The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan

3. Becoming Centered: Community and Spirituality in the Early Kaplan

PART TWO Stages in a Life CHAPTER 3 Becoming Centered: Community and Spirituality in the Early Kaplan Mel Scult It was in connection with the Jewish Center that Kaplan first formulated the concept of Judaism as a civilization. With eloquence and power he put forth the idea of a new kind of institution that would meet the needs of the emerging jewish community in America . The Jewish Center movement and the name of Mordecai Kaplan are inextricably connected. He is credited by both his supporters and his critics with formulating the concept of the "Center" and establishing the first concrete example in the Jewish Center in Manhattan. Kaplan had been thinking in terms of groups, cultures, and civilizations since his graduate days. At Columbia University from 1900 until 1906, he studied the social sciences and particularly sociology, under Professor Franklin Giddings, the first appointee in sociology in the country. Thus, it was natural that Kaplan should think of Judaism sociologically rather than according to a traditional definition of religion. Kaplan's most profound passion was to do everything possible to bring unity to the Jewish people and to help his people to survive. In a series of articles which appeared in 1915 and 1916 in the Menorah journal, he spelled out a general approach to Judaism. In them, he indicated that he saw the essence of Judaism 53 54 MEL SCULT not in a set of beliefs but in the life energy of the jewish people. This life energy would be expressed in different truths at different times, but the essence ofjudaism was not in these truths themselves but in the life-force that gave rise to them. Survival was, therefore, a matter of doing everything possible to nurture and enhance the life-force of the jewish people. It is in this context that we must understand Kaplan's work at the]ewish Center. In other words, just as he was formulating his concept of judaism as a civilization, he began his involvement with the jewish Center.' The Center can thus be seen as a concrete embodiment of his philosophy at the time. I shall examine in detail Kaplan's work at the Center to see wherein he failed in the implementation of his philosophy of community . The jewish Center was an experiment in social engineering, as Kaplan was fond of saying. At the same time, it was a synagogue where the rabbi ministered to the personal and spiritual needs of his congregants. In exploring his experiences at the Center, I shall also look at Kaplan the rabbi, who was sensitive to spiritual issues and presented judaism with deep spiritual understanding. When he spoke from the pulpit as a rabbi, he was a somewhat different Kaplan than when he was analyzing the nature of]udaism and the concept of]udaism as a civilization. We shall see that the Center was an idea whose time had come. Kaplan did indeed formulate the concept of the Center, but he was not alone. The idea was being proposed on many fronts, and he was the idea's originator. Let me begin by emphasizing that the term center can be used in a variety of ways. In 1923 a prominent social worker suggested that the term be used "to include every type of organization which attempts to provide leisure activities for the entire jewish community or for a part thereof." 2 Such a generic definition would include the settlement houses intended for the immigrant generation, as well as the YM/YWHA and community centers that were not primarily philanthropic in nature. The jewish community centers established in the 1920s and 1930s were essentially secular institutions , while synagogue-centers-the so-called "pool with a shul and a school"-were, of course, religious. The name of Mordecai Kaplan is connected with the secular and religious centers. He is BECOMING CENTERED 55 considered by most to be the ideological father of both these kinds of institutions. Such an important contention warrants examination . In the case of the secular community centers, even strong supporters of Kaplan find it difficult to provide facts on his contribution . In a tribute to Kaplan in the early 1950s, Louis Kraft, a longtime disciple of Kaplan's, begins an essay on Kaplan and the Center movement by saying almost apologetically "that Dr. Kaplan at no time had an official role as a member of any of the governing bodies of...