Conservative Movement in Judaism

Daniel J. Elazar was the President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Professor Emeritus of Intergovernmental Relations at Bar-Ilan University. He was the author and editor of more than seventy books, including, with coauthor Harold M. Waller, the National Jewish Book Award Winner Maintaining Consensus: The Canadian Jewish Polity in the Postwar World. Rela Mintz Geffen is Professor of Sociology at Gratz College. She is the editor of several books including Celebration and Renewal: Rites of Passage in Judaism, and with Marsha Bryan Edelman, Freedom and Responsibility: Exploring the Dilemmas of Jewish Continuity.

• Acknowledgments Introduction: Conservative Judaism: Past and Future The Conservative AchievementConfronting Difficult IssuesMethodology of This StudyLooking Toward the Future Part I: The State of the Movement 1. A History of Ambivalence A Reluctant SeparationThe Movement As a PartyFrom Party to Camp? 2. Institutions The Changing Position of the SeminaryThe Congregational Heart of the MovementThe Variety of Congregational ModelsA Note on Youth MovementsNew Institutions EmergeThe Ramah CampsThe HavurotThe Solomon Schechter Schools 3. Ideology and Theology God, Torah, and IsraelShifts and StagesBenchmarks and Boundaries 4. Style Sephardim and LitvaksElite and MassRabbinical PreeminenceSynagogismReligious Observance 5. Demographics Concentric Circles of JewishnessDecline in the Fourth GenerationOrthodoxy ResurgentThe Changing FamilyA Note on Regionalism in the Conservative Movement 6. Leadership In the MovementIn the CongregationsIn the Jewish WorldVoluntary Leadership in the Existing Institutional Framework 7. The World Movement The New Context of World JewryThe Scope of the World Conservative/Masorti MovementThe Movement in IsraelA Missed DirectionA New Partnership 8. What the Movement’s Leadership Seeks Raising the Halakhic ProfileEnhancing Conservative Intellectual LifeAddressing the Spiritual Needs of Conservative JewsThe Communal ApproachThe Zionist Approach Part II: Next Steps 9. Ideology, Halakhah, and a Broadened Base The Need for Ideological ClarificationFostering a More Serious Halakhic MovementBroadening the BaseConfronting the Demographic ChallengeBuilding a Real World MovementBuilding a Masorti Movement in IsraelIs Conservative Judaism Best Served through a Single Movement or a Multi-Movement Community?Links to the Jewish People 10. Internal Unity From Congregationalism to Community Reducing the Gap between the CirclesIntegrating the Movement’s Parts into a WholeBroadening the LeadershipThe Role of the Jewish Theological SeminaryStrengthening Rabbinic LeadershipLearning from History: A Summary and Final Word Glossary Notes Index

"This account of the present and prospects on Conservative Judaism realizes the promise of the social study of a religion. It is informed, critical, enlightening, factual and well-grounded, and it goes right to the heart of matters. I cannot imagine a better study of the politics and sociology of a contemporary religious movement." — Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies"…thoughtful criticisms and proposals for change …" — South Florida Jewish Journal"It is informed, critical, enlightening, factual and well-grounded, and it goes right to the heart of matters. I cannot imagine a better study of the politics and sociology of a contemporary religious movement. An implicit philosophy of the social order permeates the book. Conservative Judaism emerges in the authors' presentation as a 'Movement,' by which they mean, an organization of Judaism.Elazar and Geffen have written the single best book on Conservative Judaism since Marshall Sklare's Conservative Judaism (1955) exposed a religious movement for what it was, a phase in the sociology of an ethnic group." ― The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies"This book should be a welcome addition to every Jewish household. In addition to the detailed discussion of the Conservative Movement, the authors provide an in-depth analysis of current American Jewish identities." — Nitza Druyan, Hofstra University"Elazar and Geffen's volume is much needed in Jewish life today. Interpreting the Conservative movement through the lens of political science and sociology, the work advocates bold decisions, new institutional frameworks, and holistic strategies. It offers world Jewry competitive alternatives to Reform and Orthodox Judaism and develops strategies for those looking for tradition, and especially reaches out to the Israeli Sephardic population. The authors challenge Conservative members to reconceptualize the Movement's foundation and to entertain changing the Movement's name from Conservative to Masorti." —Henry Green, University of Miami