Should the Conservative Movement Assimilate Secular Values?

By Yoni Yares
Rutgers University

Much has already been said about the number of Jews that have assimilated into their surrounding cultures and have forgotten their identities as Jews. This is a very important problem, but I will not focus on it because I think it is an overly discussed angle. Instead I will look at how the values of the places where Jews have lived have found their way into the Conservative Movement and into other parts of Judaism. I can think of two major examples: women’s rights and the rights of homosexuals.

The last thirty years have been a time of progress for women in Conservative Judaism --the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly has permitted women to take part in many rituals that were previous unavailable to them. Some of those changes include permitting women to read publicly from the Torah, counting women as part of the minyan, allowing women to receive aliyot (be called to the Torah) and allowing women to take on the obligation of wearing tallit and tefillin during prayer. Women in the Conservative Movement can also now serve as shlihat tzibbur -- the leader of a service -- and serve as a Rabbi or a poseket - an arbiter of religious law. Parts of the service were also changed to include women in the liturgy -- these include the addition of the Imahot (Matriarchs) to the Amidah and the elimination of the blessing in the Birkhot HaShahar (morning blessings) where men thanked God for not making them women. Each of these was evaluated on its own halakhic (Jewish legal) merits, as opposed to a blanket egalitarian change.

The issue of homosexuality has come to forefront in the secular world and it has now similarly entered the debate within the Jewish world. In some sects of Judaism, same-sex couples can be married by a Rabbi. In December, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) will meet to decide if openly gay people can be admitted into its Rabbinical and Cantorial schools, as well as if its rabbis are permitted to officiate at commitment ceremonies. In the secular world there are no barriers to entry-- it does not matter if you are homosexual, heterosexual, tall or short, you can do anything. The question is whether the same secular view should apply to the Jewish world. Also, in terms of the future of the Movement, which is preferable: to alienate a small group or to risk the rest of the right wing side of the Movement leaving Conservative Judaism, even as we struggle with what it means to be governed by Jewish law?

Reactions to these changes are varied, depending on each person’s opinion about altering things found in the Torah. There is a similar debate taking place in the political world over whether the Constitution is a "living" or "dead" document.

When dealing with any issue of assimilation, it is better to leave it up to smaller groups to decide on their own instead of making decisions as a large group. Decisions made for the whole group run the risk of further alienating people: with smaller groups it is easier to meet individual needs. In both the case of women’s rights and gay rights, perhaps the issue should be left up to the individual congregation. Maybe there is no need for the Movement to work on a new piece of halakhah. It could be that some of the best ideas are best left unwritten. We’ll see how the Movement grapples with these concerns come December.

Yonaton Yares is a freshman at Rutgers University. He graduated from Cherry Hill High School East where he is a member of the Class of 2006 Hall of Fame. At Rutgers, he is the Secretary and Director of Communications for the University College Governing Association. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Rutgers University Legislative Affairs Committee, a joint committee between the various campuses at Rutgers. Last, but not least, he is also the service chair of the Rutgers Hillel Board.

[Posted 11/19/06]