Building a Sukkah and the Call to Transcendence
David Starr says that Gordis asked the right question, but the answer may be harder than he thinks.
Eight Families and the 18 Percent
Whether it’s 18 percent or eight families, Gordon Tucker maintains “patience and tenaciousness change the world,” a fact that is lost when we focus on numbers.
Living in the USA
Moving to Israel has clouded Gordis’ ability to understand the American Jewish scene, argues Jeremy Kalmanofsky.
Judaism’s Feminist Future
For Judith Hauptman, the Conservative push for women’s rights holds the key to its future--and the future of Judaism as a whole.
Conservative Judaism Is Too Important to Fail
Susan Grossman acknowledges the movement’s failings, but sees more reason for hope than despair.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Elliot N. Dorff argues that numbers don’t dictate the strength of a movement, the power of its ideas do.
The Problem Is Not Ideological
Noah Benjamin Bickart of The Jewish Theological Seminary teaches Jews who are passionate about “an egalitarian, halakhic, yet non-fundamentalist Judaism,“ even though they may not call themselves Conservative Jews.
A Movement Strikes Back
Seven leaders and a historian respond to Daniel Gordis’ “Requiem for a Movement.”
Hebrew School Days
When I was nineteen, I saw an ad at the UCLA Career Center for a job teaching “Jewish history through drama,” at the Sunday school of a large nearby temple. It was only a couple of hours a week, but it paid maybe four times as much as my job at the Student Store. Needless to say, I hadn’t taught…
“Why Bother?” A Rejoinder
Is Renewal a path toward the future or a road away from Judaism?