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World

Movement Ferment

Outgoing seminary leader says "spiritual soil is gone"

from Conservative branch.

Stewart Ain
New York Jewish Week

In his farewell address, the out-
going chancellor of the Jewish
Theological Seminary delivered
a scathing attack on his students
for craving "instant gratification"
rather than "dense and demand-
ing discourse" — and on his
own Conservative movement for
too easily permitting "funda-
mental changes."
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, who
is retiring as chancellor June
30 after 20 years, also lashed
out against "the primitiveness
of rap" music and decried the
abandonment of "great scholar-
ship" that had been the hallmark
of the movement and that had
"set us apart as the vital center
of modern Judaism."
And he reserved some of
his harshest words for the
movement's Chumash (the Five
Books of Moses), Etz Hayim:
Torah and Commentary,
which he said is largely devoid
of spirituality. He made the
comments during his keynote
address at the seminary's 112th
commencement exercises on
May 18.
"After 20 years in the saddle,
obviously he had a lot of frus-
trations and it got to him;' said
Rabbi Alvin Berkun, president
of the movement's Rabbinical
Assembly.
Among the issues Rabbi
Schorsch is concerned about,
Rabbi Berkun said, is upholding
the movement's ban on the ordi-
nation of homosexuals.
"He sees it as something that
is going to undergo change and
it worries him, obviously:' Rabbi
Berkun said.
On the Web blog Jewschool.com ,
an unidentified person who
attended the commencement
commented: "Dr. Schorsch deliv-

ered a speech full of veiled and
not-so-veiled insults to the very
people he was addressing — the
students, families, scholars,
and clergy of the Conservative
movement... The audience was
more subdued than I would have
imagined after Schorsch had just
insulted his graduating students,
but all around me I did see
people whispering and shaking
their heads."
In an interview last week,
Rabbi Schorsch said he has
received "very nice responses"
to his remarks, "but I obviously
ruffled feathers. I'm pleased
about that. It was my intent to
challenge the weakening of our
halachic [Jewish law] resolve...
The character of Conservative
Judaism is what is at stake. And
if we don't reaffirm the hala-
chic centrality of Conservative
Judaism, we will
become carbon copies
of Reform [Judaism]:'
In his commence-
ment speech, a copy
of which was provided
by the seminary, Rabbi
Schorsch spoke of his
disappointment with
Etz Hayim.
"Our impoverish-
ment is sadly exempli-
fied by the ambiva-
lence toward critical
scholarship in Etz Hayim... As
commentary, [Etz Hayim] is so
eviscerated as to betray not the
slightest trace of the plenitude of
the original to generate spiritual
meaning through empathetic
scholarship.
As exposition, the end notes,
with a few striking exceptions,
are spiritually inert. Their
rabbinic authors go through the
paces without passion, making
no effort to extract religious sig-
nificance from the scholarship
being mediated."

The editors of Etz Hayim:
Torah and Commentary,
Rabbi Jules Harlow and Rabbi
David Lieber, could not be
reached for comment.

At Issue

In the interview, Rabbi Schorsch
said he has not spoken with
either of them about the volume.
But he said the work exemplified
what concerns him about the
movement.
"There is a great deal of resis-
tance within the Conservative
movement to serious, historical
inquiry and when historical
inquiry is done, it is done
without a trace of spiritual rich-
ness. That is why I focused on
Etz Hayim.
The essays in the back are
lifeless except for a few that are
largely written by scholars and

the consumerism of the mall
threaten to trivialize the liter-
ary culture that is the pride of
Judaism. Kitsch has become
kosher. A synagogue out of sync
is deemed bereft of spiritual-
ity...
"Our addiction to instant grat-
ification has stripped us of the
patience to appreciate any dis-
course whose rhetoric is dense
and demanding. Mindlessly, we
grasp for the quick spiritual fix."
One of those in attendance,
Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, executive
director or the Jewish Outreach
Institute who has two sons
studying at the seminary, said he
was "disappointed" that Rabbi
Schorsch "did not speak posi-
tively about what is going on in
the movement and only nega-
tively"
"At my own ordination, the

and faith at the seminary had
made it home for the acme of
20th-century Jewish scholarship,
a venue of ferment and fertil-
ity," he said. "Faith once moved
us to study our heritage deeply,
which truth asked of us that we
do it critically, in light of all that
we know. Willful ignorance was
never an acceptable recourse.
The interaction set us apart
as the vital center of modern
Judaism. But no longer."
Although he did not spell
out what he was referring to,
Rabbi Schorsch added: "With
frequency, fundamental changes
come more easily. Our forebears
embraced history to enlarge and
enrich Jewish observance; we
wield it, if at all, to shrink it!'
He was apparently referring to
the ordination of homosexuals,
a proposal he has vehemently

"And if we don't reaffirm the halachic centrality
of Conservative Judaism, we will become carbon
copies of Reform [Judaism]."

Rabbi Ismar Schorsch

that pulsate with spiritual mean-
ing."
In his commencement
remarks, Rabbi Schorsch told
the 144 graduates (20 of whom
were ordained by the rabbini-
cal school): "As opposed to the
dense and demanding discourse
of scholarship, students crave
instant gratification.
The way to the heart is not
through the circuitous and ardu-
ous route of the mind but the
rhythmic beat of the drums...
"The primitiveness of rap and

president used the opportunity
to encourage and charge the
group of people going out to
serve the community:' he said. "I
don't think he [Rabbi Schorsch]
did that ... He criticized most
things in the movement, short
of intellectual contributions of
seminary faculty members."
In his remarks, the chancellor
also lamented the loss of "great
scholarship:' which he said has
"ceased to energize [the move-
ment] as it had in the past."
"Once, the polarity of truth

opposed but one that is now
under active consideration.

Backdrop And Response

Rabbi Alvin Berkun, the
Rabbinical Assembly presi-
dent, said that although Rabbi
Schorsch's commencement
remarks presented a "different
message" than others he has
made of late, the chancellor had
spoken critically of the move-
ment when he addressed the
R.A. convention in March.

Movement on page 28

June 8 • 2006

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