Conservative rabbis failed to reach agreement on a proposed resolution calling for a “timely draw-down” in American troops from Iraq. At a passionate debate during the annual Rabbinical Assembly convention in Cambridge, Mass., the rabbis could not agree on a measure that described the military effort in Iraq as a failure while reaffirming their support for the troops. The assembly will take up the issue in an online discussion. “It was a pretty divided house,” said Rabbi Joel Meyers, the assembly s executive vice president. The Iraq debate extended far beyond the allotted time and precluded the assembly from taking up a resolution, raised by petition, calling on Conservative rabbinical schools to accept gay and lesbian students. In a meeting Thursday morning, the assembly s executive committee effectively killed that resolution, saying it did not conform to the movement s principle of pluralism.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
