The State of Conservative Judaism Today
by Daniel Septimus
One of the Conservative movement's mottos is "Tradition and Change," and the history
of the movement might best be understood as a tug of war between these
two concepts. The movement professes obedience to halakhah (Jewish law), but at the same time is open to making normative adjustments
in response to societal changes. However, while a religious life that
balances tradition and change might sound ideal, navigating these two
poles is never simple. As the contemporary world drifts further from
traditional values, the conflicts and contradictions that arise from
this balancing act have increased.
Declining Demographics
If demographics are an indication of a denomination's
health, then the prognosis for the Conservative movement may be troubling.
For decades, more American Jews affiliated with the
Conservative movement than any other denomination. This is no longer
the case. The Reform movement
is now the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, and the
number of Conservative Jews dropped from 38 percent in the 1990 National
Jewish Population Survey to 33 percent 10 years later. Jack Wertheimer,
the Provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) — the Conservative
movement's flagship educational institution — who directed a study
of Conservative congregations in the mid-1990s, found that the movement
has been in demographic decline for two generations.
What's caused this
demographic shift?
Intermarriage — which has greatly affected Jewish
demographics generally — is one answer. According to Steven M.
Cohen, three out of four intermarried Jews who grew up in the Conservative
movement leave the movement or never join as adults. Many of these people
become affiliated with Reform Judaism, which is more welcoming to intermarried
couples and accepts patrilineal
descent (meaning Reform Judaism recognizes as Jewish the child of
a non-Jewish mother and Jewish father, contrary to traditional Jewish
law, which requires the mother to be Jewish). In addition, the Conservative
movement has an older constituency, with as many as twice the amount
of affiliates over 65 than the Reform movement.
But numbers aren't
everything
Those younger Jews who do affiliate with the Conservative
movement may be more ideologically committed than the older generation,
who tend to be dropouts from Orthodox Judaism. Formal education for
Conservative Jews has also experienced something of a renaissance. Today,
there are 50,000 Conservative day school students in the United States
studying at community schools and the movement's 75 Solomon Schechter
schools. In 1995, the Conservative Yeshiva was founded in Jerusalem
and has grown from five to 50 students.
Controversial Issues
of Jewish Law
One might argue that contemporary Conservative Judaism
was born in 1983, when JTS began ordaining women.
This was the final step toward sanctioning complete egalitarianism,
and though many Conservative leaders embraced the move with open arms,
others saw it as a betrayal of tradition. Some JTS faculty members —
including one of its leading Talmudists, David Weiss Halivni —
left the school after the ruling.
Twenty years later, another divisive issue is looming.
Because of its commitment to Jewish law, the Conservative movement officially
disapproves of homosexuality.
While advocating compassion and kindness toward gays and lesbians, the
movement has barred open homosexuals from studying at its rabbinical
schools and holding leadership roles in Conservative institutions.
This position has become increasingly unpopular. Elliot
Dorff, the rector of the University of Judaism — a Conservative
rabbinical school in Los Angeles — and vice-chairman of the Rabbinical
Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, is one of the most
prominent leaders seeking a policy change. Dorff authored a legal responsa
(rabbinic decision) that condones homosexuality by employing a concept
called ones — the idea that one is only responsible for things
that he or she can control — and relying on evidence that homosexuality
is innate and therefore not under a person's control.
The biggest source of ferment on this issue, however,
may come from future Conservative rabbis. In a survey conducted among
rabbinical students by Keshet (Rainbow), an advocacy group at JTS, almost
80 percent of 236 respondents averred that gays and lesbians should
be admitted to Conservative rabbinical and cantorial schools.
Nonetheless, there is still significant opposition
to changing the denomination's official position. Ismar
Schorsch, the Chancellor of JTS, Kassel Abelson, the chairman of
the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and former Committee chairman
Joel Roth all object to such a change.
Exodus Spat
Jewish legal issues — like homosexuality —
invite the most controversy in the Conservative movement, but that's
not to say that the movement is theologically homogeneous.
In a sermon during Passover 2001, David Wolpe, rabbi of the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, opined
that the Exodus from Egypt didn't happen in the way it is recorded in the Bible.
Wolpe's opinion reflects the position of academic Bible scholars and
archeologists, who believe that the Israelite nation was indigenous
to Canaan and not — as the Bible suggests — a group of tribes
who conquered Canaan after leaving slavery in Egypt.
Wolpe does not believe that the biblical narrative
is "false," but rather that the story of the Exodus need not
be understood as a historical record.
The Conservative movement has always been closely associated
with academic Jewish Studies, but the response to Wolpe's sermon revealed
that Conservative Jews have vastly different opinions about what to
do when scholarship conflicts with traditional theological narratives.
Dennis Prager, a radio personality who teaches at the
University of Judaism, was outraged by Wolpe's remarks, writing in an
article that, "If the Exodus did not occur, there is no Judaism."
Though few Conservative leaders took this extreme approach, many —
including Joel Meyers, the executive vice president of the Rabbinical
Assembly, and Jerome Epstein, the executive vice president of the United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism — professed their belief in
the historicity of the Exodus.
While the controversy surrounding Wolpe's sermon demonstrates
the conflict between tradition and change, it also demonstrates that
conflict does not have to be divisive. The Conservative movement condones
both the traditional and scholarly approach to the Exodus, and both
positions are taught in its schools and seminaries.
Textual Milestones
The social and theological state of the Conservative
movement can also be culled from its holy texts. In 1998, a new edition
of the Sim Shalom siddur,
the movement's official prayerbook, was published. One of the defining
characteristics of the new edition is an increased sensitivity toward
gender and feminism.
The prayerbook's most significant change was the addition
of an alternative version of the Amidah,
the central prayer in the Jewish liturgy. In the traditional text, the
first paragraph refers to the God of the patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The alternative version in the new Sim Shalom includes the names of
the matriarchs — Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel,
and Leah. Similarly, the
matriarchs, as well as the biblical heroines Miriam, Deborah, and Ruth, are
included in the ushpizin, a text recited on the holiday of Sukkot.
God language — the way the prayers refer to the
divine — was also amended in the new Sim Shalom. Though the pronoun
"He" was not excised, divine titles such as "Lord,"
"Father," and "King" were dropped in favor of neutral
terms such as "Sovereign" and "Guardian."
Not surprisingly, these changes were not unanimous.
In an essay published in the journal Conservative Judaism, Jules Harlow,
the editor of the previous Sim Shalom, expressed concern that, "changes
based upon gender language referring to God disrupt the integrity of
the classic texts of Jewish prayer, drive a wedge between the language
of the Bible and the language of the prayerbook, and often misrepresent
biblical and rabbinic tradition."
Ambivalence about amending tradition is apparent in
the new prayerbook itself. Several texts and prayers that betray a more
traditional approach to women — such as the Friday night hymn
Eshet Hayil — are still included in the new edition.
In 2001, three years after the publication of the new
Sim Shalom, the Conservative, Rabbinical Assembly, the United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism, and the Jewish Publication Society jointly
published Etz Hayim, a Pentateuch with commentary specifically
geared toward a Conservative audience.
The volume reflects the denomination's precarious relationship
between traditional commentaries and modern biblical scholarship. In
addition to a five levels of interpretation, the Etz Hayim includes
essays written by Conservative scholars that tackle a myriad of theological
quandaries.
The movement also published in 2003 Or Hadash: A Commentary
on the Siddur, which presents the prayerbook in a user-friendly format
and offers commentary from a Conservative perspective written by Rabbi
Reuven Hammer, the author of two well-regarded books on prayer.
The balance between tradition and change might be as
volatile as ever, and though volatility can sometimes be destructive,
it can also be a sign of vitality.
Sources: MyJewishLearning
Daniel Septimus is the Ideas & Beliefs editor
of MyJewishLearning.com |