Your article, “JTS Intermarriage Workshop Signals Change on Issue” (Feb. 26), confirms for me the fact that Conservative Judaism has outlived its reason for existence. Its many years of “riding the fence” on multiple issues has hurt it badly.
When it finally does come down with some minimal form of guidance it invariably leans towards Reform doctrine (not necessarily a bad thing, just pointing out the facts) and never towards Orthodox doctrine. The issues being discussed, as described in the article, and where the final outcome appears headed, have me seeing less and less difference, if really any, between Conservative and Reform Judaism.
The time has come for the current leadership of the movement to admit that the older “conservative” and Orthodox leanings of the Conservative movement are dead and gone. Consolidate your work and funding into the Reform movement, which has “moved to the right” over the past years, and is where the practices of most Conservative Jewish families tend to best fit anyway. Stop wasting time and money on a dying institution.
Setauket, L.I.
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