Rabbis' Voice Articles

How do you find volunteers to lead and serve a congregation? What is the purpose of a congregation, to its members? Is obligation, especially in a religious context heteronomous (coming from outside us, i.e. from God), autonomous (coming from ourselves), or is there a third option? What are the latest ways Conservative Jews are thinking about intermarriage? What is the role of halakha (Jewish law) in our movement in and in our lives? What’s with the second blessing of the Amidah (that prays for resurrection of the dead)? And is there a melody for it that sounds a bit more serious than the one you definitely already know? What Jewish resources are there around addiction, recovery and resilience? 

These were some of the questions animating sessions I attended at the Conservative/Masorti Convening (a sort of movement biennial convention) at the beginning of December in Baltimore. Permeating everything was conversation, anxiety, and wrestling about Israel and Gaza. There were sessions about justice/tikkun olam, and about the reorganization and new strategic plan for USY. There were concerts (including with Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, who was here at Kol Rinah in 2021), a taping of an episode of the podcast "Unorthodox", and a live show of the pandemic web phenomenon "Who Knows One?"

It wasn’t a huge convention. It was mostly rabbis, cantors, synagogue executive directors, and synagogue board presidents, with more folks from the east coast in driving distance, as you can expect. 

Reflecting on the experience, I can’t help but notice what was not a topic of conversation or of handwringing: the future of Conservative Judaism and the Conservative Movement. There were no warnings sounded about our imminent demise, or about anything shrinking. There were no fights or angry debates (at least that I heard). This doesn’t mean that everything is perfect and that we all agree. But the spirit was one of curiosity, appreciation, of sharing struggles and ideas, of connecting and reconnecting with friends and colleagues new and old. 

It’s a nice feeling to realize that there are ways we (and I) have certain things figured out, and also great to talk to people who have figured out things that I can foresee we’ll have to deal with at some point too, or that we’re thinking about right now. 

I’m grateful to have been able to attend, and I look forward to sharing pieces of what I learned and heard with you all over the coming months.