Jewish religious practice in the twenty-first century exists in many different forms. This essay describes the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century origins of this diversity and discusses the evolution and contemporary manifestations of Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox Judaisms, as well as other less prominent Jewish groups, in North America. Contemporary forms of Jewish life in Israel are also discussed.

ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY JUDAISMS

Modern Judaism developed out of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) and political emancipation, twin processes that deeply affected the Jews of Western and Central Europe and eventually Eastern Europe as well. As a result of diverse factors that developed in the Early Modern period, a relatively monolithic Judaism began to fragment in the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During these years, increasing numbers of Western and Central European Jews became more involved in European economic, social, and cultural life. In some locations, Jews received political rights that emancipated their communities from centuries of political and economic restrictions.

While some Jews continued to believe in and observe their religion in a traditional manner, others, who were becoming more acculturated to the larger society, began to discard ritual practices. Some families continued to share a Sabbath meal or perhaps attend synagogue occasionally, particularly on the Days of Awe and the three pilgrimage festivals. Others dropped all Jewish observances, believing that they conflicted with life in modern European society.