Ah, conservative Judaism. Now this is a movement I'm very familiar with. As I mentioned in my blog entry, "Reform Judaism or Jewish-Lite?", I was raised in a conservative synagogue. Conservative Judaism, as far as I can tell from past experiences, is the shy, awkward middle child of the three main movements (or the three most people are familiar with). We have Orthodox Judaism, the oldest of the three brothers. He is an honors student, a star athlete and very popular at school though a little frightened of girls. The boy is a little too by the book for some but otherwise a good guy to know. Then, we have Reform Judaism, the youngest brother. He is in elementary school wanting to imitate his mature big brother Orthodox Judaism but wants to define himself. Some say he is a little immature at times, but still a generally a likable little boy. Finally, we have Conservative Judaism. The middle child that is currently enrolled in middle school and is having a hard time figuring out who he is. On one hand, he wants to be more liberal like his little brother Reform but traditional like his big brother Orthodox. This creates the awkward situation of dizzily stumbling between the two movements, leaving Conservative Judaism destined to fade away. I really don't think the movement has much hope for survival. I mean, they can't decide what to do with themselves. They don't like to make a clear decision about anything. They have yet to really establish their opinion on homosexuals in the jewish community and the jury is still out on intermarriage. It's because of this indecisive nature that I feel Conservative Judaism is destined to collapse in on itself. Wow, I sound like such a pessimist, don't I?
-Rachel Wyman
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, you do, Rachel--but then you also sound like a lot of people commenting on Conservative Judaism. I would venture to suggest, however, that you can in fact look at ANY of the three movements you describe using exactly the same terms--you just have to be intimate enough with each movement to know the divisions, the disputes, and the uncertainties. Conversely, I bet that there are representatives of each movement that feel their movement is in fact the Rhodes Scholar of the "big three": the most developed, the best situated, and the most true to their senses of tradition and society. After all, why do people stay in one movement or another? (Assuming they're not in a Tennessee Williams-style family--but even then. . .)
ReplyDelete