The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan

Mordecai Kaplan, lived to 102, June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983

We are very fortunate that Mel Scult has written The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan.  Kaplan is one of the most influential Jewish figures of the twentieth century, but he is often not credited for the legacy he left behind.  Scult goes to great lengths to show the strengths of Kaplan, how he changed the nature of modern Judaism, while never shying away from some of Kaplan's weaknesses. 

Kaplan set about on the very necessary project of reorienting Judaism for twentieth century American Jews.  He was a naturalist and process theologian, who was influenced by the philosophy of John Dewey, William James, and the writings of Emerson.

Kaplan is the father of reconstructionist Judaism, and part of the reason he is not well known, and is no longer read widely today, is from the very dynamism of the movement he formed.  In moving Judaism away from fixed and traditional worship models, he created a process rather than an entity.  Most Jewish people who are reconstructionist or are influenced by it would not find much in Kaplan’s writings that is overtly familiar.

In 1945, Kaplan was excommunicated by a group of 200
orthodox rabbis for the publication of his
 Sabbath Prayer Book 

Scult’s book shows us why this is the case; Kaplan crafted a creativity unstable movement.  Designed to change, in many ways it has changed beyond anything Kaplan would imagine.  The author is also very honest about the difficulty and deficiencies of Kaplan’s writing style.  Unlike Buber and Heschel, two other influential Jewish thinkers and writers in the twentieth century who wrote well and clearly, Scult needs to rescue Kaplan from his own opaque works, mainly through his now published diaries.

So if you want your Kaplan, this is the book.  As someone who has never gotten through a long work by Mortdecai Kaplan, Schult’s work is essential.

The first page of Kaplan's writ of excommunication