All rested their case on the principle stated in the Pittsburgh Platform:"We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only the moral laws and maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization." Although much tradition has returned to Reform Judaism, circumcision and hatafat dam have not been uniformly required of perspective converts to this day, and we have more or less accepted the resolution passed by the third rabbinic conference of 1892, which stated that no accompanying ritual was required for converts.
Equally radical has been the acceptance of individuals for conversion who intend to marry a Jew. The tradition long ago decided to reject any convert who sought gain from the conversion whether it was economic advantage or family status.” That decision followed considerable debate in the first century between the followers of Hillel and Shamai. Presumably the decision not to accept such converts reflected contemporary social conditions.
How can we justify the Reform change? We have done so by stating that our current social conditions differ from those in the first century. We are not dealing with a pagan environment and those who come to us are already monotheists, usually Christians whose bond to their religion has become weakened or perhaps has vanished all together. When they marry a Jew, they are converting for the sake of family unity; the advantage is ours, not theirs, as conversion will assure that the children are raised as Jews . We, therefore, following the halakhic tendency which permits change in the face of new social and political conditions. What was perceived as a danger in earlier times may now be an opportunity. We have reopened a debate which took place in the first century and have come to a different conclusion for us in the late twentieth century. We should note that some of our Orthodox colleagues have
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