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
The Latest
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Fast Forward Richard Spencer Tossed From Conservative Gathering
Richard Spencer, the white nationalist and founder of the “alt-right” movement, was ejected from the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Comittee on Thursday. “They threw me out, it’s pathetic,” Spencer said, as he was escorted out of the Washington, D.C. venue. “I guess that they just discovered who I was, because the truth…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Jared Kushner Reveals The Fissures In American Judaism
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
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Community Are We Praying Against Trump?
Some American Jews may now find themselves in a largely unprecedented predicament: that of praying against their own government. It is well known among synagogue goers that there is a prayer for the U.S. government in most prayer books, recited on Shabbat after the Torah service (usually followed by a prayer for the welfare of…
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Breaking News Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Recon Movements Denounce ‘Muslim Ban’
(JTA) — Two large groups representing Orthodox Jews responded to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring migrants from seven mostly Muslim countries and refugees from around the world by warning against policies that would place any limits on immigration based on religion. With the combined statement by the Orthodox Union and Rabbinical Council of America, all…
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Breaking News Conservative Movement: Maybe Non-Jews Could Be Synagogue Members
(JTA) — Responding to a rising number of interfaith families, Conservative synagogues will be voting on a measure from their umbrella body that would allow congregations to admit non-Jews as members. Currently, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Standards for Congregational Practice restrict synagogue membership to Jews. But the new language, which congregations will vote on in March,…
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News 5 Ways Stephen Miller Grew Up To Be Trump’s Inauguration Speechwriter — and Right-Wing Ideologue
At 31, Stephen Miller has reached a political stature few have matched – he is drafting president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, to be delivered Friday. But the Santa Monica schoolmates of Trump’s top adviser were hardly surprised that the Jewish kid who insisted on standing and placing his hand on his heart during the pledge…
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Opinion What a Swastika Means to Reform Jews in Today’s America
One morning in early January, the students and faculty of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion’s Cincinnati campus, the longtime seat of Reform Judaism in America, woke up to find themselves victims of anti-Semitism. A large, white swastika had been scrawled on the seminary’s red entrance sign. You couldn’t miss it. Though traumatic…
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News Looking Back at Jacob Neusner’s Complicated Legacy
During the turmoil of the election campaign, the death of Jacob Neusner, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the past century, received relatively little attention. Neusner, who died in October, was one of the giants who established Jewish studies in the 20th century, and a central figure in the history of critical scholarship…
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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Opinion Campus protests defined the year since Oct. 7. Could they actually change U.S. policy?
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Special Report At the kibbutz hit hardest on Oct. 7, a wrenching debate over how to rebuild
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