(Please remember that this series is NOT about Jewish Feminism, but rather how feminist attitudes and demands have been, and continue to be seen as a threat to the rabbinate, especially in terms of female converts)

As you may recall from previous series, the Conservative movement was, from its inception, an uneasy cohabitation of two philosophies. Based, as it was, on the German Wissenschaft idea (Jewish knowledge), one group sought to establish Torah Judaism on the basis of analysis of sources; jettisoning folklore, and establishing a pure Judaism based on Torah and Talmud. The other group sought to discover why we have what we have, with a de emphasis on practice. It was essentially "Reform Lite", except that changes were based on historical analysis, rather than the whims of one group of Jews or another. Keeping peace between these divergent ideas was not easy, and conflicts were real, although they were generally kept from the public eye. Around the year 1980, Feminist demands for an equal place in Judaism became a real issue. Many Jewish observances make a clear distinction between men's roles and women's roles. But how many of these distinctions are actually embedded in the system, and how many were simply the result of sociology? There were clearly cases of both in the sources. But there was also a vast "middle ground" that required analysis.The "Reform Lite" branch of Conservatism favored a complete acceptance of equalizing of roles. The group that believed in observance of halachah, albeit with an eye to how things came about, also generally felt that change was in order. It would be necessary to check Talmudic and Medieval sources, to see what was really essential and unchangeable, and what could be altered, yet remain within the halachah. Could women count in a minyan? Lead services? Be called to the Torah? These were all not simple questions. Many of these rabbis rejoiced at the opportunity for reanalysis; publishing peer reviewed articles, engage in debate, and make badly needed decisions. The first issue to come up for discussions was weather or not women could be ordained as rabbis. Reform had already done this a decade earlier. Anyway, our modern ordination is only symbolic, the authentic ordination having died out (or had been murdered) in the fourth century. It seemed like an easy issue. Several Modern Orthodox rabbis had even made "theoretical" declarations in favor of ordaining women. All that woulds be required was for these halachically committed Conservative scholars to do some research, write some papers, have a conference and present their findings for adoption of this historic innovation. All Jewish "denominations" are run by two groups. One is a lay organization, the other rabbinic. In the Conservative movement,the lay organization is known as the United Synagogue, while the rabbinic group is called the Rabbinical Assembly. The Rabbinical Assembly eagerly rose to the challenge. Meetings were held, papers were written. But an order came from the United Synagogue. The women are in an uproar. Synagogue sisterhoods are demanding the ordination of women...yesterday! The rabbis MUST come up with an immediate solution. It was seen that there was no ready majority for a vote of the rabbis; most were for the proposal, but only after careful further research. The rules were changed. it would not be a vote of the rabbis, but of the entire Jewish Theological Seminary faculty. Teachers of music, art, poetry..would join in the vote. The proposal passed. It would be the first of several that would first give women complete equality in all things Jewish, and eventually to rule that Conservatism is not a halachic movement, but rather a historical movement. This happened step by step, issue by issue over a twenty five year period.. It had long been predicted that the Conservative movement would eventually split down the middle over the issue of halachah. In fact, the split was not fifty fifty, but rather only an intellectual elite resigned from the movement Some became Orthodox. Some remained, but chose to keep silent.,Some formed a separate group, called the Union for Traditional Judaism, with its rabbinic group called Morasha. Some congregations left the United Synagogue. The reason was not so much halachah, but more that the innovations were felt to be a break from Jewish continuity. Laymen, unlike rabbis and cantors, generally do not like change. There is a comfort in attending a service that is identical to the ones you attended with your grandfather and grandmother. For the rabbis of Morasha, it WAS a halachic matter. But only a limited number of synagogues were keeping the traditional ways. Efforts to unite with Open Orthodoxy were rebuffed. UTJ is now a dwindling organization. Many congregants simply either stopped coming, or else joined Orthodox congregations. Like the Catholic Church, which lost millions of its members when it abandoned the Latin Mass, (I was once at a meeting of Ohio Right to Life, where many faithful Catholics expressed their sentiments that Row vs Wade was a punishment for abandoning the traditional Mass).Conservatism had been serving those Jews who liked tradition, more than following rules. They felt disenfranchised. Within a few years, the Conservative movement lost approximately one million members. We have here a case where rapid change, even when based on sound reasoning and sources, backfired. This must give us pause. Orthodox rabbis generally ignored the changes; giving apologetical explanations why the status quo was right. Women who were converts or potential converts, continued to ask questions, which rabbis saw as potentially dangerous. They saw a slippery slope before them. Even if there are plenty of sources to allow women to be called to the Torah..what will be next? Intermarriage (already practiced in Reform, but also by Conservative in some areas, yet to be accepted by the movement). Would the same happen to Orthodoxy? (It was only in the media in the last few days, that a modern Orthodox synagogue invited a gay group to speak, and they are now being threatened with excommunication by a more traditionally Orthodox group). There is an Arabic proverb "Al 'agel min ash'shaitan". (Haste is of the Devil). But there are times where decisions need to be made...and quickly. Open Orthodoxy is now struggling with these issues. Some say that they are on the same road as Conservatives. Many disagree. That will be my next post.