The Rap on Conservative Judaism

In his farewell address at JTS, outgoing chancellor Ismar Schorsch stepped to the plate to deliver a blistering critique on the current state of Conservative Movement. Finally set free from the constraints of institutional politics, Schorsch was able to deliver some deeply needed constructive cricism to his movemnt.

“As opposed to the dense and demanding discourse of scholarship, students crave instant gratification. The way to the heart is not through the circuitous and arduous route of the mind but the rhythmic beat of the drums. …

“The primitiveness of rap and the consumerism of the mall threaten to trivialize the literary culture that is the pride of Judaism. Kitsch has become kosher. A synagogue out of sync is deemed bereft of spirituality. … Our addiction to instant gratification has stripped us of the patience to appreciate any discourse whose rhetoric is dense and demanding. Mindlessly, we grasp for the quick spiritual fix.”

So there you have it. According to the out going head of the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism the leading problem in movmementis...rap music. Which begs the question - where has Schorsch been for the last 30 years? Did he ever leave the confines of JTS? If he had actually spent time in the Conservative hinterland, he would have realized that the movement has produced a generation of somnulent suburban congregations. It is hemorraging members at the edges, while at the same time alienated what should be its next generation of lay leaders to the point that the most vibrant and dynamic communities practicing Conservative Judaism shun the label.


The greatest problem facing Conservative Judaism today is the same one it has struggled with for generations - the disconnect between the elite and mass Conservative Judaism. Elite, or Seminary Conservative Judaism is bosed on a conviction that the proper response to modernity is for Judaism to preserve binding halakha, but to craft a jurisprudence that is critically informed and flexible enough to adapt to modern social change. Mass Conservatism Judaism is based on the desire to attend a service that is mostly in Hebrew and sit next to one's spouse, and a rejection of Orthoodx and Reform Judaism as being either too traditional or not traditional enough (In other words, it is about going to shul 3 days a year, and avoiding corn syrup for 8 days a year, and feeling reassured that at least your rabbi and cantor keep Shabbat and kashrut).


Since Schorsch's diagnosis utterly fails to notice the debilitating ailment of Conservative Judaism, it is not surprising that his prescriptions are way off the mark as well.

In his remarks, the chancellor also lamented the loss of “great scholarship,” which he said has “ceased to energize [the movement] as it had in the past.”

“Once, the polarity of truth and faith at the seminary had made it home for the acme of 20th-century Jewish scholarship, a venue of ferment and fertility,” he said. “Faith once moved us to study our heritage deeply, which truth asked of us that we do it critically, in light of all that we know. Willful ignorance was never an acceptable recourse. The interaction set us apart as the vital center of modern Judaism. But no longer.”

Schorsch may be right that the level of scholarship of JTS has slipped from the Golden Age of Kaplan, Lieberman and Heschel. Improving the scholarship at JTS may be valuable on its own terms, but it does nothing to solve the crippling levels of Jewish illteracy found in most Conservative congregations. Its like arguing that the crisis in American education can be solved if only Harvard cracked down on grade inflation.


The first thing that Conservative Judaism needs to decide is whether it wants to be a mass movement like Reform Judaism or an elite movement like Modern Orthodoxy. There is no place in modern American religion for Conservative Judaism of the past 50 years; one with featured prayerbooks that deliberatley mistranslate prayers, responsa locked safely away at the Seminary, cantors who pray/peform for the congregation and rabbis who abstrusely sermonize rather than teach.


So if you want to be an elite movement, be elite. Feed your core, build from the inside out. Erase the line between clergy and laity by letting lay leaders daven and teach. Above all, do not water things down for the less committed at the expense of the passion of your core. If the moderately affiliated want to flock to less demanding forms of Judaism, let them go; but at least give them a real option. Even if this model was to be done in the most inclusive way possible (a la Hadar) it would still result in a smaller, leaner movement.


But if Conservative Judaism is set on remaining a mass movement, then in needs to start figuring out how to meet the needs of congregants at different levels of knowledge and observance. Right now, the movement takes a schizophrentic approach - at times congregants are assumed to be fully Jewishly literate (e.g. long stretches of old-school davening with explanation) and at times they are assumed to be not only Jewishly illiterate, but also child-like (responsive readings, rabbinic "conducting" of the service. Either you have the ability to read rabinnic sources in the original Hebrew or you can suffice with soundbites from the rabbi.


A Conservative Judaism serious about being a mass movement would stop confusing Hebrew semi-literacy with Hebrew illiteracy, and Hebrew illiteracy with illiteracy. The movement needs to get traditional rabbinnic commentary translated into English(ideally keeping the Hebrew text as well) and into the hands of Conservative Congregants. Certaintly nuances are lost in the translation, but that's what rabbis are for - to point out and explain those nuances. This is not brain science - Art Scroll figured this out years ago. If you a spritual seeker you can now find right-wing interpretations of much of the rabbinic tradition easily available while more nuanced and accurate translations are done ad hoc by Conservative rabbis and educators. If there is no room in the Conservative prayerbook for a full explanation of the structure and meaning of the service, then a companion guide should be created to fit in the pews of every Conservative shul.


Moreover, its a serious mass Conservative Judaism would acknowledge that it is more important to increase congregant observance than it is for every "synagogue-sponsored" event to meet the highest halakhic standards. For example, it is insane to limit a home Shabbat program to just those congregants who actually keep kashrut. Holding out for a seamless web of observance is denying the reality of mass Conservative Judaism


Is it possible for a renewed elite Conservative Judaism and a more populist mass Conservative Judaism? Yes, if, and only if, the movement adopts a multiple congregation synagogue model. Elite Conservative Judaism needs space for lay leaders to lead, to be a room full of passionate participants rather than bar-mitzvah guests; to have a fluid service rather than a permanent learner's service. But these traditional-egalitarian minyans need the institutional resources of synagogues, and the synagogues need their passion and knowledge. The most dynamic Conservative synagogues feed off the passion of in-house minyans. The easiest way to fuse these groups, to bring together core and periphery is music, percussive, melodic music. And so, what Schorsch disdains as a "quick spiritual fix" that threatens to destroy Conservative Judaism might just be the one thing that can save it..