Mizpah and Reform Judaism

Mizpah is a Reform Judaism congregation and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. Throughout history, Jews have remained firmly rooted in Jewish tradition, even as we learned much from our encounters with other cultures. Nevertheless, since its earliest days, Reform Judaism has asserted that a Judaism frozen in time is an heirloom, not a living fountain. The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it enables the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.

A Bohemian rabbi, Isaac Mayer Wise, introduced Reform Judaism to the United States in 1846. He brought with him a new Jewish orientation emerging in Central and Western Europe to Reform Judaism—that is, to introduce modifications to make Judaism relevant and meaningful in an emerging modern society. There were many shifts in thought and practice and even changes in the classical prayer book (Siddur). The early Reformers were the Jewish theological innovators of their generation.