MORDECAI M. KAPLAN'S METHOD AND BASIC PRINCIPLES ON DEVELOPING OF RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM

Öz

Reconstructionist Judaism is a religious movement that emerged in America in the XXth century. The movement's originator and founder is Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983) who is Jewish scholar and philosopher. Mordecai's main goal is to preserve the existence of the Jewish community in America, which is in danger of extinction in the face of modernity. According to him Judaism cannot exist without the Jewish people. For Reconstructionist Judaism understanding, which is its basic principles and method is appointed by Mordecai, Judaism is not just a religion, but a evolving religious civilization over time. At the exact center of this understanding, which accepts Judaism as a way of life, is placed the concept of civilization. Jewish history, language, literature, art, social structure, aesthetics and moral values that make up Jewish culture, especially religion, are shaped according to this concept. Religion as a social phenomenon is the energy source of Judaism. Therefore, it is the most important element of Jewish civilization. For Kaplan, Jews must keep up with American civilization so that Judaism is surviving in America. The Jewish community must learn to live in both Jewish and American civilization. As a method, Kaplan proposed to revaluate the Jewish tradition according to the living conditions of the era, to receive the heritage that fits the modern mind, and to discard the rest.

MORDECAİ M. KAPLAN’IN YENİDEN YAPILANMACI YAHUDİLİĞİ GELİŞTİRMEDEKİ METODU VE TEMEL ESASLARI

Öz

Yeniden Yapılanmacı Yahudilik, XX. yüzyılda Amerika’da ortaya çıkmış bir dini harekettir. Hareketin fikir babası ve kurucusu Yahudi bilgin ve filozof Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (1881-1983)’dır. Kaplan’ın temel amacı modernite karşısında yok olma tehlikesi altında olan Amerika’daki Yahudi toplumunun varlığını korumaktır. Ona göre Yahudi toplumu olmadan Yahudilik ayakta kalamaz. Temel ilkeleri ve metodu Kaplan tarafından belirlenen Yeniden Yapılanmacı anlayışa göre, Yahudilik salt bir din değil, zamanla gelişen bir medeniyettir. Yahudiliği bir yaşam şekli olarak kabul eden bu anlayışın merkezinde medeniyet kavramı yer alır. Başta din olmak üzere Yahudi kültürünü oluşturan Yahudi tarihi, dili, edebiyatı, sanatı, sosyal yapısı, estetik ve ahlaki değerleri bu kavrama göre şekillenmiştir. Din sosyal bir fenomen olarak Yahudiliğin enerji kaynağı olduğu için Yahudi medeniyetinin en önemli unsurudur. Kaplan’a göre Yahudiliğin Amerika’da hayatta kalması için Yahudilerin Amerikan medeniyetine ayak uydurması gerekmektedir. Yahudi toplumu hem Yahudi hem de Amerikan medeniyetinde yaşamayı öğrenmelidir. Kaplan metot olarak Yahudi geleneğini çağın yaşam şartlarına göre yeniden değerlendirmeyi modern akla uyan mirasın alınmasını gerisinin atılmasını önermiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yeniden Yapılanmacı Yahudilik
• Mordecai M. Kaplan
• medeniyet
• din
• yeniden değerlendirme

Kaynakça

1. Alper, M. (1954). Reconstruction and Jewish Education: The İmplications of Reconstructionism for Jewish Education in the United States. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Columbia: Columbia University.
2. Alpert, R. T. ve Staub, J. J. (1988). Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach, Pennsylvania: The Reconstructionist Pres.
3. Alpert, R. T. (2005). Reconstructıonıst Judaısm. Encyclopedıa of Religion içinde (Second Edition, Ed. Lindsay Jones, Vol. 11, 7635-7640) Detroit-New York: Thomson Gale Press.
4. Aydın, İ. E. (2020). Mordecai Menahem Kaplan ve Yahudilikte Yeniden Yapılanma Hareketi. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Elazığ: Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü.
5. Batnitzky, L. (2006). Mordecai Kaplan as Hermeneut: History, Memory, and His God-Idea. Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, 12(2), The USA. 88-98.
6. Breslauer, S. D. (1994). Mordecai Kaplan’s Thought in a Postmodern Age, Atlanta: Scholars Press.
7. Caplan, E. (1998). Reconstructionist Prayer Within the Context of Contemporary North American Jewish Life. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Montreal: McGill University Department of Jewish Studies.
8. Cohen, J., Scult, M., ve Jospe, R. (2007). Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem. Encyclopedia Judaica içinde (Second Edition, Vol. 11, 776-779) Jerusalem : Keter Publishing.

9. Cohn-Sherbok, D. (1996). Modern Judaism, London: MacMillan Press Ltd.
10. Cohn-Sherbok, D. (2005). Judaism (history, belief, and practice), London: Roudledge Press.
11. Diner, H. R. (1999). Jews in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12. Diner, H. R. (2004). The Jews of The United States (1654 to 2000). Berkeley: Unıvesıty of Calıfornıa Press.
13. Goldsmith, E. S. (1985). Mordecai M. Kaplan: His Interpretation of Judaism, Emanuel S. Goldmith and Mel Scult (Ed.). Dynamic Judaism The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan içinde (15-30). New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
14. Gurock, J. S. ve Schaster, J. J. (1997). A Modern Heretic and A Tradıtıonal Communıty: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and Amerikan Judaism. New York: Columbıa Unıversıty Press.
15. Kaplan, M. M. (1934). Judaism As a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life. New York: The Macmillan Company.
16. Kaplan, M. M. (1956). Questions Jews Ask: Reconstructionist Answers. New York: Reconstructionist Press.
17. Kaplan, M. M. (1960). The Greater Judaısm ın The Makıng. New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
18. Kaplan, M. M. (1967). Judaism Without Supernaturalism. New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
19. Kaplan, M. M. (1970). The Religion of Ethical Nationhood. New York: The Macmillan Company.
20. Kaplan, M. M. (1981). The Future of The Amerıcan Jew, New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
21. Kaplan, M. M. (1985). Dynamic Judaism, The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan, Edited by E. S. Goldsmith and M. Scult, New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
22. Kaplan, M. M. (1994). The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion. Detroit: Wayne State Unıversty Press.
23. Kaplan, M. M. (2001). Communings of the Spirit I, The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Volume I 1913-1934. Ed. by Mel Scult, Detroit: Wayne University Press.
24. Kaplan, M. M. (2016). Communings of the Spirit II, The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Volume II 1954-1941. Ed. by Mel Scult, Detroit: Wayne University Press.
25. Kitab-ı Mukaddes. (2013). İstanbul: Yeni Yaşam Yayınları.
26. Kushner, H. (2007). On The Legacy of Mordecai Kaplan. Ed. by Edward Feinstein. Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century içinde (99-105). Vermont : Jewish Lights Publishing.
27. Lazerwıtz, B., Wınter, J. A., Dashefsky, A., Tabory, E. (1998). Jewish Choices, Albany: State University of New York Press.
28. Levy, Z. (1997). Jewish Nationalism, Ed. by D. H. Frank and O. Leaman, History of Jewish Philosophy içinde (675-688). London and New York: Roudledge Publishing.
29. Libowitz, R. (1983). Mordecai M. Kaplan And The Development of Reconstructionism, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press.
30. Liebman, C. S. (1970). Reconstructıonism in American Jewish Lıfe. Amerıcan Jewısh Year Book, The USA-New York 3-99.
31. Liebman, C. S. (2001). The Ambivalent American Jew. İllinois: Varda Books.
32. Magid, S. (2000). The Spinozistic Spirit in Mordecai Kaplan's Revaluation of Judaism. Modern Judaism, 20 (2), United Kingdom- Oxford.159-180.
33. Mirable Dictionary. (2004). İstanbul: mira publishing.
34. Moore, D. D. (2006). Judaism as a Gendered Civilization: The Legacy of Mordecai Kaplan's Magnum Opus. Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, 12 (2), The USA. 172-186.
35. Pianko, N. (2004). Diaspora Jewish Nationalism and İdentity in America, 1914-1967. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Yale: Yale University The Faculty of the Graduate School.
36. Pianko, N. (2006). Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructing America: The Sources and Functions of Mordecai Kaplan’s Civilization. Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, 12(2), The USA. 39-55.
37. Prell, R. E. (2006) America, Mordecai Kaplan, and the Postwar Jewish Youth Revolt. Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, 12(2), The USA. 158-171.
38. Rogers, D. J. (1985). The American Empirical Movement in Theology. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Illinois: Northwestern University Field of History of Literature and Religions.
39. Rudavsky, D. (1979). Modern Jewish Religious Movements. New York: Behrman House Press.
40. Scult, M. (1994). Judaism Faces The Twentieth Century: A Biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Detroit: Wayne University Press.
41. Scult, M.(2001). Mordecai M. Kaplan: His Life, Ed. by M. Scult Communings of the Spirit I, The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Volume I 1913-1934 içinde (45-55). Detroit: Wayne University Press.
42. Sommer, B. D. (2006). FunctionaI lnterpretation and Biblical Theology: Reflectionson Judaism as a Civilization in Relation to Scriptural Hermeneutics, Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society 12(2), The USA. 143-157.
43. Staub, J. J. (2005). Reconstructionist Judaism. The Encyclopaedia of Judaism içinde (Second Edition, ed. Jacob Neusner, Alan J.Avery-Peck and William Scott Green, Vol. IV, (2247-2260). Boston: Brıll Press.
44. Waxman, D. (2010). Ethnicity and Faith in American Judaism: Reconstructionism as Ideology and Institution, 1935-1959, Yayınlanmamaış Doktora Tezi. Philadelphia: Temple University.
45. Weingberger, T. (1990). The Art of The Religious Life: Strategies For Sustaining Religious Commitment, Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi. Atlanta: Emorty University the Faculty of the Graduate School Theological Studies.
46. Wenger, B. S. (2006). Making American Civilization Jewish: Mordecai Kaplan’s Civil Religion. Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, 12(2), The USA. 56–63.