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Why does Reform typically call it a Temple, vs a Beit Knesset, a Beit Sefer, or a shul? I imagine the Hebrew would have been the obvious go to, if they chose to ignore the yiddush.

Not that I know the origin of Shul, I assume Yiddish in some form, but not sure what the original word is.

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Probably because it's the only English word out of the ones you listed .(The German "schul" means "school." translate.google.com/#de/en/schul) –  b a Jan 18 '13 at 2:00
Indeed what other English word would you prefer them to use? –  Double AA Jan 18 '13 at 2:19
@DoubleAA, I call mine a synagogue. I don't know if this is because mine is named "Temple (Something)", but I've noticed that many congregants refer to it as "temple" -- not "the temple" or "a temple" (e.g. "are you going to temple tonight?" or "I'll see you at temple tomorrow" etc). –  Monica Cellio Jan 18 '13 at 14:01
@MonicaCellio I had meant a natural English word, as opposed to the borrowed from Greek synagogue. It wouldn't surprise me given the liturgical language reforms early reformers made if they had chosen a non-borrowed German (in their case) word. –  Double AA Jan 18 '13 at 22:00

3 Answers 3

up vote 5 down vote accepted

According to Wikipedia and the Jewish Encyclopedia, Reform Judaism, being originally opposed to the idea of Zionism1, called the Hamburg Synagogue "Tempel" to show that they no longer looked forward to the Third Temple in Jerusalem, and that individual, local, temples had taken its place. As DoubleAA points out, none of these sources offer conclusive proof that this was the original reason, however, they do point very strongly in this direction.

To quote the Jewish Encyclopedia




Wikipedia (unsourced), in its article on the Third Temple, says:


And in Synagogues


And in Temple


1: In fact, many places online (including the Wikipedia article on the Third Temple) mention that an original Reform belief was that "Berlin was the New Jerusalem". I have been unable to chase the source of that idea down.

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Who are these "many" that said that? I don't see it in the articles you linked to. –  Double AA Jan 18 '13 at 2:31
The Berlin Jerusalem thing is from the Meshech Chachmah, I think: See this link, bottom of right column –  b a Jan 18 '13 at 2:47
@ba Thank you! How did you even find that? –  HodofHod Jan 18 '13 at 2:53
@ba Not exactly the most unbiased historical source on the matter. –  Double AA Jan 18 '13 at 2:56
@DoubleAA True. However there is much evidence that points in this direction. E.g., "Holdheim: We have almost unanimously resolved to eliminate from our prayers the petition for the return Jerusalem and the re-institution of the sacrificial service, and have declared clearly thereby that our houses of worship are on an equal footing with the Temple of Jerusalem..." From "The Reform Movement in Judaism" 1907, describing a Rabbinical Conference. –  HodofHod Jan 18 '13 at 3:21

There are 876 Reform congregations in North America, 499 of which have "Temple" in their names, so the formal name is pretty common and it's not unreasonable to think that people refer to the others as "temples" too. As noted by DoubleAA, the first (apparent) use of the name was the Hamburg synagogue in 1818. Documentation about naming practices that early is hard to come by, but we might find hints in the official "platforms" published by the Reform movement (as it formed into an actual movement).

The first of these, from 1885, explains their views on Zionism and messianism:


Perhaps the combination of "we're not anticipating a third temple" and "historical identity is important" led to the name being considered appropriate. Nearly a century later, the 1976 platform said:


The temple was the center of Jewish life in biblical times. The Reform movement does not seek a third temple but believes that such centers of life are necessary everywhere that Jews live, and also that maintaining a connection with our national history and land is important. One way to do that is to refer to those local centers as "temples".

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The short answer is: we don't know. The word Temple was first introduced in the title of the organazation which drove to found the Hamburg Temple: The New Isaelite Temple Association of Hamburg, a group of 66 layman (not the leading Reform Rabbis of the time) which arranged for the opening of the Hamburg Temple in 1818.

You can read in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary Reader (Mendez-Flohr and Reinharz, Oxford Univ. Press. 1995. page 161 link) parts of the constitution of that Temple, and while they are open about certain ideological and practical reforms they are making, they don't openly discuss their choice of names. To quote the first footnote to that text:

Some historians see an idological motive...behind the Reformers' naming their synagogue a "temple." That is, that by adopting the designation traditionally reserved for the fallen Temple of Jerusalem, the Reformers symbolically relinquished the hope of Israel's restoration and declared Hamburg their Jerusalem. Other historians ascribe to the Refomers the more innocent motive of simply wishing to distinguish their house of worship from the traditional synagogue of Hamburg.

Certainly this fact was used by the Orthodox as something to complain about, but it's worth noting both that the initial Reformers' weren't as extreme as their followers became, and additionally synagogues have been traditionally identified as the modern analogue of the Temple as far back as the Talmud (Megillah 29a, based on Ezekiel 11:16).

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