The Movement for Reform Judaism

There isn’t anything quite like the Jewish family and all those who have good experiences of it know that its future and that of Judaism are inseparable. The Jewish family is not, however, something static. It was very different in the days of the patriarchs, it was different again in the world of the shtetl, the Eastern European village, and today’s Jewish family is different again. It is far less rigid in its allocation of roles as between the sexes. It is, hopefully, more inclusive and it is certainly accepting of gays and lesbians. Reform Jews do not discriminate against people because of their sexuality and the family, like the synagogue community, welcomes their presence.

If Jewish family is very much valued, so too is Jewish marriage. In marriage, in family and in community there is no higher value than that of fidelity. Trust, faithfulness and love are the indispensable basis for all healthy relationships and family life.

However, we need to recognise the fact that more people are single for longer periods of their life than ever before. There is a marked tendency to postpone marriage and long-term commitments till later in life and well after leaving the family home. There are those who for whatever reason never marry. As some of us live longer, more and more people spend many of their later years on their own. There is a real need for both the synagogue community and the family to recognise this reality and question many well-meaning, conventional assumptions that leave singles and single parents feeling isolated from the community or, worse, more alone when they are in family or community than when they are not. We would hope that Reform families and communities are sensitive to these issues but acknowledge that much more sensitivity and adjustment needs to be made.

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