This is the Forward’s coverage of Conservative Judaism, one of the three major streams of U.S. Judaism. Conservative Jews are generally more observant than Reform Jews but less so than Orthodox Jews. The movement is led by the…
Conservative Judaism
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Community What Is The Debate Over Intermarriage Really About?
About twenty five years ago, I attended my sister-in-law’s marriage to a non-Jew. In other words, I broke a rule of the Rabbinical Assembly, the governing body of Conservative Judaism, thus risking expulsion from the group and professional suicide. A few nights ago, I asked my wife, “Did I know back then that I was…
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News After A Teen Tour Turned Into An Abuse Nightmare, Waiting On An Apology
Jimmy Cohen was a legend to the 47 Jewish teenagers who rode a big tour bus across the United States together in the summer of 1997. The bus trip, officially Bus B of USY on Wheels, Conservative Judaism’s official teen tour, was a six-week-long excuse for the 16-year-olds to hang out, make friends, make out,…
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News Why Did Conservative Rabbis Redo Their Intermarriage Ban — In Secrecy?
A little more than a year ago, a young rabbi revealed to colleagues that he had discovered that the Conservative movement never officially adopted one of its signature rules: the ban on rabbis blessing intermarriages. Conservative rabbis are also forbidden from even attending intermarriages on pain of expulsion from the movement, and the likely job…
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Fast Forward 100s Of Conservative Jews Oppose Movement’s Support For Trump’s Jerusalem Move
(JTA) — Hundreds of Conservative Jews have signed an open letter opposing their movement’s support for U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The letter, first published Sunday night, has garnered some 250 signatures in its first 36 hours online. All of the signatories are affiliates or alumni of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement’s…
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Fast Forward Conservative Jewish Cemetery Opens Section for Interfaith Families
Interfaith families may now be buried together in a cemetery plot belonging to Congregation B’nai Israel, a Conservative synagogue in the coastal New Jersey town of Toms River. “There are always questions about burial of non-Jewish spouses in our cemetery,” Glenn Jacobs, a member of the synagogue’s cemetery committee told the website Patch.com, “and some…
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Fast Forward Non-Orthodox Jews Will Disappear In Two Generations, Netanyahu Tells Aides
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told advisers that non-Orthodox Jews will disappear from the United States within two generations because of assimilation and low birthrates, Israeli media has reported. The right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon reported Friday that Netanyahu had made those remarks and thinks Israel should prepare accordingly. Israeli Ambassador to the United States…
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News 3 Weddings In New York Synagogue. One Shared Act Of Defiance Against Israel’s Orthodox Rabbinate
Jewish weddings are typically joyous events during which a couple’s family and friends gather to celebrate and shower them with love as they create a new life together. But on Sunday, three Israeli Jewish couples will turn their party into a protest, and their intimate moment into a public, political act. Temple Emanu-El, the iconic…
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Fast Forward Massachusetts Chabad Sued For Allegedly Infiltrating Conservative Synagogue
(JTA) — Conservative Jewish congregants in Sharon, Massachusetts, are suing the local Chabad, alleging its members infiltrated their leadership in a bid to take control of their synagogue and its assets. The case filed by members of Temple Adath Sharon will be heard Monday in Norfolk County Superior Court, The Jewish Advocate, a Boston weekly…
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