"When Orthodoxy was not as chic as it is today": The Jewish Forum and American Modern Orthodoxy

Abstract

The Jewish Forum was an American Orthodox monthly published from 1918 to 1962. It reflected issues and developments affecting Orthodox Judaism in America, from the twenties to the sixties. In these decades, Orthodoxy went from being a threatened entity on the American scene to a well-recognized, respected force in Judaism and The Jewish Forum played a role in this transformation. The journal is a useful research tool for tracing the history of the development of Modern Orthodoxy in America in the twentieth century and is itself part of that history. Jewish journals in America have had a history of struggling for their very existence and disappearing with “alarming frequency” and so The Jewish Forum's forty-four years of publishing, against all odds, constitutes an achievement of some significance.1 The Jewish Forum sought to strengthen those who wanted to lead an Orthodox life in America. The editor wrote, in 1926, that the aim of The Jewish Forum was to “bring them [Jews] back to the fold and to keep those that are still reluctant to break away.”2 It sought, as well, to win the allegiance of Jews attracted to Reform or Conservative Judaism. The Jewish Forum set out to accomplish these goals by demonstrating that Orthodoxy in America, which contemporary critics likened to a sinking ship, was relevant.3 This was not an easy task in an age in which traditional Judaism was widely seen as out of date and “not fit for modern life.”4 At its demise, The Jewish Forum could look back to its beginnings, “when Orthodoxy was not as chic as it is today, nor even acceptable.”5