(Milk & Cream are very challenging to find NKC – NOT Kosher-Certified)
Reform Judaism, also referred to as liberal or progressive Judaism, saw its blossoming in 19th century Germany. Its center lies in North America, and one of its differences with Orthodox Judaism is its downplaying the importance of ceremonial or ritual acts. To quote Wikipedia, “Reform generally argued that rituals should be maintained, discarded or modified based on whether they served these higher purposes [morality and ethics of the faith]”. For this reason, the American Reform Movement of this religion adopted more modern aspects of their faith in the Pittsburgh Platform document of 1885.
In paragraph four (4) of this document they prescribe that: “We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.”
Perhaps this measure was taken to help in the assimilation of their religious population within the nation of of a mostly Christian America at that time. Regardless of this, it appears today, more than 130 years later, it is the influence of the Orthodox sect – and not Reform Judaism – that is swaying their masses and the food industry.
Comments are closed