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For Conservative Jews, numbers don't tell whole story
By: DOUGLAS J. GUTH Staff Reporter
Some national Jewish leaders believe the Conservative movement is no longer the dominant stream of American Judaism.
They contend that the movement is losing ground to the more liberal Reform and Reconstructionist movements, as well as the more traditional Orthodox movement.
To back this claim, they point to the 2000 National Jewish Population Survey. In 1990, they observe, 38% of Jews identified themselves as Conservative, but only 33% did so a decade later.
Not so fast, reply the movement's local representatives. These numbers, they say, don't tell the whole story, and the focus on statistics ignores a movement that is strong at its core.
Conservative Judaism is "a big tent" that allows for a wide range of observance, notes Rabbi Joshua Skoff, spiritual leader of Park Synagogue. This "tent" holds less active, observant Jews as well as those who hold a stricter observance to halacha (Jewish law) while synthesizing modern interpretations of tradition.
The fact that the movement remains so broad and diverse in an era where "people are not as certain about their religious philosophy" might also lead to fewer self-identified Conservative Jews, says Skoff. When they finally affiliate, however, their desire to learn only further empowers the movement.
Memberships of local Conservative synagogues, including Park, B'nai Jeshurun Congregation and Congregation Shaarey Tikvah, have grown or remained steady over the last several years. B'nai Jeshurun, for one, had a net increase of 50 households last year, reports executive director Ralph Rosenthal.
Most of the 770 synagogues affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism have yet to encounter a steep population drop. The growth of congregational religious schools, Solomon Schechter Day Schools and Camps Ramahs reflect the movement's overall stability, says Rabbi Edward Bernstein of Shaarey Tikvah.
Some observers, like Jack Wertheimer, provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, believe a mini baby boom is now filling up the Jewish day schools and camps. When these students graduate, he says, Conservatives Jews will feel the crunch.
"The movement has got to figure out how to adjust to that reality," Wertheimer remarked in an October 2003 Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) article.
As executive director of United Synagogue's Great Lakes and River region, Richard Lederman represents 18,500 Conservative households in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Northern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and Indianapolis. He does not accept the population study's reported decline of Conservative membership, although he concedes regional numbers have remained flat over his four-year tenure.
"We (United Synagogue) are not nervous," Lederman insists.
"The issue for me is, we're not growing," says former Clevelander Rabbi Jerome Epstein, United Synagogue's executive vice president. While there has not been a significant decline in the past 10 to 15 years, United Synagogue has seen its membership hit a plateau.
Part of the reason, Epstein told the CJN, is the growing number of intermarried couples. Conservative congregations are urged to make interfaith couples feel welcome, but non-Jewish members of those families are not allowed to lead prayer services or hold elected positions in the congregation.
Some interfaith couples are leaving for Reform congregations where conversions are not required for full membership and interfaith marriages are performed. "They feel more comfortable in a synagogue where the demands of tradition are not as strong," Epstein explains.
The challenge, he says, is to "articulate the message" to make interfaith couples feel more comfortable "while at the same time not moving from our goal of having people raise Jewish families. We believe our message is the right message."
Indeed, the "core beliefs" of the movement will not and should not drastically change just to attract more members, says Shaarey Tikvah's Bernstein. This includes not sanctioning patrilineal descent - accepting as Jews those with Jewish fathers but non-Jewish mothers - as the Reform movement has.
Meanwhile, the issues of performing gay commitment ceremonies and ordaining openly gay students as rabbis, forbidden under Conservative strictures, are currently under debate by the movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements ordain gays, while Orthodoxy forbids it. Like Reform congregations, Conservative congregations do welcome gay members and ordain women as rabbis.
Conservative Judaism's centrist ideals might have spurred some members on either end of the halachic specrum to more and less embrace traditional streams of Judaism, say experts.
However, Bernstein feels the Conservative movement will continue to attract new members through keruv (outreach), which seeks to draw people to Judaism without changing Jewish standards.
"We may have lost some (Jews) on the periphery, but the core of the movement is as strong as ever," says Bernstein.
(with JTA reports)
They contend that the movement is losing ground to the more liberal Reform and Reconstructionist movements, as well as the more traditional Orthodox movement.
To back this claim, they point to the 2000 National Jewish Population Survey. In 1990, they observe, 38% of Jews identified themselves as Conservative, but only 33% did so a decade later.
Not so fast, reply the movement's local representatives. These numbers, they say, don't tell the whole story, and the focus on statistics ignores a movement that is strong at its core.
Conservative Judaism is "a big tent" that allows for a wide range of observance, notes Rabbi Joshua Skoff, spiritual leader of Park Synagogue. This "tent" holds less active, observant Jews as well as those who hold a stricter observance to halacha (Jewish law) while synthesizing modern interpretations of tradition.
The fact that the movement remains so broad and diverse in an era where "people are not as certain about their religious philosophy" might also lead to fewer self-identified Conservative Jews, says Skoff. When they finally affiliate, however, their desire to learn only further empowers the movement.
Memberships of local Conservative synagogues, including Park, B'nai Jeshurun Congregation and Congregation Shaarey Tikvah, have grown or remained steady over the last several years. B'nai Jeshurun, for one, had a net increase of 50 households last year, reports executive director Ralph Rosenthal.
Most of the 770 synagogues affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism have yet to encounter a steep population drop. The growth of congregational religious schools, Solomon Schechter Day Schools and Camps Ramahs reflect the movement's overall stability, says Rabbi Edward Bernstein of Shaarey Tikvah.
Some observers, like Jack Wertheimer, provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, believe a mini baby boom is now filling up the Jewish day schools and camps. When these students graduate, he says, Conservatives Jews will feel the crunch.
"The movement has got to figure out how to adjust to that reality," Wertheimer remarked in an October 2003 Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) article.
As executive director of United Synagogue's Great Lakes and River region, Richard Lederman represents 18,500 Conservative households in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Northern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and Indianapolis. He does not accept the population study's reported decline of Conservative membership, although he concedes regional numbers have remained flat over his four-year tenure.
"We (United Synagogue) are not nervous," Lederman insists.
"The issue for me is, we're not growing," says former Clevelander Rabbi Jerome Epstein, United Synagogue's executive vice president. While there has not been a significant decline in the past 10 to 15 years, United Synagogue has seen its membership hit a plateau.
Part of the reason, Epstein told the CJN, is the growing number of intermarried couples. Conservative congregations are urged to make interfaith couples feel welcome, but non-Jewish members of those families are not allowed to lead prayer services or hold elected positions in the congregation.
Some interfaith couples are leaving for Reform congregations where conversions are not required for full membership and interfaith marriages are performed. "They feel more comfortable in a synagogue where the demands of tradition are not as strong," Epstein explains.
The challenge, he says, is to "articulate the message" to make interfaith couples feel more comfortable "while at the same time not moving from our goal of having people raise Jewish families. We believe our message is the right message."
Indeed, the "core beliefs" of the movement will not and should not drastically change just to attract more members, says Shaarey Tikvah's Bernstein. This includes not sanctioning patrilineal descent - accepting as Jews those with Jewish fathers but non-Jewish mothers - as the Reform movement has.
Meanwhile, the issues of performing gay commitment ceremonies and ordaining openly gay students as rabbis, forbidden under Conservative strictures, are currently under debate by the movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements ordain gays, while Orthodoxy forbids it. Like Reform congregations, Conservative congregations do welcome gay members and ordain women as rabbis.
Conservative Judaism's centrist ideals might have spurred some members on either end of the halachic specrum to more and less embrace traditional streams of Judaism, say experts.
However, Bernstein feels the Conservative movement will continue to attract new members through keruv (outreach), which seeks to draw people to Judaism without changing Jewish standards.
"We may have lost some (Jews) on the periphery, but the core of the movement is as strong as ever," says Bernstein.
(with JTA reports)
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