Heschel was particularly spurned by his colleague Mordechai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, and many students who attended JTS in the 1950s sympathized with Kaplan over Heschel.

Rather, it is sometimes employed by unaffiliated groups to indicate a range of beliefs and practices more liberal than is affirmed by the Orthodox, and more traditional than the more liberal Jewish denominations ( Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism ).

The first split in the Conservative coalition occurred in 1963, when followers of Mordecai Kaplan seceded from the movement to form a distinct Reconstructionist Judaism.

Mordecai Kaplan's religious naturalism ( Reconstructionist Judaism ) used to have an influential place in the movement, but since Reconstructionism developed as an independent movement, this influence has waned.

Conservative Jews believe that movements to its left, such as Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, have erred by rejecting the traditional authority of Jewish law and tradition.

Conservative Judaism views the process by which Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism make changes to Jewish tradition as potentially invalid.

Thus, Conservative Judaism rejects patrilineal descent and would hold that a child of a non-Jewish mother who was raised as a Reform or Reconstructionist Jew is not legally Jewish and would have to undergo conversion to become a Jew.

The founder of the Reconstructionist Movement, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan defines Judaism as an evolving religious civilization.

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism both hold that modern views of how the Torah and rabbinic law developed imply that the body of rabbinic Jewish law is no longer normative ( seen as binding ) on Jews today.

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism hold that halakha ( Jewish law ) is no longer binding, and rabbis in those movements follow their individual consciences on such matters ; some uphold the traditional prohibitions and some permit weddings on these days.

They have been accepted as religious holidays by the following groups: The Union of Orthodox Congregations and the Rabbinical Council of America ; The United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth ; Reform Judaism ; Conservative Judaism ; Reconstructionist Judaism ; the Union for Traditional Judaism.

Reconstructionist Judaism rejects the ideas of both a personal Messiah and a divinely instituted messianic age.

Like Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism has also altered traditional prayers so that they no longer refer to a personal Messiah.

On the other hand, Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism do not hold this view and allow homosexual intercourse.

In contrast, some Reconstructionist movements, like those who practise Theodism, take a stricter religious approach, and only recognize certain historical texts and sources as being relevant to their belief system, intentionally focusing on one culture to the exclusion of others, and having a general disdain for the eclectic mentality.

Reconstructionist Judaism also allowed women to perform other traditional male tasks, such as serving as witnesses, leading services, public Torah reading, and wearing ritual prayer garments like kippot and tallitot.

Several prominent members of the Reconstructionist community have focused on issues like domestic violence.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, who developed Reconstructionist Judaism and taught at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary of America, also rejected the idea of a personal God, Kaplan instead thought of God " as a force, like gravity, built into the very structure of the universe ," believing that " since the universe is constructed to enable us to gain personal happiness and communal solidarity when we act morally, it follows that there is a moral force in the universe ; this force is what the Constructionists mean by God ," although some Reconstructionists do believe in a personal God.

Some Reform and Reconstructionist teachers also teach at non-denominational seminaries like the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, the Academy for Jewish Religion in California, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College.

The Conservative movement is committed to Jewish pluralism and respects the religious practices of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews.

( Today, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews also include those born of Jewish fathers and Gentile mothers if the children are raised as Jews.

In general, Orthodox and Conservative congregations adhere most closely to tradition, and Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues are more likely to incorporate translations and contemporary writings in their services.

Also, in most Conservative synagogues, and all Reform and Reconstructionist congregations, women participate in prayer services on an equal basis with men, including roles traditionally filled only by men, such as reading from the Torah.

Reform and Reconstructionist congregations do not regard halakha as binding and hence regard appropriate prayer times as matters of personal spiritual decision rather than a matter of religious requirement.

Reform and Reconstructionist Jews and Israeli Jews, wherever they are, usually observe the holiday over seven days.

It made its greatest stride in becoming the fourth movement in North American Judaism ( Orthodox, Conservative and Reform being the other three ) with the founding of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968.

Generally, adherents of Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism believe that the individual Jew determines whether to follow Shabbat prohibitions or not.

Reform and Reconstructionist Jews deny that these texts may be used for determining normative law ( laws accepted as binding ) but accept them as the authentic and only Jewish version for understanding the Torah and its development throughout history.

Some religions and branches of religions, including Quakers, Unitarians, Ethical Culture, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews, the Metropolitan Community Church, and the Reformed Catholic Church perform and recognize same-sex marriages, even if the government of their geographic area may not.

Many Reform and Reconstructionist services omit the entire service as inconsistent with modern sensibilities.

Jews generally observe one or two seders: in Israel, one seder is observed on the first night of Passover ; in the Diaspora communities other than Reform and Reconstructionist Jews hold a seder also on the second night.

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association ( RRA ) encourages its members to officiate at same-sex marriages / commitment ceremonies, though the RRA does not require its members to officiate at them.

Classical ritual immersion and associated requirements are generally not observed by Reform Judaism or Reconstructionist Judaism, with the exception that both generally include immersion as part of the ritual for Conversion to Judaism, although Reform Judaism does not require it.

Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism do not hold the halachic requirements of mikveh the way orthodox Judaism does.

* Jewish Reconstruction Federation & RRA, Homosexuality and Judaism: The Reconstructionist Position, The Reconstructionist Press, 1993

Mordecai Menahem Kaplan ( June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983 ), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.

* Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Reconstructionist Judaism () () is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan ( 1881 – 1983 ).

From the beginning, Reconstructionist Jewish ritual allowed men and women to pray together — a decision based on egalitarian philosophy.

With their advocacy of patrilineal descent in the 1970s, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association supported the principle that a man who takes responsibility for raising a Jewish child can pass Judaism on to the next generation as well as a woman.

All children who receive a Jewish education are considered Jewish in Reconstructionist Judaism regardless of whatever is the sex of their Jewish parent.

Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism do not maintain the traditional requirements for study as rooted in Jewish Law and traditionalist text.

* The Orthodox rabbinical establishment rejects the validity of Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis on the grounds that their movements ' teachings are in violation of traditional Jewish tenets.

* Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, on the premise that all the main movements are legitimate expressions of Judaism, will accept the legitimacy of other rabbis ' leadership, though will not accept their views on Jewish law, since Reform and Reconstructionism reject Halakha as binding.