Kaplan, Mordecai

Kaplan, Mordecai (Menahem) (1881–1983) rabbi, educator; born in Swenziany, Lithuania. He came to the U.S.A. in 1889. In 1909 he became dean, and later professor, at the Teacher's Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He founded the Reconstructionist Movement in 1935, which holds that Judaism is an entire civilization, not just a religion. He was chairman of the editorial board of the Reconstructionist (1935–59). In 1922 he initiated the Bat Mitzvah ritual for young Jewish girls. A widely published author, he wrote The Future of the American Jew (1948) and Judaism Without Supernaturalism (1958).