The Conservative Movement in Judaism: Dilemmas and Opportunities

Chapter 6: Leadership

117 Chapter 6 Leadership The subject of leadership in the Conservative Movement is a delicate and sensitive one. The discussion of the Movement’s origin and history, institutions, ideology, and style is in the nature of structural issues in which only a few individuals come to mind, while the discussion of demographics is even further removed from the actions of individual leaders. But leadership as a subject is by definition intimately tied to individuals. Nevertheless, it is our intention here to set out general principles, not to reflect on the strengths or weaknesses of individuals who have played or continue to play leadership roles in the Movement. IN THE MOVEMENT The fact is, the Conservative Movement in recent years has suffered from a paucity of compelling leaders able to confront its problems and motivate others to respond to them. This is perhaps most dramatically demonstrated in the Seminary’s longtime reliance on certain very talented surviving members of its senior staff from the third generation of its rabbinical leadership (that is, those who served their apprenticeship immediately after World War I, becoming leaders by 118 THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT IN JUDAISM the end of the interwar generation) to reach out to the Movement in the congregations. Most continued until they died. Few of the fourth and even fifth generations have been able to do what they did. This is not a question of competence. There are many competent people scattered throughout the Movement. The issue has been particularly crucial with regard to the top level of leadership, those who set the tone, guide its policies, and administer the Movement’s affairs countrywide and in world arenas. In a sense, a generation of top leadership is missing, and its absence has not been felt until now. This dearth of top-level leadership has several dimensions. One is the decline in the influence of the major figures at the JTS, both within the Movement and in the larger Jewish world. Because the Seminary has been entrusted with the leadership of the Movement since its founding, and in a real sense fathered the Movement, no alternative has emerged. Therefore, if it does not have leadership, the Movement does not have leadership. Alternatives may emerge to Seminary leadership if the present situation continues. Over the last decade, the presidents of the Rabbinical Assembly have hesitatingly tried to step in to fill the vacuum, both personally and through the strengthening of the RA committees, but it is not the same, since they are essentially short-term leaders who continue to have all the congregational responsibilities of their colleagues while trying to play movement-wide roles. The RA as an institution could become more important as a source of leadership under the right circumstances, but that will require extensive institutional restructuring and even a change in the rabbinical roles of its leaders. Most congregations resent having their rabbis spend too much time in activities outside of the congregational walls. Only very well established rabbis have that luxury, and then only in moderation. The localistic leadership of the congregations figures that it is paying for local services, not supporting statesmen to go further afield. That is one of the reasons for the decline in the visibility of great rabbinical figures, who were generally Reform rabbis of an earlier generation or rabbis serving Conservative congregations in the Reform mold, in the sense that their central activity was the weekly worship service and sermon. They were not called upon to do much else. Therefore, if a rabbi was a great preacher, he had the time and the vehicle for reaching a larger countrywide and even worldwide audience. Since even Reform synagogues now demand more attention from their rabbis, this phenomenon has disappeared. Leadership 119 We have already noted the difficulties in recruiting non-rabbinic leadership. The emergence of a stronger lay leadership in recent years is to be commended. The present leadership should be strengthened, and efforts should be made to supplement them through broad recruitment. Except for the JTS board, both JTS and RA leadership almost by definition have to be rabbinical. Thus rabbinical predominance exacerbates the overall leadership problem. This is not an age for clericalism, and a movement that has to rely on people who emphasize that dimension is going to have perennial difficulties. The JTS escaped the problem somewhat in the past by elevating scholars who were scholarstatesmen and for whom the title rabbi...