Some controversial thoughts on a topic that came up over Shabbath lunch…
The major denominations of Ashkenazi Judaism each capture a truth of the Torah. To put it roughly but reductively:
– The Orthodox preserved the commitment to our legal system
– The Conservative preserved the thorough academic analysis of our legal sources
– The Reform preserved the essential need for Judaism to always meet the terms and conditions of modernity
– The Renewalists preserved the basic creative spirit and psychological attunement of our practice
– The Reconstructionists preserved the mutually constructive bond between people and practice, nation and tradition
All these truths are true, and while I disagree with each denomination’s approach, model, conclusions, and ideological framework, each one develops their truth to a new level of discourse.
All of these truths are also found in Sepharadi Judaism, but as a holistic integrated cultural system, with its own diversity of themes and discourse but without the splintering of these truths into competing alternative movements.
One might suggest that while the Ashkenazi denominationalism has limited the influence (and the healthy integration) of each truth in generally isolating it from the rest, it pushed each of these truths to be explored and articulated conceptually, and implemented in social praxis, to a level that is uncommon in Sepharadi Judaism.
Ideally, I think, our personal and communal engagement with Judaism should not be limited by denominational politics, familial heritage, or ethnic identity, but rather enhanced by the intellectual and cultural products of all Jewish communities.
דכולא חד