Conservative transformation group seeking new members http://blogs.jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/conservative-transformation-group-seeking-new-members/ Remember the coalition of Conservative leaders that recently demanded a greater role in the planning the movement’s future? We wrote about it here and here.  en-us bharris@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-03-30T;19:40:00-05:00 Comment by SP samu1613@yahoo.com Waterman, you remind me of those who insisted on remaining on the Titanic after all the lifeboats left.  your absolute con-loyalty is admirable if you were rooting for a last place team, but be real.  the cons keep moving leftward and have discarded Halacha for popular independent decisionmaking.  Sorry, this is not Judaism.  You need to upgrade your software before your hardware crashes.  80% of my con-peers have intermarried & are out of the Jewish loop & if married to a Jew, have1.5 kids! This group came out of the 50’s when con-shuls were stronger. Today’s #’s are worse.  Permit me to rephrase your words:  You are reactionary against anything to your right.  (My con-rabbi obm, used to say,all Jews should continually move to the right!)Halachic Judaism has produced rulings that you sadly see as repugnant & you have become alienated along with the majority of the world’s disappearing Jews.  Remember that only 1/5 merited leaving Egypt.  It sounds like you would have been left behind!  I can only hope your bright-eyed optimism can maintain a movement of construction, but for the last 40 yrs, there has been destruction of key building blocks of Judaism. As for Israel, there are 2 major groups and 1 minor group- You have the religious secular which respects Judaism and will never tinker with the Book, you have the multi-flavor religious who maintain the Book and you have the self-hating Jews and reformers who want to throw out the book or rewrite it- to their way of thinking.  Sorry to hear you are alienated from traditional Judaism- Perhaps this Pesach you will become free from your enslaved feelings!  Happy Pesach! Waterman, you remind me of those who insisted on remaining on the Titanic after all the lifeboats left.  your absolute con-loyalty is admirable if you were rooting for a last place team, but be real.  the cons keep moving leftward and have discarded Halacha for popular independent decisionmaking.  Sorry, this is not Judaism.  You need to upgrade your software before your hardware crashes.  80% of my con-peers have intermarried & are out of the Jewish loop & if married to a Jew, have1.5 kids!
This group came out of the 50’s when con-shuls were stronger.
Today’s #’s are worse.  Permit me to rephrase your words:  You are reactionary against anything to your right.  (My con-rabbi obm, used to say,all Jews should continually move to the right!)Halachic Judaism has produced rulings that you sadly see as repugnant & you have become alienated along with the majority of the world’s disappearing Jews.  Remember that only 1/5 merited leaving Egypt.  It sounds like you would have been left behind!  I can only hope your bright-eyed optimism can maintain a movement of construction, but for the last 40 yrs, there has been destruction of key building blocks of Judaism.
As for Israel, there are 2 major groups and 1 minor group-
You have the religious secular which respects Judaism and will never tinker with the Book, you have the multi-flavor religious who maintain the Book and you have the self-hating Jews and reformers who want to throw out the book or rewrite it-
to their way of thinking.  Sorry to hear you are alienated from traditional Judaism- Perhaps this Pesach you will become free from your enslaved feelings!  Happy Pesach!

]]> 2012-02-09T;19:12:00-05:00 Comment by Michael Waterman mikewaterm@aol.com The Conservative Movement remains a major, dynamic, important, functioning sector of Judaism.  It is clearly the hope for the future of Israel.  By leaving Jewish issues to the reactionary, far-right wing - which has produced rulings that can be seen as morally repugnant (concerning marriage, divorce, burial, acceptance of Jews-by-choice), we have alienated a majority of the world’s Jews. While the Movement has recently been less-than-effective in promoting itself, it still serves a critical role in the development and continuity of Judaism. It is incumbant that we take aggressive steps to unify, rejuvenate, promote and publicize the Movement. To many of us, Conversative/Masorti Judaism is the key to living a meaningful Jewish life in the modern world. The Conservative Movement remains a major, dynamic, important, functioning sector of Judaism.  It is clearly the hope for the future of Israel.  By leaving Jewish issues to the reactionary, far-right wing - which has produced rulings that can be seen as morally repugnant (concerning marriage, divorce, burial, acceptance of Jews-by-choice), we have alienated a majority of the world’s Jews.
While the Movement has recently been less-than-effective in promoting itself, it still serves a critical role in the development and continuity of Judaism.
It is incumbant that we take aggressive steps to unify, rejuvenate, promote and publicize the Movement.
To many of us, Conversative/Masorti Judaism is the key to living a meaningful Jewish life in the modern world.

]]> 2012-02-09T;19:12:00-05:00 Comment by stuart goldbarg sgoldbarg@msn.com As the Conservative Movement became more ‘modern’, and the Reform Movement became more traditional, I think they passed each other in the night.  The Conservative’s reason for coming into existence was that the Reform went way too far.  At this point, the Conservatives might as well fold themselves into the Reform Movement.  The present situation is sad, because the Conservative Movement educated titantic intellects and moral giants like Rabbi I. I. Efros and Rabbi Abraham Heschel, men of blessed memory. As the Conservative Movement became more ‘modern’, and the Reform Movement became more traditional, I think they passed each other in the night.  The Conservative’s reason for coming into existence was that the Reform went way too far.  At this point, the Conservatives might as well fold themselves into the Reform Movement. 

The present situation is sad, because the Conservative Movement educated titantic intellects and moral giants like Rabbi I. I. Efros and Rabbi Abraham Heschel, men of blessed memory.

]]> 2012-02-09T;19:12:00-05:00 Comment by Joshua Pines joshpines@aol.com I don’t think it’s salvageable.  Conservative Judaism has strayed too far. Sadly. I don’t think it’s salvageable.  Conservative Judaism has strayed too far. Sadly.

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