A leading Reform rabbi addressing the 72nd annual convention of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly of America here suggested today that the two branches of Judaism get together on a broad front of cooperation in the US and in Israel. “If capitalist Americans and Communist Chinese can play ping-pong, why can’t Conservative and Reform rabbis play chess?” Rabbi David Polish, of Chicago, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, asked the 1000 members of the Conservative rabbinical body attending the convention.
In this day of crisis for an embattled Jewish people, cooperation is necessary for survival, Rabbi Polish said. He added that Jewish youth and even the older generation do not understand conflict and recriminations among Jews and want their leadership to “address ourselves to the Jewish issues that they place at the top of their agenda.”
Rabbi Polish suggested the establishment of corresponding committees on cooperation between the Central Conference and the Rabbinical Assembly. He also said the two branches must work together to “contribute a non-Orthodox religious component into Israel’s complex structure.”
AREAS OF COOPERATION CITED
Other possible areas of cooperation according to Rabbi Polish included the development of a joint approach to the problem of intermarriage “a problem and a reality that transcends denominational lines”; joint projects for the improvement of the “quality and direction of Jewish education”; collaboration, even if unofficial on matters of theological interpretation; and joint pension, health insurance and tenure policies.
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