Conservative Judaism
Top Conservative rabbi to resign over ‘sexual identity’ struggle
By Lauren Markoe — April 21, 2016
(RNS) A leader in the Conservative Jewish movement asks forgiveness from his Dallas congregation.
Who cares about Passover anymore?
By Jeffrey Salkin — April 19, 2016
Many Jews are going to be including rice and beans in their Passover diets. The real question is: What does Passover mean to many American Jews?
Controversial study: Many Conservative rabbis open to officiating at intermarriage
By Lauren Markoe — October 21, 2015
(RNS) The issue is fraught within Judaism, as more than half of all American Jews marry outside their religion, and the community worries that its small numbers -- about 2 percent of the U.S. population -- may further dwindle.
First rabbinical school to allow students with non-Jewish partners
By Lauren Markoe — September 30, 2015
(RNS) It's another "first" for the little-known but influential movement known as Reconstructionist Judaism.
Conservative Jews question notions on dating, marrying only Jews
By Lauren Markoe — January 8, 2015
(RNS) Reform Jews already allow their rabbis to preside at weddings between Jews and non-Jews. Is the Conservative movement next?
On Rosh Hashanah, Israelis welcome a more diverse set of Jews
By Jacob Wirtschafter — September 24, 2014
TEL AVIV, Israel (RNS) As Israelis pause to celebrate the Jewish New Year, they can also celebrate a surge in the number of non-Jews participating in conversion courses run by Israel’s Reform and Conservative movements.
Activists welcome Israeli government decision to fund some non-Orthodox rabbis
By Michele Chabin — January 2, 2014
(RNS) The Israeli government began funding the salaries of five non-Orthodox rabbis serving in rural areas, but activists emphasized that the fight for official recognition of non-Orthodox branches of Judaism is far from over.
Conservative Judaism turns 100 and works to reverse its decline
By Lauren Markoe — October 9, 2013
(RNS) As Conservative Judaism approaches its 100th birthday, it confronts a set of statistics that bode poorly for its future as the anchor in the center of American Jewish life.
Jewish feminists say they’d accept Western Wall prayer compromise
By Michele Chabin — October 7, 2013
JERUSALEM (RNS) The continued violence, and the government’s long-standing unwillingness to allow Jewish feminists to pray as they want at the Western Wall, has strained relations between the Israeli government and American Jews.
Winners and losers in the Pew Research poll on American Jews
By Menachem Wecker — October 4, 2013
(RNS) Among the winners in the new Pew Research Center poll on American Jews, the Orthodox movement and Israel. Losers include the Conservative movement.
Rabbis push Congress on immigration reform
By Katherine Burgess — September 17, 2013
WASHINGTON (RNS) The call for action on immigration reform was issued just days before Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival that commemorates the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt.
For somber Jews on Yom Kippur, white is the new black
By Lauren Markoe — September 11, 2013
(RNS) In her simple, white linen dress, Stacey Robinson says she can heighten her experience of atonement and renewal. “I can stand now, ready, clean ... to reach out to God as God reaches out to me."
Feminists call temporary Western Wall prayer platform a ‘sundeck’
By Michele Chabin — September 3, 2013
(RNS) While the non-Orthodox leaders welcomed the new platform, which can accommodate 450 worshipers, Women of the Wall called it “a sun deck” designed to marginalize anyone who is not Orthodox from praying at the Wall.
French Jews face uncertain future after scandal
By Elizabeth Bryant — April 22, 2013
PARIS (RNS) After the country's top rabbi resigned after admitting to plagiarism, the search begins for a new grand rabbi to lead Europe's largest Jewish population amid questions about how inclusive French Judaism should be.
GUEST COMMENTARY: Passover discomfort over slavery
By Julie Schonfeld — March 25, 2013
(RNS) Jewish tradition commands us to see ourselves as though we were slaves in Egypt. As I sit at my Passover Seder this year, I will wonder about my dining room chairs, and my tablecloth, both of which seem too inexpensive for the labor that must have gone into producing them.
