INTRODUCTION

America has had a greater influence on Jewish life and thought than any other land.=~ America was different from the beginning. Here, we Jews were part of the great democratic experiment with religious freedom. We sought ways of adapting the halakhah, the basic expression of Jewish life and thought, to this new found freedom. Was it possible or even necessary to adjust or reinvent the halakhic path? What roles have democracy, personal autonomy, and the absence of authority played in this effort? The interplay of these and other forces has influenced all Jewish life in ways both obvious and subtle.

For the first time in two millennia we Jews live in a land not dominated by a single religion. Jewish life in previous countries with their official religions could be pleasant for centuries as we lived in reasonable harmony with the majority; however, more frequently we were barely tolerated, persecuted or forced to conversion. The Jewish minority was often the only nonconformist group. As the dominant culture did not know what to do with us they gave our communities a semi-autonomous status, kept us more or less isolated and used our existence for whatever political purpose was expedient — sometimes as convenient scapegoats while on other occasions as part of an economic experiment. Whatever the situation, the Jewish community governed itself virtually as a semi-autonomous “statewithin a state” through a well developed system of halakhah and even added protective layers to the walls which the majority had built around us.

In America the imposed isolation ceased, we became citizens governed by the national law and the older system of separate status disappeared. As we were no longer a“state within a state” and could now develop our religious life as we wished. Much of the Jewish community seized that opportunity to reinterpret the traditions and to experiment. Reform Judaism was in the forefront. In contrast to