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THE PATH FORWARD

Rabbi Andrue J. (Andy) Kahn
Issues
Fall 2024

THE PATH FORWARD  
from Rabbi Andy Kahn  
 
Dear ACJ Associates:  
 
In 1945, Rabbi Elmer Berger wrote in The Jewish Dilemma, “[The American Council  
of Judaism] had determined to fight the backward concept of ‘Jewish nationhood’  
with an aggressive program of integration. The Council’s validity is based not on  
its numerical size, but on its central, motivating idea, the only working concept  
born of the hopeful heritage of the historic process of emancipation and  
integration.”  
 
This aspect of the Council’s working concept has, in fact, been an ongoing  
success for over 80 years. Jewish emancipation and integration in America have  
been a historic accomplishment, far beyond the dreams of our predecessors. And,  
with that accomplishment, we are now able to take the next step in the central  
motivating idea.  
 
Rabbi Berger, in the same book, wrote, “The plight of the Jew was an indictment  
of civilization. The degradation of Jews was…symbolic of the evils that would  
have to be overcome before all men could be free.” A new generation of American  
Jews are experiencing their role in America not as bound up in a nationalistic  
fight to defend the separatist rights of Jews in Israel to ethnonational  
privilege. Instead, this generation is experiencing the true gifts of  
emancipation and integration: They are standing for the rights and privileges of  
all people to security, safety, and individual freedom of conscience. They are  
embodying Rabbi Berger’s promise that Jews overcoming oppression will lead to the  
liberation of all people in their society - and we, today, are working toward  
that end.  
 
Many have noted that the erstwhile leadership of many major Jewish institutions  
in America have decided to take another road: They mourn what they see as the  
necessity of mass murder to maintain “Jewish safety;” they thank our government  
for supporting it; they believe they must put “the Jewish nation” first.  
 
The American Council for Judaism has stood for a form of Judaism that fights  
against this impulse for over eighty years. Centering the ethical monotheism and  
universalistic values that served as the core of American denominational  
Judaism’s genesis, the ACJ continues to fight for a Judaism that believes its  
value is found in its value for all the world.  
 
As the beloved Rosh haShanah liturgical poem reminds us:  
 
All the world shall come to serve Thee  
And bless Thy glorious name,  
And Thy righteousness triumphant  
The islands shall acclaim.  
Yea, the peoples shall go seeking  
Who knew Thee not before,  
And the ends of earth shall praise Thee  
And tell Thy greatness o’er.  
 
In the new year of 5785, the ACJ is committing to reaffirming the core values of  
our prophetic heritage embodied in these words. The “Thee” of this beautiful  
piyyut is a universal concept - a force promising liberation and righteousness  
for all people. Rather than claim a singular and solely Jewish understanding of  
God as the necessity for the world to find its way to a triumphant righteousness,  
they believed, “in every religion an attempt to grasp the Infinite, and in every  
mode, source or book of revelation held sacred in any religious system the  
consciousness of the indwelling of God in man (The Pittsburgh Platform of 1885).”  
 
This belief, in the true desire of all humanity to grasp the Infinite, is an  
integral point to drive home for the Judaism of our day. No life, based on  
nationality, creed, race, gender, sexuality, or any other identity marker, is  
inherently more worthy of existence than any other, as each bears a spark of the  
Infinite that only they may grasp. In its disregard of these Jewish traditions,  
Jewish nationalism has betrayed a core facet of our own attempt at grasping the  
Infinite. We American Jews who are committed to the core of our tradition as  
embodied by the founders of the Reform movement, are now called by this great  
consciousness of the Infinite to stand, and be counted among those who continue  
to protest a nationalistic fervor which has created so much harm in the world. As  
I begin my tenure as executive director of the Council, I commit to maintaining a  
rootedness in these deep values articulated in the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885,  
and in the traditions of our own liturgy. Please join me in renewing this mission  
in 5785, as we reinvigorate the beautiful history of the Council to bring it to  
all who are seeking to know the Infinite.  
 
I would be pleased to hear from you and learn about your interests in and  
commitments to the ACJ as we move forward together with the next phase of our  
storied organization’s journey. I may be contacted at AKAHN@acjna.org.  
 
Shanah Tovah!  
 
Rabbi Andrue J. (Andy) Kahn  
Executive Director  
American Council for Judaism, Inc.  
AKAHN@acjna.org  
 



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