Tag: Conservative Judaism
‘Always looked out for the little guy,’ friends say of Omer Neutra
Michelle Rich, director of teen travel and international engagement at United Synagogue Youth, laughs as she tells JNS about a memory she has of Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American 22-year-old, whose death on Oct. 7...
Report: Conservative rabbis shouldn’t officiate interfaith weddings—yet
Times have changed. Conservative Judaism no longer sees intermarriage as a broad "threat" to Jewish survival, and the movement's rabbis want to engage interfaith couples in "meaningful ritual ways" in synagogues and homes. But...
High Court: State must pay for circumcisions of non-Orthodox converts
Israel's Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, ruled on Tuesday that the State of Israel must fund circumcisions for converts who come through the Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism, and...
Conservative movement to train doctors in ritual circumcision
Two institutions of the Conservative movement—the Rabbinical Assembly and Jewish Theological Seminary—announced that they will offer “comprehensive training” on brit milah to medical professionals who perform non-religious circumcisions.
“Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the ceremony,...
Rabbi Harold Kushner, 88, author of ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People’
Rabbi Harold Kushner, bestselling author and rabbi of 24 years at the Conservative Temple Israel Natick, Mass., where he earned the title rabbi laureate, died on April 27. He was 88 years old.
“He was...
Conservative Jewry installs new president as movement plots its path forward
The Orthodox movement is the fasting-growing in American Judaism. The Reform movement is by far the largest. So what does the future hold for Conservative Jewry? Once the largest U.S. Jewish denomination, the movement...
Haredim livid as Bennett meets Reform, Conservative leaders
Israel’s prime minister met on Monday with the heads of the Reform and Conservative movements to advance the framework agreement for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. The meeting, which came after a nearly...
Conversion cannot be taken lightly
The dramatic ruling on Monday by Israel’s High Court of Justice, ordering the state to recognize non-Orthodox conversions, evoked natural outrage in the haredi community—for how does the court dare weigh in on a religious tradition?...
Dramatic conversion ruling inflames Israel’s political debate
Israel’s High Court of Justice sparked controversy on Monday with a landmark ruling on non-Orthodox conversion, evoking outrage on the right and accolades from the left.
Right-wing parties panned the decision ordering the state to recognize Reform and...
Will the movements survive the pandemic?
It sounds like a good business plan. With American Jewish religious denominations facing agonizing budget decisions in the coming year as a result of the financial losses they are all suffering in the wake...