What People Are Asking
Leading up to the Centennial in October, we’re collecting critical questions about Jewish life now and in the future. We’ll pick the top 10 questions — written or video – to feature on our homepage.
So, see below what others are asking, write your own question/s or post your video.
Playlist of our video and yours
| Your Videos | Your Questions |
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| How can someone who doesn’t believe in halacha be comfortable in Conservative Judaism? | |
| How will Conservative Judaism respond to increasing intermarriage now and in the future? | |
| How do we restore the sense of authenticity to our movement? | |
| How do I get my children’s friends as excited about going to Synagogue on Shabbat morning as my children are? | |
| How does Conservative Judaism become the central point at which Judaism meaningfully engages the world at large becoming a “light unto the nations” through the creation and implementation of a unified post-modern vision of fully integrated human existence that acknowledges and incorporates Gd’s simultaneous immanence and transcendence, thus actively resisting assimilation and idolatry while avoiding segregation from the mainstream? | |
| How do you feel about transgendered converts? | |
| What can (and MUST) I – as a Conservative Jew – do to ensure a future for Jewish community when both my Reform and Orthodox neighbors deny the viability or even EXISTENCE of an interdenominational community. | |
| How do we get synagogue leadership to overcome fears to experiment with new kinds of options (such as lay-led minyanim or trying new minhagim in prayer) without it being perceived as a threat to the local rabbinic authority? | |
| How can we make our kehilot more welcoming to single and divorced individuals without children? | |
| How fully can Conservative Judaism respect and embrace any Jew who identifies as observant without rejecting any specific person as too traditional or too liberal? | |
| Can we come up with a curriculum for our Sunday schools that challenges our children? That gives them a glimmer of the complexity and sophistication our religion holds? Can we teach them, in those few precious hours each week, some rudimentary Hebrew, not just the ability to pronounce meaningless words? Can we give them a sense of our history and our common destiny? Can we give them a taste that leaves them wanting more? | |
| How can we express more clearly what Conservative Judaism is? What other name could we use that would be more understandable and evocative? | |
| How do we unite as a people across all denominational identities? | |
| When will the movement stop making its ‘right wing’ feel like it belongs somewhere else? | |
| How do we help parents with their own Jewish education, so that they see the value of putting the same level of importance in their children’s Jewish education that they put in their secular studies? | |
| How do we keep Judaism and specifically, Conservative Judaism, relevant in a complex techno-centric world? | |
| How do we talk about Israel? | |
| Why is the centrist Jewish movement seen as a compromise, as passive… instead of being the spiritual hub? the crossroads of ideas and practice? the place of passionate debate? the center of the Jewish life? | |
| How do we engage the unaffiliated? | |
| How will Conservative Judaism keep college students interested in continuing to practice during their schooling and afterwards? | |
| If Conservative Judaism holds forth for being the most rational and historical modern form of our religion, why is it losing out in influencing younger generations? | |
| What unique message does Conservative Judaism have for the Jewish people and for the world? | |
| As Jews, we have always been a community of wanderers, moving from community to community. In Europe this was out of necessity to survive; In America, each generation moves in search of a bigger house, a more prosperous lifestyle, or better economic opportunities. Will this frontier end, and will American Jews ever be content with what we have? | |
| What is the most compelling value offer for joining a synagogue? | |
| How do we excite Jewish teens and pre-teens into joining USY? | |
| Why do we support Israel without reservation? | |
| Between the bar mitzvah and registering a child for pre-school… where does everybody go? |
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Rabbi Joshua Rabin tells us that that the way to change the narrative of Conservative Judaism comes not from without, but from within.
How can we make our kehilot more welcoming to single and divorced individuals without children?