c. 2008 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) At first blush, General Motors and the Jewish Theological Seminary _ two storied icons of industry and religion _ seem to have little in common. GM is the world’s largest auto manufacturer, and JTS is the central institution for Conservative Judaism.
Since 1908, GM has produced millions of cars and trucks, and for the past 122 years JTS has produced thousands of rabbis, cantors and educators. But today both “brands” are suffering losses of sales (GM) and membership (the Conservative movement). As a result, GM and JTS are experiencing severe financial turbulence that some observers believe may threaten their very existence.
Earlier this month, GM’s stock price sank to its lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was president. When Ike nominated GM CEO Charles E. Wilson as his secretary of defense, Wilson uttered a sentence at his confirmation hearings that has permanently entered the American lexicon: “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”
But walk down any street today and you will immediately grasp the auto giant’s problems: Cars from Asia and Europe overwhelm the number of GM vehicles. A Wall Street analyst has even used the ominous “B” word: possible GM bankruptcy.
As a child, I remember my father’s pride when he brought home a shiny new Buick from the showroom; it was a symbol of “making it” into America’s middle class. In his last years, he upgraded to a Cadillac. In high school, my wealthy classmates attracted girls with Chevy convertibles. It seemed GM was an inextricable and eternal part of America life.
I felt the same way about JTS. Its Manhattan campus in Morningside Heights bespoke an intellectual and theological powerhouse that at one time included such faculty luminaries as Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mordecai Kaplan and Louis Finkelstein _ all of them giants in the world of religious scholarship.
Although JTS was not my seminary, I deeply respect its rich legacy of learning, its enormous library and its distinguished alumni.
But last month, JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen presented a grim fiscal outlook at a faculty/staff meeting. Facing a shortfall of more than $2 million, Eisen is forced to dip into JTS’ “rainy day” fund. According to a Jewish Week news story, JTS did the same thing four years ago. The school has instituted a job freeze, will cut back on hiring part-time faculty and will limit salary increases.
Eisen’s sobering announcement comes against the backdrop of a large membership loss within Conservative Judaism. Between 1990 and 2000, synagogue membership declined from 915,000 to 660,000. At the same time, Orthodox Judaism, once thought to be unable to adapt to America, is thriving. The largest movement, Reform Judaism, continues to experience growth.
As JTS tightens its institutional belt, the Orthodox Yeshiva University and the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College are financially thriving even as America is undergoing an economic downturn.
Conservative Judaism’s historic strength and original appeal was twofold: it offered American Jews a bridge to religious pluralism, modernity and “enlightenment,” while still emphasizing traditional religious practices and a commitment to religious law. It rejected both Reform Judaism’s radical break with legalism and an ossified Orthodox Judaism that seemed out of step with contemporary American life.
Today JTS and the wider Conservative movement have the same problems faced by many other institutions, religious groups and corporations.
Is its mission or product outmoded? Must it reinvent itself in order to survive? If so, how does a centrist seminary and religious group survive when it is being squeezed from either side?
I hope GM and JTS will make the necessary changes and grow in strength. We need both of them.
(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)
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