Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein. ==Life and work== Kaplan was born in Svinstyan, present day Švenčionys, Lithuania, to Rabbi Israel and Haya (Anna) Kaplan.
In 1889, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sisters to join his father, who was working with Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City.
From 1893 to 1902 he also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
In 1895 Kaplan began studies at the City College of New York.
After graduating from CCNY in 1900 he went to Columbia University, studying philosophy, sociology and education and receiving a master's degree and a doctorate.
From 1893 to 1902 he also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
His lecturers included the philosopher of ethical culture Felix Adler and the sociologist Franklin Giddings. In July 1908 he married Lena Rubin.
In 1912, he was an advisor to the creators of the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism, together with Rabbi Israel Friedlander.
Naomi Wenner and Selma Jaffe-Goldman. ==Relationship with Orthodox Judaism== Kaplan began his career as an Orthodox rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, assisted in the founding of the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism in 1912, and was the first rabbi hired by the new (Orthodox) Jewish Center in Manhattan when it was founded in 1918.
Naomi Wenner and Selma Jaffe-Goldman. ==Relationship with Orthodox Judaism== Kaplan began his career as an Orthodox rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, assisted in the founding of the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism in 1912, and was the first rabbi hired by the new (Orthodox) Jewish Center in Manhattan when it was founded in 1918.
He proved too radical in his religious and political views for the organization and resigned from the Jewish Center in 1921.
He was a leader in creating the Jewish community center concept and helped found the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. He held the first public celebration of a bat mitzvah in the United States, for his daughter Judith Kaplan, on March 18, 1922, at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, his synagogue in New York City.
He was the subject of a number of polemical articles published by Rabbi Leo Jung (who became the rabbi of the Jewish Center in 1922) in the Orthodox Jewish press. He then became involved in the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, where on March 18, 1922, he held the first public celebration of a bat mitzvah in America, for his daughter Judith.
Judith read from the Torah at this ceremony, a role that had traditionally been reserved for males. From 1934 until 1970 Kaplan wrote a series of books in which he expressed his Reconstructionist ideology, which centered on the "concept of Judaism as a civilization".
In 1941, the faculty illustrated its distaste with Kaplan by penning a unanimous letter to the professor of [expressing complete disgust with Kaplan's The New Haggadah for the Passover seder.
He was a prolific writer, keeping a journal throughout most of his life. After the death of his wife in 1958, he married Rivka Rieger, an Israeli artist. He died in New York City in 1983 at the age of 102.
Judith read from the Torah at this ceremony, a role that had traditionally been reserved for males. From 1934 until 1970 Kaplan wrote a series of books in which he expressed his Reconstructionist ideology, which centered on the "concept of Judaism as a civilization".
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein. ==Life and work== Kaplan was born in Svinstyan, present day Švenčionys, Lithuania, to Rabbi Israel and Haya (Anna) Kaplan.
He was a prolific writer, keeping a journal throughout most of his life. After the death of his wife in 1958, he married Rivka Rieger, an Israeli artist. He died in New York City in 1983 at the age of 102.
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