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Judaism branch hits crossroads

Conservative Judaism, a movement members say embraces the best of tradition in a modern world–has long been the least understood middle child of the three main branches of Judaism.

Now its leaders are concerned that the number of Conservative Jews is dwindling even as the Reform and Orthodox branches grow.

“The Conservative movement is at an important crossroad,” said Rabbi Michael Siegel of Chicago’s Anshe Emet Synagogue. “If we’re not imparting tradition to Jews in a way they can relate to and immediately appreciate, everything else we do is going to pale.”

Monday night, Siegel’s synagogue will host a Conservative Summit featuring three leading Jewish thinkers who will try to find ways to convey the strengths of the movement–and to attract and keep more members.

Conservative Judaism has faced pressure from both the left and the right to change its ways. Many Orthodox Jews say Conservative Jews ignore Jewish law, and some Reform Jews say Conservative Jews are too tied to tradition.

Conservative rabbis even feel some congregants pulling at their prayer shawls.

“For some members I’m too observant. For some I’m too liberal,” said Rabbi Alex Felch of Congregation B’nai Tikvah in Deerfield.

But while some critics say the idea of finding tradition in modernity is too hazy to inspire fervor, Conservative Jews say their teachings are anything but vague and their feelings anything but tepid.

The movement “believes there can be passion in the center,” said Israel Stein, interim rabbi at Moriah Congregation in Deerfield.

Conservative leaders say they hope to bring more young people into aging congregations by creating welcoming communities and expanding educational programs. Some want a greater emphasis on Jewish law and a focus on social justice.

But the movement is no monolith, and Conservative Jews differ on just how far the movement should go on issues such as ordaining gay rabbis and blessing same-sex unions.

The more liberal Reform movement broke from Orthodox Judaism in the mid-19th Century by shortening the traditional liturgy, introducing prayers in the vernacular and eventually accepting only moral laws as permanently binding.

Later in the century, the Conservative movement arose in Europe and the United States in an attempt to preserve the knowledge and practice of historical Judaism, including the use of Hebrew. Conservative Jews believe in a covenant with the divine and the governance of Jewish life by law.

Unlike many Orthodox Jews, however, they accept critical scholarship on sacred text, have a positive attitude toward modern culture and believe that changes in the Jewish religious practice are inevitable.

In 1950 the movement’s legal authorities ruled that Jews could use electricity and drive on the Sabbath. In many synagogues women play a role equal to men.

Level of observance

Conservative rabbis tend to be more observant than their congregants, many of whom do not observe the Sabbath and keep kosher. Only about one-fourth of Conservative Jews claim they obey Jewish dietary laws, said Jack Wertheimer, the provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, one of the speakers to participate in Monday’s summit.

That prompted one Orthodox Jew, Rabbi Avi Shafran, to declare their movement “effectively defunct” because the majority does not observe Jewish law. But Conservative rabbis maintain that level of observance is not the only measure of a movement. Study, synagogue attendance, social action and support for Israel also demonstrate commitment.

Besides, they say, many Jews are on a journey toward a more observant life and need to be supported at the start.

Jonathan Schwartz, 37, an attorney who attends Anshe Emet, appreciates that support. “What appeals to me is that [the Conservative movement] takes the law seriously, and yet it’s not about imposing ritual and dogma on people. My wife and I aspire to be more observant, [but] they don’t expect you to swallow the whole pill.”

Felch agrees. “We convey Judaism and Jewish life with a little bit of sugar,” he said.

Ann Luban, 33, who also attends Anshe Emet, already keeps kosher and doesn’t drive or use electricity on the Sabbath. But she is drawn to Conservative Judaism’s emphasis on community and understanding Jewish law in modern times.

“I believe in our ability to interpret what God wants from us in a historical context,” she said.

Some Jews leave Conservative synagogues for Reform communities because they want a more liberal agenda or because they do not want to be bound by law. Because in recent years many Reform congregations have opted for more Hebrew and traditional rituals, some Reform services may be more similar to the Conservative than in the past.

But the main reasons Conservative rabbis cite for the falloff in membership are an aging population and a rise in the intermarriage rate, Wertheimer said. Reform temples have historically been more welcoming to interfaith couples.

“The Reform movement is getting the lion’s share of intermarried families,” he said.

Others move to Orthodox communities, as did Jacob Handelman, a lawyer who grew up in a Conservative synagogue, went to an Orthodox Day school and helped his father photograph Reform bar mitzvahs.

`That hazy middle’

He likes the traditional minyan at Anshe Emet but prefers the level of observance at Chicago’s Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation, a modern Orthodox synagogue, where members are more observant.

“I still see Conservatism to a certain extent as that hazy middle,” he said.

But he said his wife plans to stay at Anshe Emet, where women participate fully in all services.

To attract more members and keep their congregations vibrant, religious leaders must meet the needs of a diverse population, Siegel said.

Anshe Emet, which has 1,300 families and has bucked the trend by growing 20 to 25 percent in five years, provides an extensive Jewish education program and services to meet a variety of needs and levels of observance.

“All of our services are participatory,” Siegel said. “Some are more traditional with less English. Some are more liberal. Some use instruments.”

Rabbi Elliot Dorff, a philosophy professor at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, wants the movement to be more forthright in discussing moral issues and the implications of Jewish teaching in the areas of medicine, sexual ethics and poverty and war.

“If we’re trying to convince people to come to the Conservative movement, we [need to stress] that a Conservative approach has moral implications,” said Dorff, who will also speak Monday.

Unlike the Orthodox–and many Conservative Jews–he supports allowing gay and lesbian ordination and unions. Although the Torah condemns homosexual acts, Dorff believes that condemnation applies only to cultic sex, promiscuous sex or oppressive sex.

“Loving sex should be sanctified,” he said, and as a member of the movement’s law committee, he will be evaluating responsa–letters on Jewish law addressing this issue–and anticipates a decision in 2004.

Wertheimer is less concerned about number of members than their level of commitment.

“Those of us who are convinced that traditional religions have staying power are convinced that eventually people will understand a truly serious religion is not one in which people are doing their own thing,” he said. “They need to take on a sense of obligation.”