More Than An Option: The Need for Synagogue Movements
December 1999
As I begin my second term as president of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, an organization of congregations, I am increasingly sensitive to the need for synagogues to spend their money wisely. My concern, however, is that -- under the influence of immediate needs and emergent situations -- synagogues may be tempted to turn inward and focus only on their short-term goals. That would be a great mistake.
In North America today, synagogues of like philosophy are, for the most part, joined together in Movements. While the policies and ritual practices of different congregations within each Movement may vary to some extent, there is a common set of beliefs holding together those synagogues that comprise a Movement. To say, therefore, that a synagogue is Reform simply because it pays dues to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations would be underestimating the nature of that congregation's attachment to a particular religious orientation. On the other hand, to say that an organization is Orthodox simply because it gives itself that title -- even though it does not affiliate with a larger group (for example, the Orthodox Union or Young Israel) -- is equally misleading.
Paying Movement dues is not about buying services -- although synagogue organizations continue to offer an ever-increasing number of services to member congregations. Rather, affiliation is a statement of identity for the individual congregation. Any synagogue can call itself a Conservative congregation without formal affiliation, and indeed it can look and act like a Conservative synagogue. However, it would not be part of the Movement. Movements, by definition, are not stagnant. They continue to evolve in accordance with their theology and ideology.
Using Conservative Jews as an example, it is clear that the Movement has evolved over the last century, exercising a major impact on Judaism and Jewish life in North America. It was in the Conservative Movement that the bat mitzvah was developed and became an accepted ritual. Boys and girls first studied together in Conservative Hebrew schools, and the Solomon Schechter Day Schools were the first non-Orthodox day schools. Could any of these changes have come about through the actions of one congregation, acting without the support, guidance, and encouragement of a larger group?
Do the day schools of the Orthodox and Conservative Movements create their own curricula? Print their own textbooks? Would they have the resources to do it? Far from it. It is the umbrella organizations of these Movements that develop course work, produce textbooks and prayerbooks, and create the materials needed to interest and inspire our youth, whether through formal or informal education.
Movements create environments in which individual congregations may flourish and grow. Again citing the Conservative Movement, the United Synagogue created an environment in which it became acceptable for a congregation to choose to treat men and women equally in ritual or to continue the tradition of involving them differently. It is now working with the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Publication Society to produce a new Humash, designed to better meet the needs of Conservative Jews. Each of these efforts takes times and requires a significant investment of resources; and every affiliated synagogue derives a benefit from these projects and programs.
Can congregations maintain "independence" from Movements while borrowing their ideas, trends, and contacts and networking informally with those synagogues that do affiliate? Of course. Yet, in the long term, this is non-productive. After all, if increasing numbers of congregations were to take advantage of this back door, the creative resources generated by the larger entity would likely dry up, yielding instead to a collection of recycled ideas.
Clearly, without the guidance, services, and safety net provided by our Movements, the congregations of North America would be hindered in their efforts to focus their energies to the greatest extent possible on the needs of their individual members. In addition, in the face of the major challenges confronting our community, no synagogue belonging to a Movement has to "go it alone." Whether the issue is taking steps to foster marriage within the faith or working to ensure religious equality for all streams of Judaism, individual congregations inevitably benefit from joining together with others in a common cause.
Stephen S. Wolnek is the International President of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the association of Conservative congregations in North America.
