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Sh'ma D I ' k ; a journal of Jewish responsibility ,0f 9/170 MARCH 16,1979 { SEE 1 i Women rabbis as a death sign Pinchas Stolper The Conservative Movement's move to ordain women brought no hue and cry from Orthodoxy. Why the silence? Still another radical step by Conservative Judaism to break with the main• stream of historical Judaism and abandon an additional requirement of tradition would have brought a spate of articles and outcries twenty years ago. ivc ' ' M V j , ^ ^ Orthodox silence derives from the fact that, as a movement, Conservative Judaism is no longer taken seriously. It has long ceased to be a factor in Jewish religious life. The defection of large number ofJews from Orthodoxy to Conservatism stopped a long time ago and today the movement is in the opposite direction. When the sons and daughters of Conservative rabbis seek to find the ^ reality of their religious heritage, they invariably become baalei teshuva, accept the Orthodox way of life, and enter Orthodox educational institutions and communities. Otherwise, they do what most members of Conservative congregations have long since done, — abandon Judaism in all but name. This new Conservative move is seen by the Orthodox community as a gimmick, rather than a genuine effort to bring women into the rabbinate, and a tacit admission that Conservatism is in fact a declining movement. For the Conservative movement, the ordination of women will be a public announcement that they can no longer attract enough men to fill their solitary, small New York Seminary which has not grown in student numbers for nearly thirty years, though it is the one institution in the world ordaining Conservative rabbis. Each year, only 73 twenty or so men are ordained though there are more than 100 Conservative synagogues in urgent need of rabbis. Its total rabbinic student body is approximately two hundred, a sad showing for a movement which claims to represent 52% of synagogue affiliated American Jews. The flow of rabbis from Orthodox sources accepting Conservative rabbinical positions has slowed to a trickle. Orthodoxy Is Undergoing A Revival These statistics make a mockery of Conservatism's pretenses at being a serious religious movement and bode ill for its future. It is quite apparent that the momentum of the Conservative "Movement" in Judaism has fizzled, and that no one is any longer really interested. The Conservative movement does not have one popular religious leader whose name would evoke a response; whose method, approach, philosophy or leadership are widely known and respected. There is not one Conservative name which has achieved a following approaching any one of a dozen Orthodox leaders such as Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Reb Yaakov Kaminetsky, Rabbi Isaac Hutner, — among others. In contrast to the austere sterility of the Conservative "Movement", the pursuit of Torah study on its highest levels is undergoing an unprecedented revival in the Orthodox community. At least ninety-five percent of the young men pursuing Talmudic studies in the United States are enrolled in Orthodox institutions. The American and Canadian cities which boast Orthodox rabbinical colleges span the continent, covering almost every major city with a significant Jewish population. In all, there are in excess of seven thousand students pursuing Talmudic studies on the college and post-graduate level in the United States under Orthodox auspices; and a few thousand more Americans are studying in Israel. This represents an unprecedented explosion of commitment, scholarship and youthful idealism. In ten years there will not be a major American city without an Orthodox graduate, Kollel faculty. The solitary comparable Conservative rabbinical seminary, and the solitary Reform rabbinical institution in the United States make a sad showing when contrasted to Orthodoxy with its vast network of over eighty four institutions. Reform-Conservative Distinctions Will Blur Admittedly, some of the Orthodox institutions are small or recently established. But as they take firm root with each passing year, they become the rallying point for the positive forces in that community and the generator of whatever hopes exist for the survival of an educated, literate Judaism in their respective communities. In time, the dedicated young scholars of the senioryeshivot elicit the admiration and support of the entire Jewish community, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, generating a Jewish revival in Orthodox terms throughout the community. The Conservative call for women rabbis will serve to do little more than widen its continuing breech with traditional Judaism, and will further obliterate the distinction between the Reform and Conservative movements in this country. While they have just awakened to the role of women in the synagogue and Jewish society, the Orthodox community in America opened its first school to provide women with an appropriate Jewish education over forty years ago. Today, there are scores of Orthodox educational institutions for women throughout the country with thousands of students, including many schools on the college level, in addition to seven college-level institutions in Israel serving American women. We Cannot Compromise Our Tradition The experience of the Reform Movement, which has ordained women rabbis for several years, has not been successful None of the ordained women hold their own pulpit exclusively, and one has become disillusioned and left the rabbinate. A few weeks ago, Sally Preisand, the first reformed "rabbi" resigned because she was unable to go beyond the "associate rabbi" level Women who choose to become "rabbis" find themselves dissatisfied once they have achieved their goal, because the phenomenon stems from a basic misunderstanding of the woman's role in the synagogue and Judaism. On the other hand, the graduates of Orthodoxy's women's institutions as a rule find deep satisfaction in the roles provided for them throughout the Orthodox Jewish community. Although the dynamic growth and resurgence of an Orthodoxy emerging triumphant is everywhere in evidence, we dare not gloat. The tragedy of the large Conservative and Reformed communities torn from their Torah roots, declining and withering by every significant yardstick, is appalling. No one doubts that there are thousands of 74 Conservative and even Reform Jews who are sensitive to the authentic and the real, who love Torah and tradition, and who are deeply concerned with Jewish survival. They must be asked to re-think and re-evaluate the disastrous failure of the defeatist course their movements are pursuing in America. The way to perpetuate Judaism is not to adopt non-Jewish fads, or to attempt to attract non-Jews through intermarriage, but to make a radical about face by returning to authentic tradition. A religion which subsists on gimmickry can not long survive — a synagogue served by a woman rabbi is probably a synagogue that will close its doors in less than twenty years. The compromises of the Conservative leadership not only deny the reality of Torah, in the long run they simply do not work, even on their own terms. The only synagogues which are Sh'ma a journal of Jewish responsibility Editor Eugene B. Borowitz Asst. to the Editor Jeffrey K Salkin Administrator Alicia Seeger Fellows Steve Bauman, David Dalin, Mory Korenblit, Michelle Mentzer, Anne Mintz Production Photo Graphics Contributing Editors Saul Berman, J. David Bleich, Balfour Brickner, Paula Hyman, Nora Levin, Richard Levy, Hans J. Morgenthau, David Novak, Harold Schulweis, Henry Schwarzschild, Steven Schwarzschild, Seymour Siegel, Sharon Strassfeld, Elie Wiesel, Arnold Jacob Wolf, Michael Wyschogrod. Sh'ma welcomes articles from diverse points of view. Hence articles present only the views of the author, not those of the editors. We do not correct obvious typos. Donations to Sh'ma, Inc., though particularly welcome during our annual deficit-reduction campaign, are needed and hence appreciated all year long. They are tax-deductible. Address all correspondence to: Box 567, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. For a change of address, send present mailing label and new address and allow four weeks. Sh'ma is published bi-weekly except June, July and August by Sh'ma, Inc. Office of publication: 735 Port Washington Blvd., Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. Subscription $15.00 for 2 years in U.S.A. and Canada; $20.00 for 3 years. $10.00 a year overseas. Institutional bulk (10 or more copies to one address) $3.75 each per year. Copyright 1979 by Sh'ma, Inc POSTMASTER: Please forward Form 3579 to Box 567, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. Second class postage paid at Port Washington, N.Y. Publication Number USPS 894500. 9/170 March 16, 1979 packed with young people in this country are Orthodox synagogues, and the schools which attract young intellectuals in ever swelling numbers are the Orthodox schools. In the end, the way that works, that guarantees Jewish survival and revival, which insures a thriving community, which effectively resists the inroads of assimilation and inner rot, is the way that is historic and authentic. If the demographers and sociologists are correct it will not be long before American Orthodoxy emerges as the majority movement in American Jewish life. The way things are heading Orthodoxy's ranks will be swelled by many who abandoned the cathedrals of Conservatism for the more modest, but more honest and authentic synagogues of American Orthodoxy. Jewish law accepts healthy change Seymour Siegel What saddens me about the vituperative attack of my ex-student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, is not only the insulting tone of his remarks. More disturbing is the assumption, so often made by the official spokesmen of some segments of Orthodoxy, that any action of non-Orthodox groups (and even some groups within Orthodoxy) with which they do not agree is motivated by "gimmickry" or a "desperate" attempt to cover up the deficiencies of a crumbling movement. Spokesmen like Rabbi Stolper never consider the possibility that the actions they oppose are motivated by a sincere attempt to do the right thing; to strengthen the Jewish community; or to further Jewish values. If, and when, Rabbi Stolper reads the lengthy report of the Commission on the Ordination of Women in the Conservative Movement (which is available to the public) he will see that those who favored the ordination of women considered the halachic parameters of the issue and were moved by a desire to rectify what was perceived to be a grievous wrong — the denial to women of the privilege to study for the rabbinate. Rabbi Stolper disagrees with the majority conclusion. So do many within the Conservative movement. However, it does no one any good to allow disagreements to degenerate into name calling. The Vitality Of Liberal Judaism Is Manifest It would be demeaning for me to list for the readers of Sh'ma the names of the great personal75 ities, the classic books, and the seminal ideas which have emerged within the Conservative and Reform movements. In their public comments (and contrary to Rabbi Stolper there have been public comments, one emanating from the organization for which he works — the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations), some Orthodox spokesmen see only evil in everything done by other groups. This is a basic difference between us and them. We rejoice (and even support) the growth of Torah study and observance wherever it appears in Jewish life. We wish all movements dedicated to creative Jewish living — success. What we will not do is to hold the Torah close to our breasts, declaring that it belongs only to us, and reading all other Jews out of klal yisrael. Rabbi Stolper in his triumphalism makes some inaccurate comments about the rabbinic leadership provided by non-Orthodox institutions. The fact is that in the past decades some three hundred orthodox rabbis have made application and joined the Rabbinical Assembly, the organization of Conservative rabbis. There are growing numbers of congregations all over the world requesting Conservative rabbis. The fact that many of these requests cannot be filled does point to a shortage of people. It also points to a persistently growing demand. New campuses of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Hebrew Union College have been opened in Los Angeles, Jerusalem, and Buenos Aires. The number of Solomon Schechter Day Schools has grown dramatically in the past few years, and the youth groups of the Conservative and Reform movements continue to grow. Sociologists and demographers of American Judaism with whom I have spoken in the past weeks (at least one of them an Orthodox Jew) affirm that in absolute numbers, Orthodoxy is the smallest of the three main groupings within our community. Not All Who Study Serve Synagogues Though there has been a leveling off in the population of day schools, it is true that the number of students studying inyeshivot and kollelim has grown. Of this, Orthodoxy can be justly proud. But this growth in numbers has little to do with rabbinic leadership available to congregations. The graduates of kollelim by and large go into business or the professions. If one is to believe the criticisms in the Orthodox press, they do not even join established Orthodox congregations. They form their own steiblach and have little to do with established Jewish life. Though there are some