Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan | |
|---|---|
Kaplan c. 1915 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Mottel Kaplan June 11, 1881 |
| Died | November 8, 1983 (aged 102) New York City, U.S. |
| Buried | Glendale, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Lena Rubin (1908–1958) Rivka Rieger (1959–1983) |
| Children | Judith Eisenstein, Hadassah Musher, Naomi Wenner, and Selma Jaffe-Goldman |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Denomination | Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism |
| Organization | Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Society for the Advancement of Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College |
| Semikhah | Jewish Theological Seminary of America |
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (Hebrew: מֹרְדֳּכַי מְנַחֵם קַפְלַן; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983) was an American Conservative rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian-philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism with his son-in-law, Rabbi Ira Eisenstein. He has been described as a "towering figure" in the recent history of Judaism for his influential work in adapting it to modern society, contending that Judaism should be a unifying and creative force by stressing the cultural and historical character of the religion as well as theological doctrine.