Facing the Need for Women Rabbis Jacob Neusner 131 Losing

Facing the need for women rabbis The Movement is on the Sidelines Jacob Neusner Today, by contrast, the three greatest movements in the inner life of American Jewry bypass Con- Conservative Judaism stands at the parting of the servative Judaism. Having been engaged early on ways. Whether it will flourish or wither away with each, I can point to the failures. depends on what people now decide. When Con- The Jewish Federations have become instrumental servative Judaism offered an alternative, within an essentially traditional framework, to Or- in making the Jewish community more Jewish. thodoxy, it flourished. When it claimed to be lit- The havurah-movement has revitalized Jewish tle more than another Orthodoxy, a copy, it religious expression. withered. From the 1920's to the 1960's it The campus has become a principal base for flourished. From the 1960's to the present time, it Judaic studies in this country,— an un- has declined. precedented development in the history of In its heyday Conservative Judaism offered the Judaism. Jewish community a traditional approach to And where has Conservative Judaism been? The Judaism, one clearly distinguished from Or- Federations— in many cities run by Conservative thodoxy. How was it different in the generation Jews— are ignored. The havurah-movement, from World War I to the 1960's? Women sat next brought to its richest expression in Conservative to men. Rabbis gave sermons, taught, and reach- and Reform synagogues, might as well have hap- ed out to the congregations. Discourse was in- pened on the moon. The professors of Jewish telligible, critical, and interesting. And Or- studies in universities— many of them JTSA thodoxy? Women sat apart. Rabbis were remote alumni— are declared non-persons by their alma and distant. There was no pretense at scholarship mater. in Western modes. People loyal to traditional The age of renewal must come. American Jewry ways found a home in Conservative Judaism. cannot accept only a single route to the tradition But today Orthodoxy presents the community of Judaism, the one supplied by Orthodoxy. The with rabbis interested in the life of the people. same reasons that called forth the formation of Conservative Judaism enjoys no monopoly on Conservative Judaism explain why. Reform scholarship. Modern Orthodox scholars, Judaism serves valiantly, but not universally. Two represented for example by those around Isadore (if not more) roads into the traditional framework Twersky at Harvard as well as some at Yeshiva of Judaic living and thinking must remain open. University, speak compellingly on scholarly issues. One of them, the Conservative, sorely demands Certainly the Conservative movement no longer repair. exercises intellectual leadership without signifi- Conservative congregations must now restore the cant competition from Orthodoxy, particularly in vitality of the center, and that in two senses: the modern mode. First, the center of Conservative Judaism at JTSA; But what Conservative Judaism, at the Jewish and second, the vital center of American Judaism Theological Seminary of America, has wanted to that Conservative Judaism has marked out for present to the community is simply another form itself. of an essentially Orthodox approach to things. It In my view the road to renewal has taken a minor just will not work, because no one needs it. detour, in the Rabbinical Assembly's rejection of a In its age of leadership, Conservative Judaism woman as member. The wave of the future is engaged the larger Jewish community in the great now. It is the attainment of complete equality for issues of the day. Zionism from the 1920's to the women in the traditional sector of Judaism. That 1950's, to which the Orthodox were indifferent can be accomplished solely by Conservative and much of Reform, hostile; the incipient Judaism. It will be the centerpiece for the organization of the Jewish community as we now renewal of the vital center. • know it; outreach to the unaffiliated Jews; the building of a whole system of Jewish education— Losing conserve-ative judaism all of these achievements of the second and early Paul Plotkin third generation belong (if not exclusively) to When I was a young boy growing up in a Conser- Conservative Judaism. vative congregation in Toronto, Canada, I was JACOB NEUSNER teaches Judaic Studies at PAUL PLOTKIN is rabbi of Temple Beth-Am, Brown University. Margate, Florida. 131 .

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