USCJ Review - Spring 2006

President's Forum

by Dr. Raymond B. Goldstein

The Pesach seder focuses on the exodus from Mitzrayim, the place we refer to as Egypt. Mitzrayim is more properly translated as "narrow place." Scholars have written that this is a metaphor,that the narrow place might refer to the constraints that we place upon ourselves by our failure to act. The plagues brought upon the Egyptians by God may have been the action required to wake our ancestors from the constraints of complacency.

Conservative Judaism finds itself in its own Mitzrayim, its own narrow place. We have allowed ourselves to grow complacent about what it means to be Conservative Jews. We have allowed ourselves to be defined by the constraints of the streams to our left and our right.

The Conservative movement and the synagogues that form United Synagogue are a halakhic entity that separates itself from the other major strands of Judaism by recognizing a pluralistic, evolving halakha. We do not apologize about our stance - instead we sing its praises. We have beliefs that are intellectually honest and halakhically authentic. Our halakha sets boundaries, which form the walls of a tent. It is a tent large enough to house the pluralism that is a hallmark of our movement; large enough to cover, protect, and value the authenticity of egalitarian and non-egalitarian minyanim.

What we need is some action, some challenges to wake us from our complacency. I suggest that these might include the following:

United Synagogue will enhance the work of Alim, the committee whose role is to help develop or grow Conservative kehillot where they do not exist. We must provide the nucleus around which congregations may develop. We must provide the tools to assist in the evolution of new Conservative congregations where the demographics and the time are right. We will do this to engage Conservative Jews.
Conservative Judaism is intellectual Judaism. It's not enough just to bring our scholars to synagogues once a year for scholar-in-residence programs. We must do more. Pirkei Avot teaches: Select a master teacher for yourself; acquire a colleague for study. United Synagogue must begin to take advantage of new technology to provide all our members with the opportunity to be engaged by master teachers. Using such technologies as podcasting, we will provide outreach to seekers of knowledge. We will engage our members in intellectual debate at a time they select, at a place they select. United Synagogue will plug in and reach out to the minds of our constituency, young and old.
College and graduate school years are for many of us a time of exploration, experimentation, and escape. This is when our children are most vulnerable, and the community most likely to lose them. Challenges to our children's Conservative connections come from both outside and inside the Jewish community. We cannot allow the investments we have all made in our youth to be lost from Conservative Judaism. Koach, our college program, is our only defense. We will expand Koach's reach.
Project Reconnect has identified a large pool of people who once were active in our programs but have become disengaged. We will identify strategies to aid congregations at reaching out to these people.
United Synagogue congregations must get better at reaching out respectfully to intermarried families. Edud is a starting point. We will engage seekers. We will not turn away Jews.
USY remains one of United Synagogue's gems. Its regional and international programs are exceptional. But USY can be only as good as its congregational chapters. We recommit to helping our congregations provide exceptional programs for their teenagers.
United Synagogue's Department of Education's early childhood education initiative is beginning to make an impact throughout the movement. We are raising the level of early childhood education in Conservative congregations. The continuation of this project will enrich our congregations.
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center will become a world center for Conservative Judaism. You have to visit the Center to see what is going on there! Young adults taking time between college and graduate or professional school to study fill the Conservative Yeshiva with life. At Project Oded, Elderhostel-like classes provide challenging study. At the same time, elsewhere in the complex, community members can take classes in ceramics or hold their wedding receptions. The Fuchsberg Center is making a difference.
At Kabbalat Shabbat services at Fuchsberg, as you sit surrounded by Nativniks - teenagers studying in Israel for a year between high school and college - and by the students from the Conservative Yeshiva, you feel the joy and the kavanah that is there for all of us, if only we were to pay attention to it and reach out for it. This energy and vitality can be the spark that will ignite the renaissance in all of our kehillot.
By focusing our energy and our resolve, we will ignite a renaissance of Conservative Judaism within our congregations throughout North America. Let us join together for this goal. It is time to put US, all of us, into Conservative Judaism. USCJ is the US in Conservative Judaism.

Let us face the challenge of our own Mitzrayim. Let us take action to break the bonds that have enslaved our movement. Let us toss off the shackles of complacency and together lead our own destiny. It is time to take charge of our own future.