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| Elliot Cosgrove, Rabbi of the Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue |
What I will say is that Rabbi Cosgrove joins a few other Conservative
leaders (such as the oft mentioned Professor Jack Wertheimer) that are of a similar
mindset. A mindset that urges rabbis to tell their members to focus on Mitzvah observance rather than social justice issues - so that they could have any
chance at all of surviving as a movement and perpetuating the Judaism of their members.
In his Yom Kippur sermon Rabbi Cosgrove did exactly what
Professor Wertheimer said was necessary to save their movement.
From Cross Currents:
From Cross Currents:
He spoke of the myriad blessings of living in the United States, but also of its attendant challenges. Those challenges, he says, are more daunting today than when the sixth Rebbe instructed Shlomo Carlebach and Zalman Shachter to begin visiting college campuses to try to bring errant Jews back to their patrimony. Regrettably, “our unspoken safety net, the three things that rightly or wrongly American Jews could count on to keep us together… can do so no longer: 1) the Shoah, 2) Israel, 3) antisemitism.”
The first has receded too far into the past, the second is too controversial, and the third won’t work in a country that still works to ensure our safety, rather than plots our downfall. Jews in American are doing well, he says. Judaism – not so well. What is there to keep Judaism going into the future?
Today’s rabbis speak about all sorts of things, but are expected to stay away from preaching Judaism. He is breaking that taboo, years after assuming the pulpit. “It’s been more than a decade, and I am saying the very thing a rabbi is supposed to say: I am asking you to do mitzvot.” Only mitzvot preserve the past, and distill it for the future. Only mitzvot express identification with one’s Jewishness in a language more powerful than words.
I think he pretty much nails it. But as much as I applaud Rabbi Cosgrove for his initiative - there are a couple of things about this that give me pause.
First what's missing from the equation is the means to transmit their newfound Halachic commitment to their children. So that even if he somehow convinces some of his members to 'take the plunge' into Halachic observance - even if done incrementally it would eventually involve some major lifestyle changes if taken seriously. Without a concurrent religious education of the type provided by a fully integrated religious and secular studies curriculum, this tactic will at best be a temporary delay of their ultimate demise.
It is a case of too little - too late. Sadly their lot has been cast by over 100 years of 'looking the other way' while their people completely abandon any form of ritual observance. And they are now in the midst of watching their movement crumble at what seems like a breakneck pace. It's kind of like spitting in the wind.
But there's an even bigger problem. Even if Rabbi Cosgrove's urgings would catch on and somehow reverse the trend - with enough people sending their children to their religious school system (Solomon Schechter) there is the 'little' matter of teaching a theology that has historically been considered Apikursus.
Academic study of the bible is pretty well accepted among most Conservative thinkers. Which means they believe the Torah had multiple authors who wrote it at various different periods of Jewish history. And that much of the biblical narrative is fiction used for allegorical purposes.
It is a theology that looks askance at pure faith. A faith being that of their forefathers who transmitted it to their children throughout history to the present day. They have instead exchanged it with the seduction of scientific inquiry that appeals more to the modern mind.
So I'm not sure whether this 'game changer' really is a game changer that matters. Last time Jewish theology was modified successfully we ended up with Christianity.
So for me, this is at best a mixed blessing. The upside is that perhaps some of those that start observing Halacha will gravitate to Orthodoxy and find truth there. But the probability of the above mentioned downside seems to be much greater.
Just some of my off the cuff thoughts on this development.
First what's missing from the equation is the means to transmit their newfound Halachic commitment to their children. So that even if he somehow convinces some of his members to 'take the plunge' into Halachic observance - even if done incrementally it would eventually involve some major lifestyle changes if taken seriously. Without a concurrent religious education of the type provided by a fully integrated religious and secular studies curriculum, this tactic will at best be a temporary delay of their ultimate demise.
It is a case of too little - too late. Sadly their lot has been cast by over 100 years of 'looking the other way' while their people completely abandon any form of ritual observance. And they are now in the midst of watching their movement crumble at what seems like a breakneck pace. It's kind of like spitting in the wind.
But there's an even bigger problem. Even if Rabbi Cosgrove's urgings would catch on and somehow reverse the trend - with enough people sending their children to their religious school system (Solomon Schechter) there is the 'little' matter of teaching a theology that has historically been considered Apikursus.
Academic study of the bible is pretty well accepted among most Conservative thinkers. Which means they believe the Torah had multiple authors who wrote it at various different periods of Jewish history. And that much of the biblical narrative is fiction used for allegorical purposes.
It is a theology that looks askance at pure faith. A faith being that of their forefathers who transmitted it to their children throughout history to the present day. They have instead exchanged it with the seduction of scientific inquiry that appeals more to the modern mind.
So I'm not sure whether this 'game changer' really is a game changer that matters. Last time Jewish theology was modified successfully we ended up with Christianity.
So for me, this is at best a mixed blessing. The upside is that perhaps some of those that start observing Halacha will gravitate to Orthodoxy and find truth there. But the probability of the above mentioned downside seems to be much greater.
Just some of my off the cuff thoughts on this development.
