Reform in America:

Although the Reform movement wreaked great havoc in Western Europe, its greatest success in destroying traditional Judaism came in the United States. Unlike Europe, America had no established Jewish communities or institutions, and so Reform was able to create a stranglehold on Jewish life, which would prove disastrous for the great waves of future immigration. In 1840, there were 15,000 Jews in America, a number that swelled to 150,000 by the eve of the Civil War,1 with virtually all the immigrants assimilated German Jews. Their de facto leader, and the most important 19th-century Reformer, was Isaac Mayer Wise. In every possible way, he struck at the Divine origin of the Torah, especially ridiculing the mitzvah of chalitza, a ceremony in which a childless widow removes a ritual shoe off the foot of her brother-in-law and spits before him on the ground. Wise dropped observance of the second day of festivals, customarily observed outside Eretz Israel, using the spurious argument that America is the new Promised Land and is not considered exile. (Needless to say, merchants were very pleased with this innovation.) Wise then introduced all the German reforms in the synagogue, only differing in the use of English for prayers, and creating a revised siddur, Minhag America.2

In 1873, Wise organized the scattered Reform temples around the country into an umbrella organization known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). Two years later, he founded Hebrew Union College, in Cincinnati, to train Reform clergy. UAHC soon gained great power and the loyalty of vast numbers of American Jews. In 1885, at the Pittsburgh Platform, American Reform formally rejected all Torah laws "such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization," including rules on diet, ritual and family purity, and dress. The Pittsburgh Platform further proclaimed that Jews were no longer a nation but a religious community, denied life after death, and presented the concept of the Messianic Age not as a return to Eretz Israel, but rather as the search for social justice, in which all religions shared equally.3 By 1880, there were about 300,000 Jews in the United States, largely Americanized, affluent, and Reform.

The Conservative Movement:

In 1887, a group of Jews, angered by the deviations of the Reform movement (for example, at the first graduation of Hebrew Union College in 1883, in what became known as the Trefah Banquet, shrimp, frog legs, clams, and milk and meat were served 4), wanted change, yet did not want to be completely Torah observant. They opted for a compromised, watered-down version of Torah Judaism, which became known as Conservative Judaism. This purely American spinoff from traditional Judaism experienced enormous growth, and eventually overtook Reform in numbers of temples and adherents. Their rabbinical school became known as the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and the famous professor Solomon Schechter became its head in 1902. Conservative temples were joined in an organization called United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism (USCJ).

While retaining more observances than Reform Jews, the Conservative movement also denies the Divine origin of the Torah, thus adopting a heretical philosophy. A sad result of this deviation is that halacha is viewed as arbitrarily man-made; therefore, it is presumed that Torah law can be universally changed to fit the times. The most egregious example of this attitude is the Conservative movement's official dispensation to drive to synagogue on the Sabbath, predicated on the erroneous belief that in the modern era synagogue attendance overrides Sabbath observance. Currently, much tension exists between the Reform and Conservative movements on one side, and Orthodox Judaism on the other. The non-observant groups want recognition as legitimate expressions of Judaism, something that Orthodox Jews, in the spirit of the great 19th-century German rabbis, cannot afford them.

Fighters Against Reform in America:

Due to the very small number of learned Jews in the United States, and the lack of a community structure, the struggle against Reform in America is the 1800s was much more difficult than in Europe. Nevertheless, some courageous individuals fought for upholding the Torah. Isaac Leeser of Philadelphia, a man of prodigious energy, produced the first Jewish translation of the Tanach in English, completed English translations of the Ashkenazic and Sephardic siddurim, founded a Jewish newspaper, and wrote textbooks for Jewish schools, all in the spirit of Torah-true Judaism.

German-born Rabbi Abraham Joseph Rice arrived in the United States in 1840, the first distinguished Torah scholar to settle in the country. Accepting a rabbinical post in Baltimore, he immediately joined Isaac Leeser in the struggle against wholesale abandonment of the Torah's commands. Rabbi Rice's scholarship was unmatched by any person in the Reform camp, and his writing inspired his and succeeding generations to remain loyal to their tradition and faith. However, the trend toward permissiveness was overwhelming, even in Rabbi Rice's own synagogue, and he resigned in 1849. His farewell speech is an indication of his greatness, and is the supreme fulfillment of the Torah's exhortation to a rabbinic judge: "You shall fear no man."5

“I am aware that my sermons have caused me much trouble and grief. My outspokenness has oftentimes disturbed my peace and serenity. Yet, an inner voice, which you may call conscience, speaks to me and says: Be yourself! Act according to the obligations of your calling! My conscience further says to me: It is your rabbinic responsibility, your professional obligation, to teach the right path of our religion, regardless of the consequences to yourself. One must be prepared to sacrifice comfort and tranquility and even abandon one's occupation if need be, in the interest of truth. One should not be afraid to speak openly against the wealthy and influential, the powerful, regardless of the consequences."6

After his resignation, Rabbi Rice opened a dry goods store. Throughout his American rabbinical career, Rabbi Rice bemoaned the fact that he had no scholarly companionship, and that he was virtually a lone voice in a spiritual wasteland. Only his sense of mission kept him from leaving America for more hospitable Torah climes. Rabbi Rice died in 1862. Although not well known today, his pioneering work paved the way for the eventual flourishing of Orthodox life in the United States.