Mordecai Kaplan's Salvation as Autistic Unmasking
Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881–1983) is not only one of the most influential figures on my spiritual life, but on my work as an autistic peer-support coach and educator as well. He was a rabbi, theologian, educator, and the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, my spiritual home. Born in Lithuania and raised in a deeply Orthodox home shaped by the Musar (Ethical Living) movement, Kaplan immigrated to New York in 1889. There, he pursued dual tracks of Jewish and secular education, studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and at Columbia University. At Columbia, he was deeply influenced by Felix Adler, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emil Durkheim, and John Dewey, whose emphasis on ethics, community, and pragmatism would leave a permanent mark on Kaplan’s religious philosophy. He was also shaped by modern biblical criticism through figures like Arnold Ehrlich, pushing him away from inherited dogma and toward a historically grounded, evolving understanding of Judaism.
Kaplan served as a rabbi and educator for decades, founding the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ) and pioneering the first public bat mitzvah in the U.S. He taught at JTS for over 50 years, often at odds with its leadership. His writings - especially Judaism as a Civilization - laid the groundwork for what became the Reconstructionist movement. Though he never intended to found a new denomination, Kaplan’s vision of Judaism as an evolving religious civilization influenced every major stream of American Jewish life. Central to that vision was a lifelong concern with meaning, coherence, and belonging.
Kaplan didn’t know about autism, at least not in the same way we understand it today. He also didn’t know anything about what we call Autistic Unmasking. But he did know what it felt like to be out of step, out of sync, and always in tension with the world around him. He knew what it felt like to yearn for integrity - to want to live a life that made sense from the inside, not just looked acceptable from the outside. And he spent his life building a theology and an ever-changing and evolving world-view that made that possible.
