When Jewish Ritual Demands Innovation

Chukat 5777

Reform Jews often scoff at the legalistic, irrational laws discussed in yesterday’s Parashat Chukat. Numbers 19:2 reads: “This is the ritual law that Adonai has commanded.” But why? Rashi has an answer that makes us squirm: because God said so. Moreover, he says, we have no right to criticize it. I’m sorry Rashi, but 👎. If I learned anything from my Jewish education, it was to question, think critically and poke holes in everything.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan offers an antidote to Rashi that I love. In his 1934 book Judaism as a Civilization, Rabbi Kaplan writes:

If we were henceforth to designate all “commandments pertaining to the relations between man and God” as minhagim (customs) or “folkways,” we would accomplish a twofold purpose. First, we would convey the thought that they should not be dealt with in a legalistic spirit, a spirit that often gives rise to quibbling and pettifogging. They should be dealt with as the very stuff of Jewish life, which should be experienced with spontaneity and joy, and which can be modified as circumstances require. Second, we would convey the implication that not only should as many “commandments” or folkways as possible be retained and developed, but that Jewish life should be stimulated to evolve new and additional folkways. Folkways are the social practices by which a people externalizes the reality of its collective being.

Rabbi Kaplan isn’t suggesting we rid ourselves of ritual law or obligation. He is suggesting we let our tradition out of the box and free modern Judaism from its ancient tethers to stimulate new folkways. 

Rabbi Kaplan wants us to be the agents of change that stimulate these new folkways.  Rethink the minhagim that bored you growing up. Rediscover the "spontaneity and joy" of Jewish life. Refresh family customs, invent new ones, and be a little irreverent in searching for meaning. Judaism is a religion of tradition, but as Rabbi Kaplan teaches, it "can be modified as circumstances require." And the circumstances demand we start innovating today.

For more food for thought, check out this source sheet!