Forward
Once upon a time, there was a young man, a third-generation American who was raised in a classical Reform temple, who in the Reform manner celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah and who was confirmed in the Reform rite. He was inspired by his temple's rabbi to himself become a Reform rabbi. He held national office in the National Federation of Temple Youth, and he was admitted to the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College.
Then, on the very day this young man was supposed to begin studies at Hebrew Union College, he instead entered the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the intellectual citadel of Conservative Judaism. He agreed to give up the lobster dinners, the veal parmigiana and the BLT sandwiches that he had loved, and even to quit smoking on the Sabbath, as admission to JTS demanded.
The decision was not the result of a dramatic change of convictions. He simply thought he would get a better Jewish education at JTS than at HUC. To that goal everything else was secondary. Six years later, he was ordained by JTS as a Conservative rabbi.[...]
Then, on the very day this young man was supposed to begin studies at Hebrew Union College, he instead entered the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the intellectual citadel of Conservative Judaism. He agreed to give up the lobster dinners, the veal parmigiana and the BLT sandwiches that he had loved, and even to quit smoking on the Sabbath, as admission to JTS demanded.
The decision was not the result of a dramatic change of convictions. He simply thought he would get a better Jewish education at JTS than at HUC. To that goal everything else was secondary. Six years later, he was ordained by JTS as a Conservative rabbi.[...]
Too little too late, it makes no difference what Neusner says or does in any case. Aside that Neusner admits that he is a double crossing, manipultaive and exploitative hypocrite when he admits about himself things like: "The decision was not the result of a dramatic change of convictions. He simply thought he would get a better Jewish education at JTS than at HUC. To that goal everything else was secondary...ordained by JTS as a Conservative rabbi...After a half-century of apostasy, I affirm Reform Judaism as the American Judaism both of my personal choice and of our communal necessity" and other such drivel.
ReplyDeleteConservative Judaism is dead and bankrupt and fifth columnists like Neusner helped bury it as they steadily nudged Conservative Judaism towards Reform Judaism and as far away from its ties to Orthodox Judaism as they humanly could.
And those like Neusner have now succeeded in a de facto, if not a near de jure, corporate takeover of Conservatism by it's Reform allies.
Strong and mighty have the conservatives (with a small "c") at JTS and its rabbinic bodies battled to make sure that Conservatism would not remain a step-child to Orthodoxy with everything the same in its synagogues and in its NOMINAL adherence to Jewish Laws. But once the reformers (with a small "r") started within Conservatism, they have ended up like the Reform itself.
Following the same trajectory of self-immolation as Reform, they started out by accepting the ordination of women, a move that was opposed by lead JTS rabbi and lapsed Slabodka almunus Shaul Liberman who fought it, and that caused the split that led lapsed Chaim Berliner Weiss-Halivni to leave the JTS and create the Union for Traditional Judaism that has hooked up with ultra left-wing Modern Orthodox synagogues, as they too slither downwards along a modernistic reformist (with a small "r") path.
Then came the wave of dislike for the name "Conservative" by the young turk Conservatives who opted to be renamed as "Egalitarians" that was followed by the move to accept homosexual clergy just as Reform had done.
Conservatism and Reform have the same situation when it comes to the intermarraige of its people with non-Jews. Both movements accept it, they think it's a great way to "recruit" new Jews and make up for lost numbers. They do not castigate or reprove anyone who marries a gentile. On the contrary they bend over backwards to give honors inside their synagogues to gentiles who have not even had any of their own Reform or Conservative conversions.
ReplyDeleteThere is no known difference between Reform and Conservative Judaism anymore. Indeed the Agudas Harrabonim of America has issued declarations stating that Reform and Conservatsim are NOT Judaism, while those of their members who are Halachically Jewish are Jews
All pretenses of adherence to classical Halacha and respect for it have become a joke by them. The real "religion" of Reform is fancy sounding Episcopalian sensibilities, at best, at worst they are ultra-Liberals, atheists and Marxists. Many of them don't even believe in God. They think Jesus is a nice guy to be proud of, they can live with Islamofascism and never denounce it let alone support US troops that lay down their lives to kill radical Muslims terrorists, and they are the backbone of the J-Street crowd that is out to support the Obama regime in its drive to cut down to size the aspirations of Israel as a Jewish state.
In the 1880s when the JTS was founded it was not much more than what would today be called a very "Modern Orthodox" institution, but decade by decade and generation by generation it has found itself unable to resist the "urge to merge" with the Reform establishment to the point that today there is not a scintilla of difference between the Reform and Conservative movements and Neusner's croaking self-glorification only serves to confirm the impending final merger between these two deviant movements in Judaism that have already taken their place alongside the Sadducees, the Hellenists, the Early Christians, the Karaites, the Sabbateans and Frankists the so-called "religious" movements among the Jewish people that only led its adherenets to spiritual, cultural and physical doom by cutting themselves off from historical normative Torah Judaism.
Typo: Remove the word "not" from "Strong and mighty have the conservatives (with a small "c") at JTS and its rabbinic bodies battled to make sure that Conservatism would [not] remain a step-child to Orthodoxy with everything the same in its synagogues and in its NOMINAL adherence to Jewish Laws."
ReplyDelete