What We Believe, and How We Believe It

by Joanne Palmer

Many (not all) Conservative Jews believe in God.

Many (not all) Conservative Jews try to follow halacha, at least some of the time, at least in some ways.

Most (if not all) of the members of focus groups in a study of Conservative Jews find surprisingly little correlation between their belief in God and their observance of halacha.

Most (if not all) of the focus group members, no matter what their other beliefs, relished the opportunity to talk about them.

“People are on journeys, and halacha is part of their journey,” said Rabbi Dr. Robert Abramson. Rabbi Abramson, is director of both United Synagogue’s department of education and its Commission for Inspiring a Commitment to Halacha.

The 18-member commission’s goal, as its name makes clear, is to strengthen Conservative Jews’ observance of halacha, but commission members realized that they had no idea what it was that most Conservative Jews believe or how they behave.

“We realized that we shouldn’t assume anything,” said Rabbi Abramson. Instead, the commission asked Yonatan Gordis to investigate the relationship between Conservative Jews and halacha, and between them and the Conservative movement itself. For a study funded by Temple Zion Israelite Center in Miami, Mr. Gordis put together four focus groups made up of 25- to 45-year-old members of four Conservative synagogues across the continent, chosen by their rabbis for their commitment to Jewish life. Group participants talked about their “relationship to Halakha and autonomy in their lives,” as the preface to the report Mr. Gordis produced put it. “In particular, the Commission was seeking to understand how current levels of practice were determined and what factors could affect the participants’ observance of Halakha in the future,” the report continued.

All the participants were guaranteed anonymity; only three people, including Rabbi Abramson and Mr. Gordis, have listened to the tapes all the way through, and all distinguishing details have been omitted from the written report. “It was a fascinating range of people in the groups,” Rabbi Abramson said. “People with different degrees of observance, some born Orthodox, some converts, some who understood fully where the Conservative movement is and why halacha is important; some who are growing halachically, others who are moving backward.”

‘In one sense, there were not a lot of surprises, but the voices were very important to the committee,” Rabbi Abramson reported. “It gave it flesh and blood.”

A number of issues emerged, he said. First, “people are navigating their patterns of observance in terms of other members of their family and other things they value.” In other words, when one spouse is more – or less – interested in halachic observance than the other, the two must negotiate a level of observance at least tolerable to both. Add in children, and the need to navigate and compromise becomes even stronger. Such issues as work schedules often are another complication.

Next, Rabbi Abramson said, is that “by and large these people are God-mindful. They believe in God, most of them; they turn to God.” Most of these people are somewhat observant, in ways each defines for him or herself.

“But they also have what I’ve come to call a radical disconnect between God-mindfulness and spirituality on the one hand, and observance on the other. If you ask them why they are observant, they will say because it’s part of being in my community, it enhances my life, it’s part of being Jewish. If you ask them about God, they’ll talk about God and prayer, but they don’t see a relationship between God and halacha.

“They don’t see halacha as being a pathway to God, although they do see it as being a pathway to the Jewish people,” Rabbi Abramson continued. “When we asked them what they understood to be halacha, almost all their answers have to do with observance. It doesn’t mean that their ethical values aren’t related to halachic values, but that’s not how they associate it. It is intriguing, particularly in the religious environment of the 21st century.”

He acknowledges that focus groups are too small to be conclusive, to prove anything other than the consensus of those groups. Moreover, even within those groups “we do have some eloquent statements that make the connection” between God and halacha, Still, he believes that the question for him and the rest of the committee is to puzzle out the meaning of that disconnect and devise ways to bridge it.

Another finding was simple but striking. “People express enthusiasm and gratitude for the ability to get together and talk about these things,” he said. “Partially it was ‘Gee, someone in the movement wants to listen to us,’ and partially it was ‘We don’t talk about this among ourselves.’ That doesn’t mean that people are isolated from each other, it doesn’t mean that they don’t share Shabbes dinner with each other, but their journeys aren’t things that they share with each other. You sit next to the same person in shul for years and years and you don’t know why they come to shul. No one gets you to talk to each other about it.”

Now the commission will plan its next step. That is likely to include conversation or study groups, Rabbi Abramson said. Beyond that will be an attempt to create a synagogue environment – in sociologist Peter Berger’s terms, a plausibility structure – that would allow discussions about God and God’s relationship to halacha to unfold. “My bet is that when 20 percent of the people in a congregation are ready to discuss where they are with God and halacha and where they are with observance and ethical values, to use that whole group of terms, and then they begin to use it, and to disagree, and to talk, that will become a vital center of consciousness for the congregation,” Rabbi Abramson said. Once that critical mass of people is formed, others will want to join them; no one will judge them for choosing such topics for discussion. Even doubters will feel free to join in.

If this freedom to talk about what used to be off-limits takes, if congregants feel free to talk about their deepest beliefs – and even their nagging doubts – then that new freedom willlead to a richer spiritual life both at home and at shul, Rabbi Abramson believes.