Gadol kvod habriot: placing human dignity at the center of Conservative Judaism.

Publication: Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought

Publication Date: 22-JUN-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 American Jewish Congress

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The greatest challenge facing Conservative Judaism is encapsulated in its name. Our movement has been configured to conserve a Jewish past rather than to create a Jewish future. In recent years this once-dominant movement has lost momentum, even as its dual claims to traditional authenticity and contemporary relevance are contested by those to its right and left. Paradoxically, our formulation of Judaism--with its deep reverence for learning and its embrace of the best modern values--may nevertheless be situated to move American Judaism forward into a new era.

What was once described in grand terms by Isaiah's clarion call, "nations shall walk by your light" has over the centuries been circumscribed into a rearguard action to ensure tribal survival. Over two millennia ago, the Jewish people lost political autonomy when Rome interceded in our internecine conflict. Then we lost religious autonomy as the Temple and Sanhedrin were destroyed and disbanded. Next we lost our geographic focus as Jews were driven or fled from the Land of Israel.

Improbably, the people of Israel flourished in the diaspora, generating an extraordinary religious literature, seeding sturdy communities, and surviving the cultural and often physical onslaughts of the cross and crescent. Perhaps there is a covenantal reason for our dispersion beyond the traditional view of exile as punishment. Dispersed among the nations, Israel has the potential to spread awareness of the unity of God and hope for a future redemption. For this to occur, Jews must remain faithful to our covenantal obligations to study Torah and observe mitzvot, and must also be mindful of our potential as spiritual guides to humanity.

Until the onset of modernity, Jews may have lacked the national autonomy of the Second Commonwealth, but we retained a powerful religious cohesion. Yet modernity robbed us of this as well. We became proud citizens of many nations, and some Jews even opted to view themselves as citizens of the world, unfettered by tribal loyalties, Jewish or otherwise. The final remaining resources that allowed Jews to maintain a semblance of cohesion were the matrix of Jewish ritual and Jewish knowledge. These were...

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