tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post113402469302910141..comments2024-01-13T16:40:44.641-08:00Comments on The Jewish Connection: Conservative Judaism- Which Way Does It GoPsychoToddlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874353280798371891noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134286034955978432005-12-10T23:27:00.000-08:002005-12-10T23:27:00.000-08:00What's wrong with the idea that Judaism (or specif...What's wrong with the idea that Judaism (or specifically, Conservative Judaism) is a complex ideology? It seems like the "Covenants" are ways of simplifying (read:dumbing down) the Torah into platitudes. Take this example:<BR/><I>The Torah speaks of God as a parent, a lover, a teacher and an intimate sharer of our hearts.</I><BR/>But, the Torah's description of God's relationship with Israel is much more complicated than that! Sometimes, it's those things, other times it's adversarial.<BR/><BR/>I also don't see how this statement of philosphy could have any practical impact to revitalize Conservative Judaism. Conservative Judaism has always had two sides pulling each other: one towards a cultural Judaism, and one towards a halachic Judaism. Wolpe is clearly on the former side, and this makes no attempt to unite them.elf's DHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03562294407695041239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134159660314993302005-12-09T12:21:00.000-08:002005-12-09T12:21:00.000-08:00The Reform shul I attend has no organ, uses the sa...The Reform shul I attend has no organ, uses the same Conservative prayer book that I grew up with, the services are mostly Hebrew, and the men wear yarmulkes. <BR/><BR/>The Reform movement has gotten substantially more conservative. There is no crisis in the Reform movement. It has the largest numbers of any Jewish denomination in this country.<BR/><BR/>Conservative Judaism needs to figure out what it is. My biggest problem with it is its stance on homosexuality. If a student "comes out" during rabbinical school, they are kicked out. I cannot stand the intolerance there.Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05548101428086781420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134090928706799332005-12-08T17:15:00.000-08:002005-12-08T17:15:00.000-08:00When I was a kid, there were two shuls, one conser...When I was a kid, there were two shuls, one conservative (where we went) and one reform. My father (who worked and ate on Yom Kippur, who never had a problem eating a cheesebuger) always commented on the fact that we were "real Jews" because our men your yarmulkes in shul and because most of the service was done in Hebrew. Oh, and because we didn't have an organ at our shul. Until I became an adult, that's pretty much how I saw it, too. And until we started attending an Orthodox shul, my husband and I really thought we were SuperJews because we went to a shul with a lot of conservadox people there. Or so they called themselves.<BR/><BR/>Looking back, I see that we took what we wanted and ignored or excused the rest. It's a feel good approach. We are more "observant" than the reform, but not as rigid as the orthodox.<BR/><BR/>By the way, and not that this matters, but Rabbi Wolpe's wife and I were bestfriends growing up.Anshel's Wifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16696388870438549317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134081949926375722005-12-08T14:45:00.000-08:002005-12-08T14:45:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anshel's Wifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16696388870438549317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134056476159344732005-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:002005-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:00He seems to me to be attempting to justify Conserv...He seems to me to be attempting to justify Conservative Judaism as it is now - I know there's more to what he said - but I don't remember being totally impressed. I like the grand statements, like not being stuck in the 18th century, accepting other Jews, etc, but it seems to follow the traditional problem that Conservative Judaisim has:<BR/><BR/>How will the other movements see us?<BR/><BR/>That's been a major stumbling block for the Movement - everyone's more concerned that the others will reject us if we make a defining statement about who we are. (Egalitarianism, etc.)Robbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14332398432260922008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13256892.post-1134040427651627272005-12-08T03:13:00.000-08:002005-12-08T03:13:00.000-08:00He sure is throwing a whole new twist to the whole...He sure is throwing a whole new twist to the whole "what kind of Jew are you" issue.<BR/>It’s kind of true though that many religious and non religious people don’t differentiate between conservative and reform.Pragmaticianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08724757238921859366noreply@blogger.com