Returning Conservative Judaism to its Roots

Schechter Queens/Queens Hebrew Academy (JTA)

The Conservative movement has always fascinated me. Especially since its very name was meant to reflect its reason for being. Which was to conserve Judaism for the masses. The movement was founded after the infamous Treif Banquet by HUC - the Reform rabbinical seminary - celebrating the ordination of its rabbis.

Long story short, some of their ordainees were outraged by that and decided to create JTS (the Jewish Theological Seminary). Which would train American rabbis raised in the culture that were loyal to Halacha. Some of its founding faculty members were great Talmidei Chachomim - trained in the finest Yeshivas of pre-war Europe.

As it was originally envisioned, it sounds much like what Yeshiva University would later become. But for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this post, that changed as did the entire movement.  It is no longer considered legitimate (if it ever was) by any segment of Orthodoxy no matter how left wing.

Because of its liberal ‘look the other way’ approach to violations of Halacha by their members, it  grew very quickly to become the dominant movement in America. By the late 50s and early 60s they were growing by leaps and bounds. Orthodoxy was  declared an ancient relic of a dead past.

That was the melting pot mentality of that time. A mentality to which Orthodoxy did not adhere. Most Jews at that time just wanted to chase and live the American dream. Without the obvious impediments of Halachic observance. Conservative Judaism made that easy for them..

But as is rather obvious by now, Orthodoxy did not die. It has grown  exponentially with every passing generation . Mostly because of its strong emphasis on family.

Conservative Judaism is going the other way. Synagogues are either closing or merging with other synagogues membership dwindles at what seems like an ever increasing pace

They now realize that America’s  melting pot culture that helped them grow has morphed into multiculturalism that encourages diversity. Retaining one’s cultural heritage is now celebrated. 

At some point they also realized that without educating their youth about Judaism and completely ignoring observance, there is no way Judaism would ever have any real meaning to their children as adults. So they looked to the successes Orthodoxy was having with their day school movement (through high school) and they tried to emulate it with their own version of a religious school system. that led to to the founding of Solomon Schechter -  the Conservative religious school system. 

By the early 70s there were quite a few schools like that. But by that time it was too late. 70 years of allowing the members to ignore Ha;alcha had taken its toll. Parents were not were not sufficently committed to pay the prohibitaive tutions demanded by those schools.

Meanwhile the movement is hemorrhaging Jews at a record pace. And Conservative leadership isabout scratching their heads about how to stop it. Some wnat to go futher left and join Reform. Others insist on retaining its original mission. 

For the former. moving leftward to a Judaism without Torah (that is Reform) - can in no way be considered authentic. But there is hope for the latter.  As the NY Jewish Week announced in a headline:

First-ever Solomon Schechter day school in North America goes Orthodox.

You read that correctly. What seems to be happening is that the original intent of the movement’s founding principles are finally being realized. Instead of constantly changing their identity and structure to fit the times, this school has decided to return to the  tradition of their forefathers. Which if you think about it, actually does fit the multicultural times in which we live:

The changes at Schechter Queens reflect both demographic shifts in the school’s neighborhood and the diminishing tency of the Schechter brand, once synonymous with a thriving network of day schools. They also mean that New York City will be without a Schechter school for the first time in seven decades, after Schechter Manhattan closed last year following a period of declining enrollment.

One might say that this is a unique situation because the demographics of that particular neighborhood reflect a culture that never identified with Conservative Judaism. A culture that even for those that were not fully observant always thought of Orthodoxy as the only legitimate form of Judaism. 

But that does not  by itself explain why there is not a single Solomon Schecheter School anymore in the city with  - by far - the largest population of Jews in America. Compare that to the number of Orthodox Yeshivas and day schools in that city.

If there is a listen to be learned here it is that if the Conservative movement wants to be true to its founding ideals they should join us as Orthodox Jews. We will be happy to have them and work with them to build more schools like this one.