Reform and Tradition, Round Two (The Rabbis Weigh In)

Here, two of my colleagues address the same question: is Reform becoming too traditional?  Rabbi Leon Morris, one of the interlocutors, was my classmate at HUC-JIR.  Nonetheless, it is not for sentimental reasons (despite my high respect and deep fondness for him) but for ideological ones, that I highly recommend a close reading of his responses.   Hard to find a teaser quote, but settled on this one:

...the early classical Reformers were seeking “to reclaim the ethical core of Judaism that had been lost in the thicket of stale rituals and a legalistic mindset.” However, in hindsight, it seems as though they threw out the baby with the bathwater, creating a false dichotomy between ethics and ritual, and ultimately failing to create a Judaism that was driven by a serious and passionate set of ethical commitments.... Imagine the contribution to American Jewish life that could have been made by a denomination characterized by strictness about hospitality, the refusal to engage in gossip, truth, compassion, respect for one another. While we could certainly benefit from an ultra-ethical Judaism, classic Reform never achieved this. I wish it had. 

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.