Comments on: Rabbinic Training Institute 2012

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:45:00 +0000

And who are these Palestinians? Certainly not the majority. But tkanhs for pointing to a small minority of extremists and extrapolating their views to the entire Palestinian community. It appears clear that you and your buddies are living in a bubble of self-deception.About the current Palestinian majority party Hamas: Verbatim: JW: What kind of state do you perceive the independent Palestinians to be? For instance, do you imagine that in an independent Palestinian state, a Jew could be elected mayor of Ramallah?MA: I haven’t seen the draft resolution but I can assure you the resolution will be calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. And it will definitely include also that it will live side by side in peace and security with Israel JW: To my point, do you foresee in an independent Palestinian state, for instance, a member of the Jewish minority there, if they existed, being elected mayor of Ramallah?MA: Well, you know, I personally still believe as a first step we need to be totally separated and we can contemplate these issues in the future. But after the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict of friction, I think it would be in the best interests of the two peoples to be separated first. PLO ambassador to Washington.

By: Diana Lerner

Diana Lerner — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:26:11 +0000

Are you concerned about the Schechter decline vis a vis the future of the movement?
http://forward.com/articles/149983/

By: Ira Fink

Ira Fink — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:29:36 +0000

I’m sure that there are many excellent rabbinical students, just as there are many great rabbis. A really good rabbi will help to retain members of a congregation as well as attract new ones.

That being said, in communities that do not have large Jewish populations, there are problems that good, or even great rabbis can’t solve. The demographics show that our movement is aging and even great rabbis can’t stop attrition caused by death. In areas that have large Jewish populations you may find that a really good rabbi may attract new members to his congregation who are: a) unaffiliated b)dissatisfied with their current affiliation with Reform or Orthodox, or c)Conservative Jews who are dissatisfied with their current synagogue and are looking to make a change.

However, for those of us who live in areas that don’t have large Jewish populations, our pool of potential members is far smaller and restricted to the unaffiliated and the disenfranchised. A great rabbi won’t help to attract these people until the image of Conservative Judaism is improved and Jews want to be a part of the Conservative movement, and are just looking for the right Conservative synagogue for them. I have not heard anything about how the Conservative Movement is going to try to change its image and reach out to the Jews who are not currently involved in our movement.

Until we bring new people into our movement, all we are getting is a natural trickle of young families who were raised in it. But there are not enough of them to counter the attrition we have from death and illness. The only other source of members we have is the cannibalization of other Conservative shuls. This just creates competition between congregations, leading to a lack of cooperation between them.

The only viable answer is to attract people from outside our movement, but I have not heard any plans aimed at accomplishing this goal externally, aimed at getting more people interested in Conservative Judaism, rather than internally by being more welcoming, having holier communities and a better group of rabbinical students. Those things can sell your shuls once the people cross your thresholds, but first we need to get them in the door so we can show them how wonderful our congregations are.

By: Diana Lerner

Diana Lerner — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:40:28 +0000

Sorry to be the buzz-kill here, but I’m not seeing what you are seeing. I see shrinking congregations, closing kehillot, a shortage of lay leaders, congregations that are unable to receive proper membership services from USCJ (excluding the Pacific Southeast Region) because of the redistricting, dissolving Sisterhood groups, and education that is largely event, rather than process, oriented. I saw a USCJ convention which was poorly attended at best.
As in any profession, there are great rabbis, not-so-great and the ones in between. “Rabbis have to provide pastoral care and many other kinds of care. They have to attend more meetings each week than many business executives and still manage to give good sermons regularly and produce good programs all the time.” Agreed – they have to provide pastoral care, attend meetings, etc. That’s what they signed up for. That’s what they are contracted to do. But they don’t ALWAYS produce good programs and deliver inspiring sermons, despite the best of intentions.
I also disagree with the statement, “They have to be good with young people and old people alike; be good at inspiring, teaching, managing, and fund-raising.” They have to do what they are good at and fill in the gaps where they are deficient. They have to accept that they cannot be good at everything and learn share the tasks with other. I am not suggesting they relinquish their role as Mara D’atra.
So the way I see it, there’s a group of some enthusiastic rabbis, many struggling congregations and a generation of youth who either have a bar/bat mitzvah and walk away altogether or join other denominations. There are huge gaps that are negatively affecting the movement.
To end on a positive note- may your predictions come true about the promising future – - Halavai.

By: Ronald Federman

Ronald Federman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:29:35 +0000

I certainly enjoyed your observations regarding the optomistic future for the Conservative movement. As a lay leader of my congregation, New City Jewish Center, my concerns for my children and grandchildren and their identification with our “movement” are somewhat less positive. Our leaders can certainly benefit from your positive attitude..Ron Federman

By: Michael Ungar

Michael Ungar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:13:57 +0000

Thank you for this great piece. It really encapsulates what RTI is all about and why so many of us look forward to it every year. Chancellor Eisen, your attendance at RTI, your accessibility, your openness are an inspiration to me and many others. I too feel good about our future, having spent a week with some really fine colleagues. Thanks to JTS for making Rabbi Camp a reality.