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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News Conservative Group Runs $5M Deficit Over 2 Years
The congregational arm of the Conservative movement ran a cumulative budget deficit of more than $5 million over the past two years, JTA has learned, renewing longstanding concerns for the future of one of the movement’s key institutional pillars. According to a financial audit obtained by JTA, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism reported back-to-back…
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Fast Forward Irwin Groner, Conservative Rabbi, Dies at 81
Rabbi Irwin Groner, a former president of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, has died. Groner, who led Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detroit for more than four decades, died Dec. 30 at a hospital in that city. He was 81 and suffered from Parkinson’s disease. He guided the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis,…
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Opinion When Thinkers Get It Wrong — And Escape Blame
These waning days of December are traditionally a time for journalists to sum up the events of the past year and choose highlights for your consideration. A favorite approach is to pick winners and losers, but given the year we’ve just had, that doesn’t feel right. Sure, Obama won and Romney lost. Then what? Instead,…
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Fast Forward Reform, Conservative Leaders Join Gun Control Call
Top rabbis from the Reform and Conservative movements will join an interfaith call for greater gun controls in the wake of last week’s school massacre in Connecticut. Rabbi David Saperstein, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, and Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, who directs the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, will appear at a press conference…
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Opinion No Divisions Between Jews When Rockets Fly
Like many Jewish leaders, I have devoted the majority of my professional life to advocating on behalf of my denomination. Sometimes the need is concrete, other times ideological. From supporting the worldwide network of the 600-plus Conservative kehillot to agitating on behalf of a Judaism that is pluralistic, intellectually compelling and rooted in tradition, my…
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Fast Forward Day School Ends Boy Scouts Tie Over Gay Issue
A Conservative Jewish day school will not renew its Boy Scouts charter because of the organization’s policy excluding gay and lesbian adults as leaders. The Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., said in a letter to parents last week that the Scouts’ policy presents a “problematic image for many families. “To exclude same-sex families…
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Fast Forward Flash Mob Calls for Israel Religious Tolerance
More than 2,500 people signed up to participate in a global Shema flash mob as part of a campaign to promote religious pluralism in Israel. The gatherings early Monday afternoon came two days after Conservative Jewish congregations were asked to dedicate a recitation of the Shema to the topic as well. The actions were a…
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Opinion Religious Freedom for Israelis, Too
I am the son of a Yekke. My father was born in Germany. His parents escaped to Palestine in the nick of time, just before World War II broke out. Both were doctors, but they came with no Hebrew and there was no work for them. It was tough. They may have left Germany behind…
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Culture In this Holocaust story, there are few words, no swastikas, no yellow stars — just movement, passion and empathy
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Opinion What Democrats fighting Trump should learn from Germany’s failure to stop Hitler
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Fast Forward 31st anniversary of AMIA bombing marked by ceremonies in Argentina, Israel and, for the first time, Congress
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Fast Forward Mike Huckabee to Israel: End hostile treatment of Christian allies
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