Restoring the Prominent Middle. . - Reviews - The Conservative Movement in Judaism: Dilemmas and Opportunities - book review

Judaism, Fall, 2001 by Joel Streicker

The Conservative Movement in Judaism: Dilemmas and Opportunities. By DANIEL J. ELAZAR and RELA MINTZ GEFFEN. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000.

Daniel Elazar and Rela Mintz Geffen argue that Conservative Judaism is in trouble. The list of maladies is long: identification with the Conservative Movement is eroding; a large gap exists between Conservative religious ideology and the actual religious practice of most Conservative Jews; the leadership has yet to articulate the Movement's positions in a way that most Conservative jews understand; the Conservative rabbinate dominates the Movement in a way that precludes the development of significant lay leadership; minority tendencies within the Movement are not sufficiently encouraged; the Movement's various institutions do not work together well; the Movement's influence on the American and international Jewish and world scenes is far weaker than it could be; and the leadership seems poised to loosen the Movement's halakhic moorings. The list's length is only rivaled by the authors' recommendations for righting the Movement's course.

The main dilemma and opportunity confronting the Movement is, and always has been, how to reconcile a commitment to traditional Judaism, rooted in halakha, with full participation in American life. In the two decades after W.W.II, the

majority of religiously-identified American Jews were Conservative. Elazar and Geffen present a concise account of the historical and sociological circumstances that brought the Movement to prominence among the masses of second generation American Jews.

Beginning in the 1960s, social changes led many Conservative Jews, especially the more politically radical but religiously-better educated youth, to question the Movement's institutions, ideology, and style. If historical conditions had once favored the Movement, positioning it in a prominent place in the American Jewish middle, since the 1960s that middle has been contracting uncomfortably. On the right, an increasingly militant and self-confident Orthodoxy has captured those Jews seeking greater fealty to tradition, while, on the left, the Reform Movement has made inroads by complementing its stress on individual choice with more vigorous gestures toward tradition. The centripetal forces of American society, with its ever greater emphasis on individual self-determination, have led the Conservative masses to vote with their feet, either liberalizing their personal religious observance, or leaving the movement altogether.

Elazar and Geffen locate Conservative Judaism's problems--and their solutions--on both the ideological and institutional levels. The leadership has failed to articulate a clear ideology. At bottom, the leadership has allowed the blandishments of American individualism to weaken the Movement's adherence to halakha. The Movement slogan "tradition and change" has become empty, as few leaders have provided a compelling account of what the tradition is, what demands it makes, and how it relates to change. The authors themselves provide a brief but persuasive discussion of what such an account could be by contrasting the Orthodox attitude toward halakha as a code with the Conservative view of halakha as a constitution that is the source for continual modifications of the code in response to changing historical circumstances.

The implication is that a renewed emphasis on halakha will lead more Conservative Jews to greater observance. While the authors undoubtedly see the reassertion of halakha as a theologically correct move, they also believe that it is sociologically sound: the scientific study of religion "points clearly to the fact that in matters religious, the greater the demands, the more faithful and dynamic are the adherents who acceptthem" (202). Greater dynamism at the core will act as a magnet, drawing in those on the Movement's periphery, while attracting the nominally Orthodox who are uncomfortable with Orthodoxy's recent right-ward shift, and even appealing to Reform Jews seeking a greater commitment to traditional Judaism.

Elazar and Geffen outline a series of institutional changes that they believe should accompany and reinforce this ideological shift. In particular, combating the Movement's congregationalism would help broaden the Movement's base, create more lay leaders, and allow the Movement to play a larger role within the wider American Jewish community. The primacy of congregationalism in American religious life tends to isolate synagogues from one another, and from the Movement's other institutions. For most Conservative Jews, "there is no Movement, only the individual synagogue" (33). For Elazar and Geffen, this explains the Movement's lack of appreciation for and acceptance of people whose main allegiance lies in alternative Conservative bodies such as the Solomon Schechter day schools, the chavurot, and the Ramah camps. The authors contend that these organizations include many of the most religiously committed and dynamic individuals, whose leadership should be nurtured and whose participation should be encouraged b oth as an end in itself and as an example to others of what it means to lead a life guided by a Conservative understanding of halakha.