Shir Hatzafon שיר הצפון

Progressiv Jødedom i Danmark   Progressive Judaism in Denmark

What is Progressive Judaism? Updated 28-JAN-2008

To be a Jew is to be the inheritor of a religious and cultural tradition.

To be a practising Jew is to accept with love and pride the duty of maintaining and transmitting that tradition.

To be a practising progressive Jew is to transmit that tradition within the framework of modern thinking and morality; to live according to the prophetic ideal - to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.

What is Progressive Judaism?

Liberal and Reform are both designations used to describe the dynamic Progressive stream of non-orthodox Jewish thought and religious expression.

Progressive Judaism seeks to hold reality above tradition, but with reverence for the past.

Progressive Judaism is always willing to re-examine and re-evaluate beliefs, practices and values; there is always scope to modify, innovate and experiment while honoring the richness of our heritage.

Progressive Judaism maintains sincerity above conformity; it is unafraid to engage in discussion with others; it looks for sane, humane answers to find meaning in life.

Progressive Judaism has an inclusive attitude to Jewish identity, embracing all who have a good claim to be regarded as Jewish and welcoming sincere converts.

Progressive Judaism proclaims and practices total gender equality.

Progressive Judaism guides individuals and encourages them to follow their enlightened consciences.

Progressive Judaism places a higher emphasis on ethical conduct than on ritual observance.

Progressive Jews are committed to a Judaism that changes and adapts to the needs of the day. Since its earliest days, Progressive Judaism has asserted that a Judaism frozen in time is an heirloom, not a living fountain of spirituality or inspiration.

Changes must be thoughtful, of course, and must be rooted in the history and traditions of our people. But we assert Judaism's innovative character, and we assert, too, that a stubborn failure to change will make Judaism an irrelevance.

For the congregation of Shir Hatzafon, this willingness to adapt is bringing new vitality and strength to a Jewish community that feels itself fully integrated into Danish culture.

The Difference between Progressive, Reform and Liberal Judaism *)

There are tiny liturgical and other differences between Progressive, Reform and Liberal Judaism, but you may use the following distinction as a rule of thumb:

Outside of North America, the equivalent of North American Reform Judaism is called “Progressive” or “Liberal” Judaism. Here in Copen-hagen, we designate our congregation as Progressive. In some coun-tries (e.g. the UK, France and Austria), what they designate as Liberal Judaism is the equivalent of what is called Reform Judaism in the USA and Canada and what we call Progressive Judaism in Denmark.

Outside of North America, the equivalent of North American Conser-vative Judaism is called "Reform" or "Masorti", although there are differences in all cases from the North American versions. This means for instance that what is called Reform Judaism in the UK to some extent is the equivalent of what is called Conservative Judaism in the USA and Canada. However, members of reform congregations in the UK are likely to see themselves closer in beliefs to the US Reform movement and not to the Conservative movement. In the UK, there exist Progressive, Liberal and Reform congregations side by side.

The USA and Israel are the two countries which house most Jews. I the USA, Jewish organizations make a census among the Jewish citizens every ten year. In the most recent census, 41% of the people who identified themselves as Jews identified themselves as Reform Jews; 40 % as Conservative Jews; 8 % as Orthodox Jews; while 11 % adhered to other forms of religious or irreligious identification.

Progressive, Liberal and Reform Judaism seem to be that branch of Judaism which, in recent years, has experienced the biggest growth in their number of adherents, in Europe as well as in Israel.

*) Source: Shamash http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq

Equality Between Men and Women

Progressive Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewish life. We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women cantors, and elect women presidents of our synagogues. While we have not yet totally fulfilled this commitment, there is no longer any debate that a Judaism that diminishes the equality of women is a Judaism that degrades our dignity and besmirches our soul. Progressive Jews are committed to social justice.

A Progressive synagogue that does not alleviate the anguish of the suffering is a contradiction in terms. Even as Progressive Jews embrace ritual, prayer, and ceremony more than ever, we continue to see social justice as the jewel in the Progressive Jewish crown. Like the prophets, we never forget that God is concerned about the everyday and that the blights of society take precedence over the mysteries of heaven.

Strength Through Unity

Progressive Jews are committed to the principle of inclusion, not exclusion. We understand clearly the need for boundaries between Judaism and the society around us, and we view those boundaries as a means to contain the maximum number of Jewish people inside them. We seek to fill our Jewish world with experiences that will draw people in to Knesset Yisrael, the indivisible collectivity of the Jewish people.

Progressive Jews are committed to a true partnership between the rabbinate and the laity. Of course, rabbis have their prerogatives, and we defer to their scholarship. But Progressive Jews have come to understand that holiness and religious insight belong to all segments of our community. And so we neither flatter one another nor refute one another; rather, most of the time, we decide together. We Progressive Jews prefer shared insight and learning.

Affiliation with the WUPJ

WUPJ is an abbreviation of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Our congregation, Shir Hatzafon, is a member of the WUPJ and its European Region ERWUPJ.

The World Union for Progressive Judaism was founded in London in 1926 as the international organization to promote and sustain liberal Judaism, its practices and ideas. Now, over 1.5 million Reconstructionist, Liberal, Reform and Progressive congregants are affiliated with the movement in over 35 countries and on six continents.

From its central office in Jerusalem, the World Union brings back Judaism to countries where former Nazi and communist tyrannies sought to stamp out Jews and Judaism forever. It also introduces disaffected Jews in many parts of the world to an open and questioning expression of Judaism to which they can relate.

The two click-on WUPJ logos above contain access links to the WUPJ and WUPJ-Europe web sites, respectively.

Shir Hatzafon's twin congregation in Israel

In Shir Hatzafon, we are happy to cooperate on an international scale as well. For instance, we participate in the Eurojews cooperation. Lately, Shir Hatzafon has got a twin congregation in Israel, Kehilat Mevasseret Zion. By clicking at the icon below, you may visit their homepage.