Reconstructionist Judaism sees Judaism as a whole living culture that keeps growing, not only a set of laws.
Judaism1922grew out of Conservative Judaism
Mordecai Kaplan, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, founded the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York in 1922 and held a pioneering public American bat mitzvah there the same year, for his daughter Judith. Judaism, he taught, is an evolving religious civilisation rather than a revealed law. A movement in its own right since the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College opened in 1968.
Reconstructionist Judaism sees Judaism as a whole civilization, its language, art, food, land and history as well as its religion, and holds that this civilization has always changed and should go on changing deliberately. Its communities have contributed ideas and practices that other Jewish movements later adopted.
Mordecai Kaplan taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary for over fifty years while thinking his way out of its theology. In 1922 he founded the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York, and in the same year his daughter Judith celebrated a pioneering public American bat mitzvah, reading from a printed chumash rather than the Torah scroll 19, an idea now so ordinary that it is hard to see how new it was 7,8,10. His book of 1934, Judaism as a Civilization, argued that Judaism is not a revealed religion with a culture attached but a whole civilization with religion at its centre, and that its people may reconstruct it consciously rather than only inherit it 9,6,1.
Kaplan meant to renew Conservative Judaism from inside and did not want a fourth movement. It came anyway. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College opened in Philadelphia in 1968, which made the movement a movement, and the congregational body and the college later joined as Reconstructing Judaism 11,5,2,6. The break was not friendly on all sides: in 1945 a group of Orthodox rabbis excommunicated Kaplan and burned his prayer book, which had removed the traditional language about the chosen people 7,6.
Reconstructionists hold that Judaism is made by the Jewish people rather than handed down unchanged, that the past should guide without governing, and that Jews are called to build their own communities. God is spoken of in many ways, and belief is less the test of belonging than taking part.
The movement's own description of its founding idea is Kaplan's phrase, that Judaism is the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people 1,2. From that comes its best-known rule of thumb, that tradition has a vote but not a veto: a practice is examined for what it means and does now, and kept, changed or set aside by the community that keeps it 6,7. Decisions are made by congregations rather than by a central legal body, which is the sharpest difference from Conservative Judaism, the movement it grew out of 6,10,16.
Kaplan spoke of God not as a person who intervenes but as the power in the universe that makes for goodness and human fulfilment, and the movement has never required members to hold his view, or any single one 7,6,10. He also set aside the idea of the Jews as a chosen people, holding that no people is chosen above another, and rewrote the liturgy accordingly, which is what his opponents objected to most 7,6. Reconstructionists were first among American movements on several questions: patrilineal descent accepted in 1968, before Reform; open admission of gay and lesbian rabbinical students from 1984 20; and from 2015 rabbinical students with partners who are not Jewish 6,11,2.
Worship and practice
A Reconstructionist service keeps a good deal of Hebrew and the traditional order, with wording changed where the movement's beliefs differ. Congregations are small, run by their members, and often sit in a circle rather than in rows.
The prayer books are the Kol Haneshamah series, which print the Hebrew with translation, transliteration and commentary and offer alternative readings beside the traditional text, so a congregation can see what is being changed and why 6,2. The blessings before the Torah reading no longer say that God chose us from all peoples, a change Kaplan made in 1945 and the reason his book was burned 7,6. Congregations decide their own practice, so observance varies widely between them 6,10. The movement has been a workshop for new ritual, and the ceremonies it developed for occasions the tradition had no words for, from weaning to healing after illness, are gathered and shared online 12,2.
Scripture and Bible translations
Reconstructionists read the Hebrew Bible as the record of a people's search for God rather than as dictation from heaven, and they study it with the tools of history and literature. The text keeps its authority as the community's founding book.
Because revelation is understood as human beings reaching toward God rather than God handing down a text, a passage may be read closely, argued with, or set aside as belonging to its own time, and the argument is held to be part of the tradition rather than a departure from it 6,7,10. The Torah is read in the synagogue on the traditional cycle, and study is expected of members rather than left to rabbis 2,6. The verse this page closes on, about the people building a sanctuary, is in Exodus 25 17. Read here: the JPS translation of 1917, an earlier Jewish English translation, distinct from the later JPS TANAKH used in modern study editions 18, the pointed Hebrew of the Leningrad Codex, and the Modern Hebrew Bible. The versions guide sets out what each Jewish movement reads.
In synagogue
In many synagogues, the Torah is chanted from a handwritten Hebrew scroll and a haftarah is read from the Prophets. Common English-language study and pew editions include the ArtScroll Stone Edition in Orthodox settings, Etz Hayim in Conservative settings and The Torah: A Modern Commentary (Plaut) in Reform settings. Local practice varies.
At home
The Jewish Publication Society describes its 1985 JPS Tanakh, produced with scholars from several Jewish movements, as the most widely read English translation of the Hebrew Bible. Orthodox readers also use Koren and ArtScroll editions.
Hasidic
Hasidic communities read Hebrew first and, in English, the ArtScroll Tanakh and, in Chabad, the Kehot Chumash.
Reconstructionist
Reconstructionist congregations use the JPS translation and the movement's own Kol Haneshamah prayer books.
Karaite
Karaite Judaism gives the Hebrew Bible authority independent of the rabbinic Oral Torah. The Westminster Leningrad Codex provides a digital form of the Masoretic Hebrew text, but it should not be treated as a uniquely Karaite edition.
These passages illustrate themes discussed in this profile; they are not a survey of members' favorite verses. Each is quoted from the JPS TaNaKH 1917 and links to its chapter. You can explore the text for study or personal reflection; memorization is optional.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;
I have set before thee life and death; therefore choose life. A movement built on the conviction that the choosing is real and belongs to the community.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Thirteen words in which the people build the place where God is found, which is close to how Kaplan read the whole tradition.
And they read in the book, in the Law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
They read in the book and gave the sense. Interpretation is not a modern addition to Judaism but part of it from the start, which is the Reconstructionist case in one verse.
A Song of Ascents; of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Reconstructionist congregations are small and run by their members, and this is what they are for.
And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Out of Zion shall go forth the law. Kaplan kept the centrality of the land and the people while changing what he thought the law was, and this verse holds both.
People
Mordecai Kaplan1881 to 1983 Taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary for over fifty years, founded the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in 1922, and wrote Judaism as a Civilization; excommunicated by Orthodox rabbis in 1945 and still teaching in his nineties.7
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein1909 to 1996 Celebrated a pioneering public American bat mitzvah in 1922, reading from a printed chumash rather than the Torah scroll 19; later a composer and scholar of Jewish music.8
Ira Eisenstein1906 to 2001 Kaplan's son-in-law and successor, who founded the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968 and turned a school of thought into a movement.11
Sandy Eisenberg Sassoborn 1947 Ordained in 1974, the first woman ordained as a Reconstructionist rabbi and the second woman rabbi in America; a writer of children's books on God.13
Rebecca Alpertborn 1950 One of the first women to lead the movement's college, and a writer on Judaism, sexuality and inclusion whose work shaped its decisions on gay and lesbian rabbis.14
Deborah Waxmanborn 1967 President of Reconstructing Judaism since 2014, and the first woman rabbi to lead a Jewish congregational union and seminary.15
Today
Reconstructionist Judaism is small: roughly a hundred congregations and havurot in North America, and about one percent of American Jews. Its influence is much larger than its numbers, because other movements adopted several of its innovations.
Reconstructing Judaism trains rabbis at its college, supports congregations and havurot, and describes its purpose as helping people shape what Jewish life means now 2,11. Pew's 2020 survey found the movement too small to report separately alongside Reform, Conservative and Orthodox, and counted it among the smaller branches 3. The public bat mitzvah ceremony, pioneered in America at Kaplan's synagogue in 1922, is now near universal outside Haredi communities; patrilineal descent and the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis came here first and were later adopted by Reform 6,7,10. The movement's professional bodies, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association among them, connect its rabbis and educators 4,2.
Kaplan was punished for what he wrote. In 1945 a group of Orthodox rabbis in New York excommunicated him and burned a copy of his new prayer book, an act that shocked much of American Jewry and that his movement has not forgotten 7,6. He spent decades teaching at the Conservative movement's seminary while holding views its faculty rejected, and never wanted the fourth movement his followers built 7,11,6. It remains small: about a hundred congregations, and a share of American Jews too small for the major surveys to report on its own, which makes for a movement whose ideas travel further than its institutions 3,2,6.
Words to know
Torah
The first five books of the Bible, and more broadly the whole of God's teaching. A Torah scroll is read in every synagogue.
rabbi
A teacher of Torah. The word means my master. After the Temple fell, rabbis became the leaders and judges of Jewish communities, and they still lead synagogues today.
synagogue
A house of gathering where Jews meet to pray and hear the Torah read. It grew up during and after the exile, alongside the Temple, and outlived it.
halakhah
Jewish law: the way to walk, worked out from the Torah by the rabbis. It covers prayer, food, the Sabbath, business and family life.
Talmud
The Mishnah together with the rabbis' discussions of it over the next three centuries. The Babylonian Talmud, completed about 500 CE, is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
covenant
A solemn agreement that binds two parties. In the Bible, God's covenant with Israel at Sinai, and later covenants, shape the whole story.
Questions people ask
What does Reconstructionist mean?
That Judaism is to be reconstructed by each generation rather than only received. Kaplan's phrase for what is being reconstructed is the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people, meaning the whole of Jewish culture with religion at its centre, not religion alone 1,2,9.
What is meant by tradition having a vote but not a veto?
That an inherited practice is taken seriously and examined for what it means and does today, then kept, changed or set aside by the community. It emphasizes communal deliberation, while Conservative Judaism emphasizes the binding authority of Jewish law and Reform Judaism emphasizes informed individual choice 6,7,10.
Do Reconstructionists believe in God?
Members understand God in different ways. Kaplan described God as the power in the universe that makes for goodness and human fulfilment rather than as a person who intervenes in history, and the movement has never required members to share his view. Belonging rests on taking part in Jewish life rather than on a test of belief 7,6,10.
How is it different from Reform Judaism?
Reform emphasises the individual Jew's informed choice; Reconstructionism emphasises the community deciding together, and treats Judaism as a civilization rather than mainly a faith. In practice the two movements are close, and Reconstructionists tend to keep more Hebrew and more of the traditional order 6,10,2.
How has Reconstructionist Judaism influenced Jewish life?
Several practices now found more widely in Jewish life were developed or adopted early in Reconstructionist communities. Judith Kaplan's 1922 ceremony at her father's synagogue was a landmark in American bat mitzvah practice, patrilineal descent was accepted in 1968 and the rabbinical college adopted open admission of gay and lesbian students in 1984 207,6,11.
Sources
Numbered references link the account above to its sources. These include the tradition's own documents and outside reference works. The review status below distinguishes source checking from completed member and scholarly review.
BibleVerse. “Reconstructionist Judaism: where they came from, what they hold, and the Bible they read.” bibleverse.site, version 2026-09-09, https://bibleverse.site/denominations/reconstructionist/
Awaiting review by a member of the tradition. First published 2026-09-07; last changed 2026-09-09. Years before the common era are written BCE, and after it CE, as Jewish readers write them.
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