Welcome to 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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Opinion ‘Liberal’ Jews Are Just As Judgmental As The Orthodox Behind The Kotel Decision
Like most of my fellow liberal Jews, I find it deplorable that the Israeli government reneged on a deal for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. I’m also feeling something that others probably aren’t, though: hope for a lesson learned about liberal Judaism’s own walls. What the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate is doing to the liberal…
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Opinion How Trump Has Driven Jewish Conservative Thinkers To Brink Of Extinction
Over the coming years, environmental scientists will probably chronicle the many species that Donald Trump’s presidency has brought to extinction. Political scientists may add another: the conservative Jewish intellectual. I’m using the phrase in a specific way. By “intellectual,” I mean someone who traffics in ideas, not tribal or partisan loyalties. By “conservative,” I mean…
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Community Sorry, Netanyahu: The Diaspora Won’t Take This Betrayal Lying Down
On the morning of July 12, I read a piece in the Opinion Page of the New York Times titled “Israel to American Jews: You Just Don’t Matter” by Thomas L. Friedman. In this piece, Friedman states that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu has yielded to the whims of the Orthodox and has basically…
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Fast Forward Conservative Jewish Leader Warns Of ‘Distancing’ Between Israeli, Diaspora Jews
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli and Diaspora Jewry are in a “very precarious place,” the head of the Conservative movement in the United States warned members of Israel’s Knesset. Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, spoke Tuesday in front of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, which was…
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Opinion There’s No Easy Answer To The Debate Over Intermarriage
The debate over intermarriage — once again erupting across the Jewish community — has too easily slipped into a binary equation. Opinions are shared, statistics are drawn as weapons and institutions often double-down. Sides are chosen, often reduced to a simple yes or no: “No, never; Jewish Law forbids this.” (Or “no, never; it will…
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Opinion ‘This Is Not The Moment,’ To Lift Our Ban On Performing Interfaith Weddings
The Jewish Theological Seminary affirms that the study of Torah, the sacred wisdom of our people, and the performance of mitzvot, Judaism’s sanctified pattern of religious practice, stand at the very core of Jewish identity. Torah and mitzvot have always been the foundation of the Jewish people’s covenant with God, guiding and sustaining us for…
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Opinion The Conservative Movement Will Inevitably Cave On Intermarriage
Reading Rabbi Julie Schonfeld’s recent defense of Conservative Judaism’s ban on rabbis performing intermarriages, my primary sentiment was one of sadness. Why, though? It was not that I disagreed with her; on the contrary, I echo many of her sentiments and agree with her bottom line that performing mixed-faith marriages is a red line that…
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Opinion How Interfaith Weddings Got This Rabbi Kicked Out Of The Conservative Movement
In her article “A Wedding Invitation Like No Other,” Jane Eisner describes “intermarriage” as the “oozing story” among Conservative Jews, a story “found just below the surface.” I am one of the rabbis she describes as “not so quietly defying the restriction against officiating” at a marriage ceremony involving a Jewish person and a non-Jew….
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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Fast Forward A Jewish museum in Tulsa held a funeral for remains of Holocaust victims it kept for years
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Sports Texas A&M’s Sam Salz cherishes his first taste of DI college football — and the opportunity to inspire fellow Orthodox Jews
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