How has Wikipedia's Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom) article changed?

Wikipedia's first sentence called it "term used by some communities for what is otherwise known as reform judaism or progressive judaism". Today it says "one of the two wupj -affiliated progressive jewish denominations in the united kingdom". We saved the article's opening at 6 moments between 2005 and 2025, and every claim links the exact revision.

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How Wikipedia rewrote the Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom) article

The opening as it read in 2005

Liberal Judaism is a term used by some communities for what is otherwise known as Reform Judaism or Progressive Judaism (particularly in the UK, but also elsewhere). The Liberal movement (and the Liberal Jewish Synagogue) in the UK were founded in the early part of the 20th century by Lily Montagu, Claude Montefiore and others. It began initially in 1902 with a supplementary prayer meeting, an adjunct to the then Orthodox and Reform synagogues, with the intention that the use of more English in services, men and women sitting freely together, the use of organ music, and so forth might also prevent some on the margins of British Jewry from assimilating completely and being totally lost. But the sense of sincerity and radicalism of the Liberal movement rapidly gained adherents and established a new identity, leading to the founding of the Liberal Jewish synagogue in 1911, the first of now more than thirty Liberal congregations in the UK. To quote the LJS website, "Liberal Judaism values tradition, but truth even more. It combines respect for our Jewish heritage with positive acceptance of modern knowledge and due regard for the realities of the world in which we live". And it stresses "the full equality and participation of men and women in every sphere of religious life; an emphasis on ethical conduct above ritual observance; an affirmation of each individual's freedom to act responsibly in accordance with the dictates of the informed religious conscience; a pride in combining our Jewish heritage with full participation in the civic life of this country; and an awareness of our duty not only to the Jewish people and to the State of Israel, but also to the entire human family, each one of whom is created in the Divine image". The confusion about the terms "Reform" or "Liberal" arose because at that time in the UK, 'Reform Judaism' meant the West London Synagogue, which was not connected with German or American Reform, and in modern terms strongly conservative. Since the 1930s, Reform Judaism in the UK has become much more like Reform in the United States; while Orthodoxy has grown steadily more and more rigid. Liberalism and Reform have therefore increasingly become twin halves of Progressive Judaism in the UK. Since 1964 both have together co-sponsored the training of rabbis at Leo Baeck College in London; and rabbis move freely from Reform to Liberal congregations and vice-versa. In recent years there has also been a move towards more tradition in Liberal services than a generation earlier - eg more use of Hebrew, more wearing of tallit and kippot , more enjoyment of Purim and other traditional minor festivals. But Liberal Judaism is still in some ways distinctly more 'liberal' than Reform, for example readily recognising as Jewish the child of Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, without conversion.¹

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16068531.

The opening as it stood in 2010 13 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Liberal Judaism, which developed at the beginning of the twentieth century is less conservative than UK Reform Judaism.

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It is one of the WUPJ affiliates in the United Kingdom along with the local, more conservative British Reform current .

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Liberal Judaism (until 2002: Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues ) is one of the two WUPJ -affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom . It is smaller and more radical in comparison with the other one, the Movement for Reform Judaism . It is considered ideologically closer to American Reform Judaism than it is to the British Reform movement. As of 2010 it was the fourth largest Jewish religious group in Britain, with 8.7% of synagogue-member households.

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The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023

Jewish denomination in Britain This article is about the British denomination. Liberal Judaism (until 2002: Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues ) is one of the two WUPJ -affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom founded by Claude Montefiore . It is smaller and more radical in comparison with the other one, the Movement for Reform Judaism . It is considered ideologically closer to American Reform Judaism than it is to the British Reform movement. As of 2010 it was the fourth largest Jewish religious group in Britain, with 8.7% of synagogue-member households. A Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion (Online Version) .

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The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Jewish denomination in Britain This article is about the British denomination. Liberal Judaism (formerly known as the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues (until 2002) and the Jewish Religious Union) was one of the two WUPJ -affiliated Progressive Jewish denominations in the United Kingdom . In 2025, a vote confirmed that Liberal Judaism would unite with the Movement for Reform Judaism into one Progressive Judaism for the UK and Ireland . Liberal Judaism began to form in 1899. A first service took place at Marylebone’s Great Central Hotel in 1902, with The Liberal Jewish Synagogue founded in 1911. Many people played a role in its creation, with the key founders known as the ‘three Ms’ – Claude Montefiore , Lily Montagu and Rabbi Dr Israel Mattuck. It was originally smaller and considered to be more radical in comparison with the Movement for Reform Judaism , however differences between the two evaporated in the 21st century with Reform - previously seen as the more traditional - modernising, and Liberal Judaism re-adopting some discarded traditions. Both denominations came to very similar positions on principle and practice, "seeking to marry the traditions of the past with the realities of the present". Before the merger, Liberal Judaism was the fourth largest Jewish religious group in Britain, with 8.7% of synagogue-member households. Post-unification, as one Progressive Judaism, it is now part of the second largest, with roughly 30% of synagogue affiliated Jews as members. "UK's Liberal and Reform movements unify as Progressive Judaism | the Jerusalem Post" . 20 May 2025. A Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion (Online Version) . The Times of Israel .

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