Kaufmann Kohler’s Search for a Usable United Past and the Invention of Classical Reform Judaism

• In Event: American Judaism and the “Unity” Impulse

Abstract

In 1903, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler assumed the presidency of Hebrew Union College and the helm of Reform Judaism. The architect of the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform, Kohler had played a pivotal and polarizing role in the cultivation of “Radical Reform” in the final decades of the nineteenth century. His efforts galvanized more “liberal” Reform Jews but alienated “moderates.” This was in line with many debates within American Judaism. During the nineteenth century, religious debates were marked by harsh divisiveness and political jostling. Such was the case for battles between Orthodox and Reform—and within the variegated communities that affiliated with a loosely confederated Reform Movement. Just before assuming the leadership of HUC, Kohler started to employ a different tactic: compromise and consolidation. In his correspondence and public remarks, Kohler reimagined a more unified history of Reform Judaism in the nineteenth century. Zev Eleff’s research reveals how Kohler’s revisionist history was intended to consolidate the various factions of American Reform and played an important part in fortifying the epoch of “Classical Reform Judaism.”

Author

• Zev Eleff, Hebrew Theological College