and meat... etc. Our article points out that still others may be quite rigorous in observance in the home, but less out eating out - I've also heard of the opposite being the case.

So, not an easy question to give a straight answer to. --Dweller (talk) Old fashioned is the new thing! 16:20, 1 July 2022 (UTC)