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THE RADICAL AMERICAN
JUDAISM OF
Mordecai M. Kaplan
 The Moder n Jew ish Exper ience
Deborah Dash Moore and Marsha L. Rosenblit, editors
Paula Hyman, founding coeditor

Mordecai M. Kaplan in his office at the seminary.

Courtesy of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
THE RADICAL AMERICAN
JUDAISM OF
Mordecai M. Kaplan

Mel Scult

Indi a na Univer sit y Pr ess

Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI
Indi a na U ni v er sit y Pr ess Z39.48-1992.
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350 Manufactured in the United States of
1320 East 10th Street America
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
Library of Congress
iupress.indiana.edu Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Scult, Mel.

Fax orders 812-855-7931 The radical American Judaism of
Mordecai M. Kaplan / Mel Scult.
© 2014 by Mel Scult pages cm. — (The modern Jewish
All rights reserved experience)
Includes bibliographical references and
No part of this book may be reproduced index.
or transmitted in any form or by any ISBN 978-0-253-01075-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
means, electronic or mechanical, includ- — ISBN 978-0-253-01088-9 (e-book)
ing photocopying, recording or by any 1. Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881–1983.
information storage and retrieval system 2. Reconstructionist Judaism. I. Title.
without permission in writing from the BM755.K 289S395 2014
Publisher. 296.8’344—dc23
2013019522
The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for 1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15 14
 As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness.
Psalms 17:15 *
‫ואני בצדק אחזה פניך‬

In gratitude to Rabbi Neil Gillman, for his generous appreciation,

and to my brother,
Allen Scult, my most significant intellectual Other

*Biblical verse on a stained-glass window at the Society for the

Advancement of Judaism, Kaplan’s Congregation.
This page intentionally left blank
 CONTENTS

· Acknowledgments ix

· Preface xiii

Introduction 1

1 Excommunications: Kaplan and Spinoza 7

2 Self-Reliance: Kaplan and Emerson 28

3 Nationalism and Righteousness:

Ahad Ha-Am and Matthew Arnold 46

4 Universalism and Pragmatism: Felix Adler,

William James, and John Dewey 66

5 Kaplan and Peoplehood: Judaism as a

Civilization and Zionism 88

6 Kaplan and His God: An Ambivalent Relationship 110

7 Kaplan’s Theology: Beyond Supernaturalism 132

8 Salvation: The Goal of Religion 157

9 Salvation Embodied: The Vehicle of Mitzvot 177

10 Mordecai the Pious: Kaplan and Heschel 206

11 The Law: Halakhah and Ethics 226

12 Kaplan and the Problem of Evil: Cutting the Gordian Knot 249

Conclusion 267

· Appendix: “Thirteen Wants” of Mordecai Kaplan Reconstructed 277

· Notes 279

· Selected Bibliography and Note on Sources 325

· Index 329
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are always many people to thank when one writes a book, and this
book is no exception. I am grateful to Professor David Kraemer, librarian
at the Jewish Theological Seminary, for permission to quote from the
diaries of Mordecai Kaplan, the originals of which are at the Seminary.
I also want to express my thanks to Rabbi Deborah Waxman, director
of the Eisenstein Archives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College,
for permission to quote from the Kaplan papers.
I want first to thank people who have edited my work. At the top of
the list stands my wife Barbara, whose sense of style and perfection are
evident throughout this book. She is a hard critic, but the end product
more than justifies the difficulties in getting there. David Lobenstine
was enormously devoted in editing this work, and for that I cannot thank
him enough. He is the most careful reader that I have ever dealt with,
and I am grateful for his skill and effort. Next is Rabbi Richard Hirsh,
director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Richard is
a good friend and colleague with whom I have spent countless hours
on the phone discussing Mordecai Kaplan and the many issues raised
by this work. In addition, he has also edited a significant number of
chapters in this book. I told Richard rather early on that, in the event
of my death or incapacity, I wanted him to finish the book. I have great
faith in him, in his writing ability, in his intelligence, and in his knowl-
edge of Kaplan and Reconstructionism. Amy Gottlieb has also edited
a number of chapters with great skill and thoroughness. Others who
have edited various parts of this work include Robert Seltzer, Barbara
Heyman, Marilyn Silverstein, and Baila Shargel. My thanks also go to

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