Since its inception, Judaism has been a faith of evolution. As Abraham left his home and marched towards his promised land, Judaism was founded on one principle – Abraham’s belief in one God. Beginning with the patriarchal period until the time of Moses, Judaism had not changed much. Encapsulated in the unforgiving brutality of the desert, the Israelites faced a great shift in their immediate environment and their relationship to God, and Judaism took another form. It became founded on the principle of our people’s acceptance of a binding set of laws dictated by the Israelites’ singular deity.
If we fast-forward through the next thousand years, Judaism continued to evolve. As we delve into the writing of our sacred texts, we learn that each of the Great Rabbis argued, explained, and defended their own practices so as to create a sense of unity by shaping the identity of the entire Jewish People. While decisions on practice were made based on a majority vote, each individual community retained individual practices and customs that brought them closer to God and HaOlam HaBa (the world to come). It was deemed that each community’s individual practices and customs were valid before the eyes of God because, it was always understood that they were “for the sake of heaven”.
It is true, then, that while Judaism always tried to maintain the unity of its People by the singular belief in the one God, we have also recognized that inherent in the identity of the Jewish People is the concept of pluralism – that a multiplicity of thoughts, practices, and beliefs are valid and enrich the great mosaic of our People.
In a movement that values individual autonomy and our right to choose based on our own fountains of knowledge, the concept of pluralism is embedded within the very essence of Reform Judaism. It is best explained by Martin Buber: how can a God of so many attributes, of such wonder and mystery, harbor but one interpretation of his word? Would this not but diminish God’s praiseworthy awe? Would this not but diminish God’s supremacy if only one interpretation of God’s word were deemed acceptable?
Within the Reform Jewish camp, NFTY has found the need to program and study on the topic of pluralism in order to safeguard the integrity of Reform Judaism and reaffirm our commitment to the tenet of “choice through knowledge.” It is necessary, then, that NFTY offer each and every NFTYite the opportunity to make his/her own choices about practices and observances in an environment that is unbiased and holistic in nature. Additionally, as we support each other within our movement to make decisions and to respect those of others, we acknowledge that decisions made within other movements are also valid ways of expressing Judaism. With an appreciation for inter- and intra-religious pluralism, we can begin to value true Jewish diversity, and thus gain an understanding of K’lal Yisrael, the entirety of the Jewish People.
