People in Reform Judaism aren't as religious or conservative as regular or Orthodox Judaism. People practicing reform Judaism don't believe you should necessarily need to eat Kosher food, don't believe women and men should sit in separate sections in synagogue when praying, and don't believe you need to pray too often, or else your prayers won't be as meaningful or sincere to God. Unlike Orthodox Jews, Reform Jews don't wear Yamakas in public. Reform Jews also usually attend public school, when Orthodox Jews attend private school and are very dedicated to getting a good education, when Reform Jews are not as formal and don't dress as fancy as often and still care about education, but not as much as really religious Jews that make peoples study the Jewish bible or the Old Testament, including the Hebrew language, at 6 years old. Hope I helped!
Maxwell
Very easy and simple put: Reform Jews do not see Tanach and Talmud as given from G-d at mount Sinai. Therefore they are not that "strict" or say observant concerning Mitzwot but they believe basically the same, just their fashion of living is different.
In reform Judaism it is everyone self-responsibility to decide what one likes to keep and what not or if one consider es for example watching TV on Shabbos as forbidden work or not. Moreover they do not use the Shulchan Aruch (it has the rules for every day's life in it) any more, I think. But you should arks Reform Jews because they might be able to tell you better how they handle Judaism than I might do because I'm not reform, so I'll star. Maybe you'll get the answers you're looking for - if not, you might try it again on Sunday or Monday, because it's Friday afternoon and we're in Shabbat preparations and off in a few hours.
You can argue that all Jews except Karaites are Reform, although we Reform Jews are just more up-front about it.
In Reform Judaism, the same traditions are followed, except the matzot (commandments) are not automatically all required to be followed. You must, however, understand them all and determine which make sense to you to follow. There are many matzot that Reform Jews either think don't make sense in a contemporary context, or that are immoral; many of us just don't follow them. My (Reform) rabbi says that Reform believes that tradition has a vote, but not a veto, governing our behavior. For example, Reform Judaism was the first to allow men and women to worship together, to allow women to become rabbis, to allow gays and lesbians to become rabbis and get married, etc. The other movements are slowly following suit on these sorts of things.
The emphasis in Reform Judaism is not in adhering technically to the matzot, but to focus on the broader message of Judaism - of moral progress, struggling with the divine, and justice. (The term "ticking loam" resonates much more strongly with Reform Jews than it does with other branches)
This does *not* mean, however, that Reform just means the abandonment of tradition. Some traditions come back in favor in Reform. For example, services in Hebrew and men wearing the kip pah are now more common in Reform temples than they were just 50 years ago. The important thing to understand is that Reform Jews embrace those traditions and matzot that resonate strongly with them.
We believe exactly the same as Orthodox Jews, in effect - just don't find the notion of all being 'revealed' as so central and don't believe that it is essential to observe 'to the letter' in the way Orthodox Jews do. But as far as the essence of Judaism goes, there's no difference.
in addition to Pols and Ambivalent's answers: the worship of G-d and G-d alone. Studying His word in the Tanakh (which contains the Torah). Keeping His commandments (613 w/the Temple, 300 w/out the Temple). Helping repair the world and caring for family, friends, community. Awaiting the Messiah/Messianic age.
It is how we keep His commandments that we differ, not in the belief of them nor in our belief in G-d.
Visby wishes Jews are at odds with each other. We aren't. We disagree, debate but the basics are the same for all Jews - the worship of G-d and G-d alone. As a former Christian, I can attest that there is less division in Judaism than I saw in the many Christian denominations.
You can't pinpoint the beliefs of thousands of Reform Jews concisely. They and their rabbi's are a diverse group. It ranges from those keeping Kosher-style homes to atheists. They ordain Homosexuals at times, and there are those who believe homosexuality is against Torah. They are a group divided, but comfortable with their differences. The thing that unites them is that they are all "Jewish", but have a wide variety of beliefs concerning God and how Judaism fits in the world today.
What do people practising Reform Judaism believe?
