Most of you who are reading this are members, or associated with, the “Conservative” movement, by virtue of your connection with our Torat El community. But in an age where the younger generation is eschewing the notion of belonging to “organizational” Judaism in general, at a time when the 20th century denominational structures in general are being challenged in a whole host of ways, and when boundaries of liberal movements are increasingly blurred- the question that comes up is just what it means to be a “Conservative” Jew today, and what importance that label has in your life and in our world.
Rabbi Joshua Kulp, the head of the Conservative Yeshivah in Jerusalem, brings all of this to mind in the article below. When you are finished reading, I would love to hear your thoughts on the following questions:
1. Just what does the being associated with a “Conservative” synagogue mean to you? Try to phrase your answer in terms of what a Conservative Jew is, and not what he/she is not.
2. What do you celebrate about being a Conservative Jew and what do you struggle with?
3. Do you think denominations matter in the year 2017 or do you think we are moving towards a more “post denominational” era?
I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
The Search For Authenticity: The Future of The Conservative Movement
Rabbi Joshua Kulp
When I began my rabbinical school studies, one of my teachers warned me that the search for the authentic form of Judaism is not like coring through an apple. Do not be under the illusion, he warned me, that by digging deeper into Jewish sources I would eventually get to the core of Judaism, the seed from which the rest germinates. Rather, this inspirational figure in my life taught me, Judaism is like an onion. Below one layer is simply another layer, no more or less authentic than the layer above or below. Judaism does not have a core that is more authentic than any other layer in its existence. Each layer of Judaism, created over the span of thousands of years, is as authentic (or inauthentic) as another.
It is no secret that the Conservative movement, once at the epicenter of Judaism in America, is struggling to define itself. I grew up in the most Conservative Jewish family one can imagine – my father was a cantor, my mother youth group adviser, Ramah, USY, the works. Back then, and still now, if you asked a Jew what it means to be a Conservative Jew they would tell you that they’re not as religious as the Orthodox and they’re more religious than the Reform. But ideological commitment is not forged through simple negation of others.
The title “Conservative” was born out of an attempt to distinguish this stream from the earlier Reform movement from which it sprouted. The “Conservative” movement turned to Jews in America who were assimilating at a rapid pace and offered to “conserve” elements of their not too distant past, including traditional prayers recited in Hebrew, a commitment, at least among the rabbinic leadership, to maintain the Sabbath laws, some level of adherence to the dietary restrictions. These were all elements of Judaism that had been deemed largely irrelevant by the Reform movement. The success of the Conservative movement in these three elements has been at best mixed. Most Conservative Jews do not attend prayer services regularly, most do not observe the Sabbath in a substantive manner, and most do not adhere to the basic dietary restrictions. Indeed, in the United States it has become difficult to distinguish between the average Conservative Jew and the average Reform Jew. The term “Conservative” has become at best meaningless and at worst a sign of a certain degree of hypocrisy – the Conservative movement espouses ideals which its members do not in a meaningful way uphold.
At its most recent convention, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism began a process whereby the term “Conservative” is replaced by the term “authentic.” Jews crave “authenticity,” or so the polls taken say. But human beings almost always crave “authenticity.” Just ask the marketers who tried to replace Coca Cola with “New Coke.” For the term to have any meaning, and to avoid the accusations of hypocrisy that have been, at times accurately, hurled at the Conservative movement, it must be defined. If there is no basis for “authenticity” then the term turns into a vacuous defense of everything. What then is the basis for “authenticity” in Judaism?
