Reform Judaism Claims to Be Largest, but Least Affiliated, of Movements

A report supporting Reform Judaism’s claim that it has become the largest Jewish denomination in the United States will greet more than 4,000 delegates attending conventions of the Reform movement that open here Thursday night.

Allan Goldman of Los Angeles, chairman of the board of trustees of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, will report that by the latest count, the movement has a membership of 284,360 dues-paying families and 822 affiliated synagogues — both record numbers.

The figures represent an increase of nearly 10 percent in the number of Reform synagogues in the last decade and a more than 20 percent increase in membership over that time period, Goldman’s report says.

The new numbers appear to make Reform the largest branch of Judaism in North America, according to Goldman.

But officials of the Conservative and Orthodox movement in New York are not so sure.

Lois Goldrich, spokeswoman for the United Synagogue of America, said that the Conservative movement counts its membership at approximately 2 million, and the number of affiliated synagogues fluctuates between 820 and 850.

Rabbi Jerome Epstein, senior vice president of the United Synagogue, cautioned that Reform temples, unlike Conservative or Orthodox synagogues, allow non-Jewish spouses of members to join, and that could affect their count.

William Rapfogel, director of the Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, said that “to compare Reform and Orthodox is like comparing apples and oranges.”

LOW AFFILIATION A ‘GRAVE CONCERN’

He pointed out that while all Reform temples affiliate with the UAHC, there is no single official address for Orthodox Judaism for which their numbers can be compiled.

Here in New Orleans, about 3,500 delegates are gathering at the Marriott Hotel for the 60th biennial general assembly of UAHC, the congregational body of Reform Judaism in the United States and Canada.

Another 1,000 will attend the biennial general assembly of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, representing Reform women. Several joint sessions are scheduled.

The arriving delegates will receive a summary of a study of synagogue affiliation, published by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and the UAHC’s Committee on the Jewish Family.

The study, which examined synagogue affiliation in seven middle-size Jewish communities, found that Jews who identify as Reform are the majority in five of those regions.

But the study also found that while more Jews identify with Reform than any other branch of Judaism, the movement itself has the lowest rate of synagogue affiliation.

Orthodox Jews, the smallest group in terms of numbers, have the greatest proportion of synagogue affiliation, followed by those who identify as Conservative.

Goldman said the large number of unaffiliated Jews is “a matter of grave concern” to the Reform movement.