Are Zionism and Reform Judaism Incompatible? Affirmative: William H. Fineshriber, Hyman J. Schachtel. Negative: Felix A. Levy, David Polish. Papers Read at Convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, June 24, 1943, New York, N.Y.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

New York

1943

In the first half of the 20th century, leaders of the Reform movement were at odds over the relationship between Reform Judaism and Zionism. While traditionally, Reform Judaism had been ardently anti-Zionist, by 1943 a significant portion of the Reform rabbinate had studied at the Jewish Institute of Religion, a newer seminary founded by Stephen S. Wise, a passionate leader of American Zionism. The debate between these two camps threatened to tear apart the Reform movement; much of this ideological battle took the form of a struggle for control of the CCAR.