The Conference of Reform Rabbis

The Conference of Reform Rabbis was the precursor to the Central Conference of American Rabbis (established in 1889). The first meeting took place in Philadelphia in 1869, the second in New York in 1870, and the third in Cincinnati in 1871. From November 16 through 19, 1885, the organization held a conference in Pittsburgh, chaired by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the founding dean of America’s first rabbinic seminary, Hebrew Union College, in Cincinnati. This meeting in Pittsburgh continued the development of American Reform Judaism, an offshoot of the Jewish reformist movement in Germany. The main outcome of the Pittsburgh conference was the Pittsburgh Platform, the key document of the American Reform movement. Comprising eight theses, the platform states that Judaism is a progressive religion that should thrive in harmony with other religions and scientific discoveries. The adoption of this platform, and the July 11, 1883, “Trefa Banquet” that featured nonkosher foods to celebrate the ordination of the first rabbis trained in America, led to an American Reform secessionist movement and seminary, which ultimately became Conservative Judaism and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.