Kaplan and the Ideal of Democracy
February 16, 2026
The concept of “democracy” was essential and basic to Kaplan, even more than “civilization.”
Mel Scult is a retired professor of Judaic Studies. He has spent many years researching the life and thought of Mordecai Kaplan. He has written a biography, Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century, an analysis of his thought The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan and three volumes of excerpts from Kaplan’s twenty–seven volume diary, Communings of the Spirit ,Vols I,II,III. He has edited a Kaplan reader, Dynamic Judaism, and together with Robert Seltzer and Emanuel Goldsmith, edited a volume of essays on Kaplan, The American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan. He regularly publishes comments on Kaplan on Facebook (The Mordecai M. Kaplan Group). He has also written on Solomon Schechter, in Tradition Renewed, ed. Jack Wertheimer, and on Henrietta Szold, The Hadassah Magazine ]. His comments can also be found on Kaplancenter.org, which is the website of the Kaplan Center, of which he is vice president.
The concept of “democracy” was essential and basic to Kaplan, even more than “civilization.”
In a depressed mood, Kaplan found the following prayer helpful. He hoped to “reconstruct himself.” Petitions like the following just fit my mood and needs:
Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement
Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis
Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues
Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives
