Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Pittsburgh Platform was a statement of principles for Reform Judaism proposed during the Pittsburgh Conference of 1885. The platform favored the moral, ethical, and spiritual aspects of Judaism over adherence to certain “Mosaic and rabbinical laws.” It also advanced the idea of Judaism as a “religious community,” rather than a “nation.”
Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler of New York drafted the platform and convened the convention, which brought some 15 rabbis to Allegheny, Pa. (now the North Side of Pittsburgh) from Nov. 16 through Nov. 19, 1885. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati presided. Under the leadership of Rabbi Lippman Mayer, Rodef Shalom Congregation hosted the conference. The conference was held mostly at the original Concordia Club on Stockton Street with some sessions at Rodef Shalom’s Eighth Street synagogue. Guests stayed with local families and attended evening social gatherings hosted by the congregation.
Although never formally adopted by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations or later by the new Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Pittsburgh Platform became one of the founding documents of “Classical Reform Judaism” and still exerts influence today. The Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations drafted several subsequent platforms for the movement, starting with the Columbus Platform of 1937. At a convention in Pittsburgh in 1999, the two bodies issued a new “Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism,” also called the Pittsburgh Platform.
Bibliography
American Israelite
- Wise, Rabbi Isaac Mayer. Editorial, “The American Israelite,” Nov. 27, 1885, p. 4 (online—Newspapers.com).
American Jewish Archives
- Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise Digital Archive (online).
- Solomon H. Sonneschein To I.M. Wise, September 4, 1884, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise Digital Archive (online—Isaac Mayer Wise Digital Archive).
- Solomon H. Sonneschein To I.M. Wise, November 8, 1885, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise Digital Archive (online—Isaac Mayer Wise Digital Archive).
- Eleff, Zev. “‘We Must Unite on Principles!’ The Letters of Kaufmann Kohler to David Philipson and Renewed Light on The Pittsburgh Platform of 1885,” American Jewish Archives Journal, 206, Vol. 68, No. 1 (online—American Jewish Archives).
Central Conference of American Rabbis
- Pittsburgh Platform text (online—CCAR.net).
Rauh Jewish Archives
- Jacob, Walter, ed. “The Changing World of Reform Judaism: the Pittsburgh Platform in retrospect,” Pittsburgh: Rodef Shalom Congregation, 1985 (catalog record).
- Pittsburgh Platform historic marker dedication photographs [2008.0102] (catalog record).
- Corinne Azen Krause Papers [MSS 113] (catalog record).
Rodef Shalom Congregation Archives
- Rodef Shalom Congregation minutes (Rodef Shalom Congregation website).
Exhibit history
- Author: Eric Lidji
- Original: April 3, 2022
- Current: April 3, 2022