Ordination of Women As Rabbis is High on the RA Convention Agenda

The Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, opened its 80th annual convention at the Concord Hotel here today with the controversial issue of the ordination of women high on the agenda.

Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, executive vice president of the organization, referred to it in his opening address when he urged the 600 delegates to approach the subject in a balanced way that respects the sensibilities of the traditionalists who oppose ordination of women but would recognize “that the liberal also has a conscience.” The convention will continue through Thursday.

The debate is expected to be enlivened by the lobbying activities of the Group for the Rabbinic Ordination of Women (GROW) which plans to present a petition signed by Conservative lay people and rabbis from all parts of the country who support the ordination of women. GROW is supporting a resolution calling for the prompt acceptance of women into the rabbinical school of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as candidates for ordination.

HALACHA IS NOT PART OF THE ISSUE

Kelman, in his address, observed that halacha — Jewish religious law — is not part of the issue. The title of rabbi “is not sacramental, giving the holder certain powers that a person without holy order does not have. Why then the debates, the tensions, the accusations and the cross accusations, the threats and fears which have become part of this debate?” he asked. He said that as for as the ordination of women is concerned, “I would be opposed to a situation where every synagogue would be obliged to have a roman rabbi.”

However, he declared, “the Conservative movement must find a way to protect those who went a woman rabbi and those who are opposed, to respect the consciences of the traditionalists and the consciences of those who see the women’s issue as a moral issue.”

GROWTH OF RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY

Kelman devoted much of his address to the growth of the Rabbinical Assembly from a membership of slightly over 300 in 1950 to 1200 today and the progress achieved by the Conservative movement as a whole in that period. The movement, he said, has “emerged from the smallest religious denominational group in the Jewish community to the largest both in the U.S. and Canada.” It now “dominates the spiritual landscape of Latin America.”

There are 30 Conservative synagogues in Israel and an emerging Conservative movement in Europe, he said. He also noted the establishment within the last 18 months of a Zionist Conservative organization, Mercaz.

Kelman said that at the heart of the Conservative movement is “our commitment to pluralism.” He “would not want to live in a Jewish world where all Jews were Conservative Jews, or Reform Jews, or Orthodox Jews,” Kelman said. “This rich kaleidoscope is at the heart of our attitude towards the historical development of Judaism which recognizes, accepts and cherishes differences with reverence.”

At another session today, Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat of Montreal proposed that the Conservative movement establish a full-time adult “yeshiva” program that would include a Conservative “yeshiva” network in America and a related yeshiva-synagogue system in Israel. He said two elements would distinguish it from similar schools with fundamentalist views–the admission of young women on a co-educational basis and the scientific study of texts.