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In addition, 8,000 Conservative
youths attend Ramah summer camps;
two new camps are going up in north-
ern California and Georgia; and 70 per-
cent of movement synagogue children
attend congregational schools..
Meanwhile, JTS' William Davidson
Graduate School of Jewish Education,
which Dr. Schorsch helped launch, just
graduated 130 students, its largest class.
All non-Orthodox programs for •
Jewish educators at the other liberal .
seminaries
together 'don't
equal 130," Dr.
Schorsch
charged. "Jewish
education is the
growth sector of
the Conservative
movement," he
said.
While that
growth is hap-
Krakoff
pening nation-
wide, many have
noted a seeming cultural schism
between the establishment New York
seminary and the younger, more liberal
University of Judaism in Los Angeles.
"I don't think the pull of the doctor,
or any leader, on the East Coast has the
same effect here," said Conservative
Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice
president of the Board of Rabbis of
Southern California.
The Los Angeles campus has stirred
competition and therefore some real
life into rethinking the rabbinic school
curriculum" in the movement, UJ
Rector Rabbi Elliot Dorff said.

"

Leadership Reaction

When it comes to the one-movement
debate, the seminary leaders diverge
sharply.
Rabbi Dorff, who wants to welcome
gays and lesbians into Conservative con-
gregations, remains highly critical of Dr.
Schorsch's warning that the Rabbinical
Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law
and Standards should not revise the
movement's opposition to ordaining
openly gay rabbinic students or holding
gay commitment ceremonies.
That controversy has been stirring
for several years and is likely to continue
at least until the committee hears argu-
ments on the issue next March.
Dr. Schorsch feels the conflict was
complicated by a Massachusetts court
decision legalizing gay civil marriages,
which sparked a rush of gay weddings
in that state and also in San Francisco
and in the New York town of New
Paltz.

"This is an agenda formulated by
secular society that confronts Judaism
with an enormous challenge," he said.
But "since Conservative Judaism
remains a halachic movement, it is not
going to be able to accommodate every-
thing secular society wants."
Dr. Schorsch, who as JTS head
appoints five members of the 25-mem-
ber law committee, said he has "been
afforded the opportunity to express my
views" on the subject to the panel.
"The law committee will stand its
halachic ground and not support same-
sex marriage," he predicted.
Rabbi Dorff agrees that the move-
ment- should not bend to cultural
trends. But, he says, "if you're going to
have a legal system that affects people's
lives, you have to take into account
what's going on in people's lives in order
to make it relevant"
Rabbi Krakoff said, "We must accept
variations within the movement as
something positive. There is not just
one pattern out there and there never
has been. Our strength is our ability to
adapt to the needs of different commu-
nities and accept difference as real and
necessary. ”

He said, "We must encourage reli-
gious and spiritual growth. We must
cultivate and nurture personal spiritual
journeys. We must be the address for
the profound experiences of Jewish
learning, prayer and life-cycle experi-
ences.
'And at the core of this vital center
we call Conservative Judaism is the goal
of achieving an ever-closer relationship
with God. Our encounters with God
are focused on bringing a greater sense
of holiness into the world. It is through
our relationship with God that we can
help create the caring, sensitive and pro-
ductive society that we seek."
Rabbi Krakoff. understands
Conservative Judaism as a movement
that "embodies a vibrant tradition and
an eternal message, one of participation,
understanding and creative decision-
making. As Conservative Jews we are
challenged daily when it comes to mak-
ing decisions about current issues and
concerns," he said.
"But we must embrace this tension
as we attempt to make meaning out of
daily living. This is our holy task and
the true message of our movement.
May its teachings reverberate as one
essential voice among many for individ-
uals who are searching for the authentic
expression of their own Jewish hearts
and souls." El

JN Staff Writer Shelli Liebman
Dorfman contributed to this report.

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