MORDECAI M

   MORDECAI M. KAPLAN

                              THE THIRTEEN WANTS

   A prayer composed by Mordecai Kaplan in 1926 for the dedication of the
   new headquarters of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ),
   the following were included in the Sabbath prayerbook as "The Criteria
   of Jewish Loyalty."

   SOURCE: Mel Scult, Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century: A Biography of
   Mordecai M. Kaplan (Detroit: 1993, Wayne State University Press), ISBN
   0-8143-2279-4. Thanks to Rabbi Richard Hirsh, Jewish Reconstructionist
   Congregation, E vanston, Illinois, for bringing this text to the
   maintainer's attention.
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   THE THIRTEEN WANTS
    1. We want Judaism to help us overcome temptation, doubt and
       discouragement.
    2. We want Judaism to imbue us with a sense of responsibility for the
       righteous use of the blessings wherewith God endows us.
    3. We want the Jew so to be trusted that his yea will be taken as
       yea, and his nay as nay.
    4. We want to learn how to utilize our leisure to best advantage,
       physically, intellectually, and spiritually.
    5. We want the Jewish home to live up to its traditional standards of
       virtue and piety.
    6. We want the Jewish upbringing of our children to further their
       moral and spiritual growth, and to enable them to accept with joy
       their heritage as Jews.
    7. We want the synagogue to enable us to worship God in sincerity and
       in truth.
    8. We want our religious traditions to be interpreted in terms of
       understandable experience and to be made relevant to our
       present-day needs.
    9. We want to participate in the upbuilding of Eretz Yisrael as a
       means to the renaissance of the Jewish spirit.
   10. We want Judaism to find rich, manifold and ever new expression in
       philosophy, letters and the arts.
   11. We want all forms of Jewish organization to make for spiritual
       purpose and ethical endeavor.
   12. We want the unity of Israel throughout the world to be fostered
       through mutual help in time of need, and through cooperation in
       the furtherance of Judaism at all time.
   13. We want Judaism to function as a potent influence for justice,
       freedom and peace in the life of men and nations.


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