The Birth of Conservative Judaism
Title | The Birth of Conservative Judaism PDF eBook |
Author | Michael R. Cohen |
Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Pages | 234 |
Release | 2012 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0231156359 |
Solomon Schechter (1847-1915), the charismatic leader of New York's Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), came to America in 1902 intent on revitalizing traditional Judaism. While he advocated a return to traditional practices, Schechter articulated no clear position on divisive issues, instead preferring to focus on similarities that could unite American Jewry under a broad message. Michael R. Cohen demonstrates how Schechter, unable to implement his vision on his own, turned to his disciples, rabbinical students and alumni of JTS, to shape his movement. By midcentury, Conservative Judaism had become the largest American Jewish grouping in the United States, guided by Schechter's disciples and their continuing efforts to embrace diversity while eschewing divisive debates. Yet Conservative Judaism's fluid boundaries also proved problematic for the movement, frustrating many rabbis who wanted a single platform to define their beliefs. Cohen demonstrates how a legacy of tension between diversity and boundaries now lies at the heart of Conservative Judaism's modern struggle for relevance. His analysis explicates four key claims: that Conservative Judaism's clergy, not its laity or Seminary, created and shaped the movement; that diversity was--and still is--a crucial component of the success and failure of new American religions; that the Conservative movement's contemporary struggle for self-definition is tied to its origins; and that the porous boundaries between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism reflect the complexity of the American Jewish landscape--a fact that Schechter and his disciples keenly understood. Rectifying misconceptions in previous accounts of Conservative Judaism's emergence, Cohen's study enables a fresh encounter with a unique religious phenomenon.
Conservative Judaism in America
Title | Conservative Judaism in America PDF eBook |
Author | Pamela S. Nadell |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Pages | 432 |
Release | 1988-09-16 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 031338763X |
Pamela Nadell's biographical dictionary and sourcebook is a landmark contribution to American, Jewish, and religious history. For the first time, a great American Jewish religious movement is portrayed with amplitude, authority, and personality. In the most revolutionary era in two millenia of Jewish history, this surely is an important volumn. Moses Rischin, Professor of History, San Francisco State University Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook is the first extensive effort to document the lives and careers of the most important leaders in Conservatism's first century and to provide a brief history of the movement and its central institutions. It includes essays on the history of the movement and on the evolution of its major institutions: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, The Rabbinical Assembly, and The United Synagogue of America. It also contains 135 biographical entries on the leading figures of Conservative Judaism, appendices, and a complete bibliography on sources of study.
The Conservative Movement in Judaism
Title | The Conservative Movement in Judaism PDF eBook |
Author | Daniel J. Elazar |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Pages | 254 |
Release | 2012-02-01 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0791492028 |
Viewing the Conservative Movement at a turning point, this book analyzes the problems facing the religious movement with the largest synagogue membership in the American Jewish community and outlines a plan of action for the future. Elazar and Geffen suggest: clarifying ideology, mission, and purpose, finding the right balance between traditionalists and advocates of change, unifying movement institutions in a cooperative effort, staunching the decline of membership to the left, recapturing the loyalty of lapsed adherents, closing the gap in observance between the laity and the standard bearers of the movement, developing the Movement in Israel and world-wide, and strengthening ties with Jewish federations and other Jewish communal bodies. The authors propose that the Conservative Movement's remedying of these problems will benefit not just American, but all world Jewry.
Conservative Jewry in the United States
Title | Conservative Jewry in the United States PDF eBook |
Author | Sidney Goldstein |
Publisher | |
Pages | 176 |
Release | 1998 |
Genre | Conservative Judaism |
ISBN |
A demographic study of conservative Judaism in America today.
Conservative Judaism
Title | Conservative Judaism PDF eBook |
Author | Neil Gillman |
Publisher | Behrman House, Inc |
Pages | 244 |
Release | 1993 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780874415476 |
With the State of Israel and Orthodox and reform Jewry.
Conservative Judaism
Title | Conservative Judaism PDF eBook |
Author | Elliot N. Dorff |
Publisher | U'd Syn Conservative Judaism |
Pages | 300 |
Release | 1977 |
Genre | Conservative Judaism |
ISBN |
Jews in the Center
Title | Jews in the Center PDF eBook |
Author | Jack Wertheimer |
Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Pages | 428 |
Release | 2002 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780813532066 |
Addressing provocative questions on synagogue participation and modern values, eight contributors discuss the findings of the North American Study of Conservative Synagogues and Their Members, 1995-96, within the landscape of American religion. The study is based on new research and a reanalysis of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. Wertheimer teaches American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR