Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism

I found this posting at the Chabad website in the section on questions and answers. Remember that Chabad are Hassidic Jews and are therefore very Orthodox in their approach.

The picture above is by Marc Chagall and was painted in 1912. During the Nazi era in Germany this painting, "The Pinch of Snuff", was pulled on a hand-cart through the streets and publicly jeered at. Chagall's family were Hassidic Jews and much of his art reflects his upbringing.

What is the difference between Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism?

Answered by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

I may be the wrong person to answer this question. Because, personally, I don't believe there are any "isms" in being Jewish. There are just Jews, our Torah, and our willingness to do it.

However, I'll try to give an objective description of what these "isms" mean in practical terms:

All the way up until the 19th century, there were just Jews. We kept the halachah -- which means the rabbinical interpretation of the rules and guidelines of the Torah -- and kept a steady tradition for 3,000 years since Sinai. If some individual or group went astray from halachah, they were generally estranged from the Jewish people.

Then came Reform. They said, "Things are changing. We are smarter now. We know there is no need to keep kosher, Shabbat, circumcision or believe in a return to Zion." In Germany, they said, "Berlin is our Jerusalem." In America, it was Washington.

Then came Conservative. They said, "These Reform rabbis have gone too far. We need to conserve some of the basic traditions of Judaism." So they revived a form of kosher eating, Shabbat and circumcision. And they weren't so convinced about the Washington thing.

The Jews who did not go along with any of this were labeled "Orthodox." They never asked for it, but that's what they got called. Personally, I cannot see myself as orthodox, since I think of my Jewishness as something very radical and, well, unorthodox.

I also don't see the point in reforming my Jewishness. I would much rather my Jewishness reform me. After all, all these things that the fathers of reform saw as obsolete back then have now come back into fashion and are rising in popularity every day. The number of kosher foods on the market, for example, rose by about 2000% in the last ten years. As for Jerusalem, well that's pretty obvious. The Reform movement had to make a sharp about-turn in 1948.

Now, I'll bet I've provoked more questions than I've answered. But that's okay. Because that's part of what being Jewish is about -- thinking out of the box and asking questions.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman heads Chabad.org's Ask The Rabbi team, and is a senior member of the Chabad.org editorial team. He is the author of a number of highly original renditions of Kabbalah and Chassidic teaching, including the universally acclaimed "Bringing Heaven Down to Earth."