Dear Friends:
Since I was ordained in 1980, the Jewish community and its institutions have been going through a period of significant change and restructuring. Rabbis and Rabbinical organizations have not been insulated from these transformations.
This week I attended the International Rabbinical Assembly Convention in New York City. I do not attend this conference every year, so it was enlightening for me to see the diversity of issues and opinions in which Conservative Rabbis are currently engaged.
The conversations have shifted significantly in recent years. Any questions or ambivalence toward the participation of women in synagogue ritual life and women being ordained as rabbis are distant memories. So, too, the ordination of LGBT rabbis and marriage ceremonies for LGBT members of our congregations are no longer hot-button issues. The discussion is no longer about how to prevent intermarriage, but rather how to warmly welcome intermarried couples and integrate them into our congregations.
There were some topics under discussion that surprised me. While the Conservative Movement has staked out a traditionalist position regarding matrilineal descent (i.e., Jewish identity is determined by the mother), there are younger rabbis advocating that we take a second look at accepting the principle of patrilineality (i.e., Jewish identity being determined by the father). There are also some rabbis asking that the permissibility of Conservative Rabbis performing intermarriages also be discussed.
A growing number of rabbis, especially younger rabbis, are more publicly critical about the policies the State of Israel concerning the Palestinians and occupied territories. There was also discussion about changing Jewish rituals which are traditionally male-centered (such as Jewish laws of divorce), to a more egalitarian format. A lot of discussion took place, as well, about how Millennials differ from past generations of Jews and how synagogues need to change to adapt to a changing Jewish population.
I left New York with a lot to think about. The Jewish community of the year of my ordination was significantly different than it is today. Hopefully, the continued discussion and debate taking place today will not lead to fissures and fraction, but to Jewish renewal and revitalization in the years to come.
