As good natured as your essay was, if the Conservative movement wants to stay relevant, it needs to stop living in denial.

If these new “traditional egalitarian post-denominational” synagogues wanted to be part of the Conservative movement, they would be. They aren’t, and they consciously aren’t.  

And, despite you insisting the Conservative movement is the center of Judaism, these post-denominational synagogues are now, in fact, the center.  They are not following you.  You are following them.

And you aren’t alone.  Institutionalized Reform, and even parts of Orthodoxy, are bending their party lines to try and accommodate these groups.

And, at present, all three movements are failing to impress the heartbeat of American Judaism.

Want to know why?  It might not be the easiest thing for you to read, but you should read it.

Because the coming generation, living in urban centers that are breaking before their eyes, cannot afford Rabbi’s that cost 50K a year, and five years to train, in the most luxurious city on earth, in some of the most luxurious institutions on earth, so that they can serve in largely luxurious Synagogues built during luxurious times in the some of the most luxurious neighborhoods on earth.

Now, I know that no one wants to hear that in the Conservative movement.  Nobody wants to accept how serious the problem actually is on both a spiritual and physical level.

But, then again, hear the echoes in the Shuls.  Not many Jews care to hear what the Conservative movement has to say anymore either. 

Jews who care about the environment don’t want to hear about the third flight to Israel their Rabbi has taken in the past 2 years, or the annual tourist trip the Shul makes to the Dead Sea, as if flying across the world is a totally normal occurrence.  They don’t want to hear about the 1.5 million dollar heating bill the Shul racked up (ask Rabbi Chernick of the USCJ about that one…).  

Jews who care about social justice don’t want to pray in lavish synagogues with high vaulted ceilings, arks covered with gold, seats covered with velvet.  They don’t want to hear a Rabbi do a Dvar Torah about social justice while wearing a 500 dollar suit made in Bangladesh.

Nor do they need to in order to learn about the tradition.  This coming generation has no problem with Kashrut.  We have no problem with Hebrew as our central liturgy.  We know Shabbat keeps us more than we keep it.  And virtually every Jew now has access to Jewish education that no generation before us could have ever dreamed about. 

And, because of that, Rabbi’s are quickly becoming what they once were- teachers who earn that name by teaching in their local communities, as opposed to being granted a degree from institutions that are virtually indistinguishable from elite secular America universities.

And thank God, because we need that desperately right now.  We don’t need any more career Rabbi’s.  We need Rabbi’s like those in the Talmud- shoemakers, tradesmen, farmers.  People who spend their morning in prayer, their day in worldly labour, and their night in Torah.

We need the Professors and Rabbi’s of JTS and HUC to put ALL of their courses online, so that they can transfer to the coming generation the full extent of their knowledge as opposed to the full extent of their school debt.

We need to put our money where our mouth is and realize that 50K a year for a Rabbi could probably keep 5 thousand starving kids alive in Africa.  That’s maybe 50,000 kids per Rabbinical School class, per year.  A couple hundred thousand for  a single Rabbinical degree could probably give a couple hundred thousand vaccinations to the most vulnerable people on earth.

But we don’t want to hear that, because the truth is too terrible.

But here is the question I am asking, Chancellor.

Why should the Jewish community support Conservative Rabbi’s that cost 200 thousand bucks to train rather than send that 200 thousand bucks into the mouths of starving kids in Africa?  How on earth can you ask a Conservative Jew, or any Jew, to justify that cost for Jewish education?

I have the same question for the Reform movement.

This is serious stuff, and my generation is not kidding around.  You speak of Shabbat, Kashrut, Hebrew?  We disgrace those pillars of Judaism if we are practice them in luxury while people starve.  You know it, I know, and the prophets knew it.  And you know what the prophets predicted if we didn’t change our ways.  And we need to, now.

Step up, I am begging you, and take the actions necessary for this generation of Jews to truly be a light unto the nations.  

From what I have read about the Conservative Movement, it was born out of a desire to conserve much out of traditional practice while responding to the needs of modernity.  The impetus for change appears to be an effort to attract young people and families.  The leaders of Conservative Movement now have to determine how to change the balance between tradition and modern concerns to attract new members without alienating those they already have.
 
I do not envy them.

Jonathan Wittenberg

I’m delighted for Orthodox Jews to commit to Orthodoxy and Reform Jews to commit to Reform, I don’t even begrudge the emergence of affiliated networks of ‘unaffiliated’ minyanim, I just think we should all be committed to a bigger communal vision than our own.