An examination of the Pittsburgh Platform indicates religious optimism, acceptance of other religious perspectives and emphasis on the Bible as the consecration of the Jewish people to its mission. It also makes modern sensibility the standard by rejecting halachic restrictions on diet, priestly purity and dress and discarding Jewish peoplehood. "We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community."
The following points were agreed upon and became known as the Pittsburgh Platform:
1. We recognize 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. We hold that Judaism presents the highest conception
of the Godidea as taught in our Holy Scriptures
and developed and spiritualized by the Jewish teachers,
in accordance with the moral and philosophical progress
of their respective ages. We maintain that Judaism preserved
and defended midst continual struggles and trials and
under enforced isolation, this Godidea as the central
religious truth for the human race.
2. We recognize in the Bible the record
of the consecration of the Jewish people to its mission
as the priest of the one God, and value it as the most
potent instrument of religious and moral instruction.
We hold that the modern discoveries of scientific researches
in the domain of nature and history are not antagonistic
to the doctrines of Judaism, the Bible reflecting the
primitive ideas of its own age, and at times clothing
its conception of divine Providence and Justice dealing
with men in miraculous narratives.
3. We recognize in the Mosaic legislation
a system of training the Jewish people for its mission
during its national life in Palestine, and today we
accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain
only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives,
but reject al such as are not adapted to the views and
habits of modern civilization.
4. We hold that all such Mosaic and
rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and
dress originated in ages and under the influence of
ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual
state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit
of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is
apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual
elevation.
5. We recognize, in the modern era
of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching
of the realization of Israel s great Messianic hope
for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice,
and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer
a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect
neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship
under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any
of the laws concerning the Jewish state.
6. We recognize in Judaism a progressive
religion, ever striving to be in accord with the postulates
of reason. We are convinced of the utmost necessity
of preserving the historical identity with our great
past. Christianity and Islam, being daughter religions
of Judaism, we appreciate their providential mission,
to aid in the spreading of monotheistic and moral truth.
We acknowledge that the spirit of broad humanity of
our age is our ally in the fulfillment of our mission,
and therefore we extend the hand of fellowship to all
who cooperate with us in the establishment of the reign
of truth and righteousness among men.
7. We reassert the doctrine of Judaism
that the soul is immortal, grounding the belief on the
divine nature of human spirit, which forever finds bliss
in righteousness and misery in wickedness. We reject
as ideas not rooted in Judaism, the beliefs both in
bodily resurrection and in Gehenna and Eden (Hell and
Paradise) as abodes for everlasting punishment and reward.
8. In full accordance with the spirit of the Mosaic
legislation, which strives to regulate the relations
between rich and poor, we deem it our duty to participate
in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the
basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented
by the contrasts and evils of the present organization
of society.