This is one of the few posts that will be educational in some way. I have gotten many emails from people who ask me, “Whats the use of the denominations and do they really tell about a person’s observance or world view”? First, we must see what does each name tell about the official standings of the movement. With Orthodox, we know that by definition, Orthodox means tradition or to be of the norm. Today, we wouldn’t necessarily call Orthodoxy the norm of Judaism, but Orthodoxy tells over and over that Orthodox way of life is “Torah-true” or the norm of Torah observance. Conservative Judaism, we must look at the root of the word Conservative, conserve. The word conserve means to keep or save. Just like how when we are environmentally friendly for example, we try to conserve or save energy. Conserv-ative Judaism tries to conserve Judaism(traditional Judaism) but introduces some modern influences. Reform in Reform Judaism tells alot about the movement. Reform is to change, to give something new to something old. Reform Judaism gives a new way of observing Judaism, something Orthodox Judaism wouldn’t call so Orthodox. Reconstructionist Judaism, like Conservative, has a root word of to Reconstruct. To Reconstruct doesn’t mean to change nor to exactly conserve. But mainly to fix or fill in what a Reconstructionist Jew may feel is missing in Traditional Judaism. Just like how we reconstruct a person though surgery, we don’t necessarily change the person nor does it keep things that person may not feel is right for how they look. Lastly, Secular Humanistic tells the most about the movement. Humanistic has the root of the word human. It shows the movement values the human, the best of the person and their abilities and for each human to take responsibility for their actions(good or bad). So, does this all really matter? Orthodox is becoming more Orthodox on one end. But on the other end, we have some Orthodox Jews who are considered by their own Orthodox observers as becoming less Orthodox. We also have Conservative Judaism and a new phenomenon of “Conservadox Judaism” on one end, but there are also other Jews who consider themselves Conservative but may only go to services on High Holy days or don’t keep Shabbat or Kashrut. Reform Judaism has on one hand Synagogues also affiliated with Conservative Judaism and on the other end there is Classical Reform Judaism which keeps Classical traditions and observances of Reform Judaism from the time it was founded in Germany(in the sense, would they be considered Orthodox for keeping the traditions and observances of Reform Judaism true and unchanged?) Then there are Reconstructionist Jews who on one hand have membership to Synagogues affiliated with Conservative institutions and on another end keep true the views of Kaplan which views would be considered not much of the norm of Judaism today(not a view of a personal G-d, Jewish people as a civilization, not considered the chosen people). So whats the use of movements? Why consider ourselves apart of one movement or another? Some argue that it gives each Jew standards as well as a way of identification with other Jews. But isn’t the Jewish people small enough to be separated even more? You can split a peanut so much before it just crumbles.