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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News Conservative Umbrella Group Lays Off 12 Staffers as Fiscal Woes Bite
The Conservative movement’s umbrella group, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, has laid off a total of 12 full-time and part-time employees, the Forward has learned. Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the USCJ, said the reductions, about 10% of the staff, would save the organization about $1 million annually — about the size of its…
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Fast Forward Conservative Group Sticks to Balanced Budget Claim Despite Bulging Deficit
Despite a budget deficit twice what was expected, the leader of the Conservative movement’s synagogue umbrella group says the group will balance its budget within two years. Rabbi Steven Wernick, the CEO of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, told JTA that his organization was anticipating a budget hole of more than $1 million in…
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Fast Forward Sweden Hosts First Jewish Gay Wedding
The Great Synagogue of Stockholm hosted Sweden’s first Jewish gay wedding. The couple, two men who had been living together for the past 28 years, was wed at the synagogue on Sunday at a ceremony conducted by Rabbi David Lazar and attended by some 50 people. “They only invited close friends because it was their…
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Fast Forward 7% of Israeli Jews Are Reform or Conservative
Some 7.1 percent of Israeli Jews define themselves as Reform or Conservative, according to the soon-to-be-released Israeli Democracy Index for 2013. This figure might sound surprisingly high, considering that there are only 110 Reform and Conservative synagogues in Israel. But it is actually slightly less than the figure found by a different survey published last…
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Opinion A Woman’s Place is at Prayer — at Kotel or Upper West Side
Nearly 20 years ago I was living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a haven for observant Conservative Jews. I had my choice of multiple minyanim to attend; even the crowded weekend city streets had an air of the Sabbath, and kosher food abounded. There were so many Conservative and egalitarian options that I rarely ventured…
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News Synagogues Merge Across Denominations To Survive
The Jews of Corpus Christi knew a decade ago they had to act fast to save their two synagogues. With at most 1,000 Jews left in the Texas town and only 60 families making up its membership, the 60-year-old Conservative synagogue was in shaky financial shape. So in 2005, B’nai Israel Synagogue merged with Temple…
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Opinion Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Icon, Was Wiser Than Friend Ronald Reagan
Say what you will about former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” who passed away April 8 at age 87: If she imposed unnecessary suffering on ordinary Brits through her heartless economic policies, which we call Reaganomics and the rest of the world still calls Thatcherism, she at least had an excuse. Ronald…
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News Jewish Republicans Dragged Into GOP Battle Between Tea Party and Moderates
The civil war now engulfing the Republican Party is laying bare a split among Jewish GOP supporters, as well. Some of the party’s biggest Jewish donors are taking the lead in pushing for a more moderate conservative party following the Republicans’ defeat in last year’s presidential election. At the same time, grassroots Jewish supporters, many…
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Opinion Mike Huckabee’s stunning, terrifying new gift to the Israeli right
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Fast Forward In US lawmakers’ response to Israel’s strike on Iran, sweeping support with signs of tension
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