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.

* Reconstructionist Judaism, like Reform Judaism, does not hold that Jewish law, as such, requires observance, but unlike Reform, Reconstructionist thought emphasizes the role of the community in deciding what observances to follow.

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.

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

Rousas John Rushdoony, one of the founders of Christian Reconstructionism, was North's father-in-law, and North is a Christian Reconstructionist.

Reconstructionist Judaism is the first major movement of Judaism to originate in North America ; the second is the Humanistic Judaism movement founded in 1963 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine.

The equality of women and men is a central tenet and hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism.

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

* Who is a Reconstructionist Jew ?.

Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire.

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.

* Reconstructionist Judaism has the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which is located in Pennsylvania and ordains women as well as men ( and lesbian and gay people ) as rabbis and cantors.

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.

This principle is also rejected by most Reconstructionist Jews, but for a different reason ; most posit that God is not a being with a will ; thus they maintain that no will can be revealed.

Conservative Jews tend to believe that much of the Oral law is divinely inspired, while Reform and Reconstructionist Jews tend to view all of the Oral law as an entirely human creation.

Reconstructionist Judaism is an American denomination that has a naturalist theology ; this theology is a variant of the naturalism of John Dewey.

Contemporary Paganism, or Neopaganism, includes reconstructed religions such as the Cultus Deorum Romanorum, Hellenic polytheism, Slavic neopaganism ( i. e. Slavianstvo, including Rodnovery ), Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, or Germanic religious reconstructionism, as well as modern eclectic traditions such as Discordianism, Wicca and its many offshoots.

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

Today, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist rabbis draw on the lessons of modern critical Bible scholarship as well as the traditional forms of Biblical exegesis.

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism do not regard gender-related traditional Jewish ritual requirements, including obligations for men but not women to pray specific prayers at specific times, as necessary in modern circumstances ; instead, both genders may fulfill all requirements.

Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism, consistent with their views that the rhythm of the ancient sacrifices should no longer drive modern Jewish prayer, often omit some of the Amidah prayers, such as the Mussaf, omit temporal requirements, and omit references to the Temple and its sacrifices.

It is the claim of Christian Reconstructionism that even as under the Davidic administration of the Israelites, the Priests ( Levitical line ) and Kings ( Davidic line ) were distinguished by their scopes of authority ( e. g., the King could not offer sacrifices for others and the Priests could not pass or enforce legislation ) and their roles in society ( e. g., the King maintained the social welfare and the Priests maintained personal welfare ), so it should be in a modern Christian Reconstructionist society.

Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, consistent with their view that traditional religious law is not mandatory in modern times and a more liberal interpretation of gender roles, do not use mechitzos in their synagogues.

Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, consistent with their view that traditional religious law is not mandatory in modern times and a more liberal interpretation of gender roles, do not use mechitzot in their synagogues.

* Reconstructionist Judaism, a modern American-based Jewish movement

Waskow has taught as a Visiting Professor in the religion departments of Swarthmore College ( 1982 – 83, on the thought of Martin Buber and on the Book of Genesis and its rabbinic and modern interpretations ); Temple University ( 1975 – 76 on contemporary Jewish theology and 1985 – 86, on liberation theologies in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ); Drew University ( 1997 – 1998, on the ecological outlooks of ancient, rabbinic, and contemporary Judaism and on the synthesis of mysticism, feminism, and social action in the theology and practice of Jewish renewal ); Vassar College ( 1999 on Jewish Renewal and Feminist Judaism ); from 1982 to 1989 on the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College ( contemporary theology and practical rabbinics ); and in 2005 on the faulty of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute for Religion ( the first course on Eco-Judaism in any rabbinical seminary ).

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

* 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

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.

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.

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.