Focus
A Dynamic Scholar
The
Chanan Tigay
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Conservative
ith Conservative
Judaism at a cross-
roads, the movement's
flagship institution has chosen
a scholar of American Jewry to
guide it.
A Jewish studies professor and
chairman of Stanford University's
religious studies department,
Dr. Arnold M. Eisen will succeed
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, who steps
down June 30 after 20 years at the
helm of the Conservative move-
ment seminary.
Eisen's ascent was greeted with
excitement and relief by many
Conservative Jews who had hoped
the JTS search committee would
select a dynamic leader to stew-
ard the ship as it faces a series of
challenges and questions.
The news also was met with
a few raised eyebrows because
Eisen, who is in his 50s, is not a
rabbi. He has spent his profes-
sional career in academia, not
movement
announces
a new
chancellor.
W
Above: Rabbi Nevins
Right: Rabbi Jason Miller and
Dr. Arnold Eisen, with a
specially printed Pistons'
warm-up Jersey.
58
June 29 • 2006
iN
working in the movement.
Though he is a practicing
Conservative Jew, Eisen, a tall
man with an easy smile, will be
just the second non-rabbi of the
seven people to hold JTS' top post,
after Cyrus Adler led the school
from 1915-1940.
Ann Arbor's Rabbi Jason
Miller doesn't feel the position
needs to be held by a rabbi "or
that the chancellorship means
being the mara d'atra (chief
rabbi and legal authority) for the
Conservative movement.
"In fact, I also do not think the
chancellor of the seminary has to
be the 'titular head of the move-
ment' as Chancellor Schorsch
was regarded," said Rabbi Miller,
associate director of University
of Michigan Hillel Foundation.
Instead, he described the posi-
tion of chancellor as the head of
the faculty of JTS, which is just
one of the institutions in the
Conservative movement.
"The appointment of Eisen
comes at a moment of transition
for the Conservative Movement,"
said Gershon Kekst, chairman
of JTS' board of trustees and
co-chairman of the search com-
mittee. "I am delighted we have
been able to bring Eisen to JTS
and confident that he is the right
person, with the vision and lead-
ership to ensure the vibrancy of
JTS, the Conservative Movement
and the Jewish people."
Following a recent meeting
between Eisen and Detroit's
Conservative rabbis, Rabbi Daniel
Nevins of Adat Shalom Synagogue
in Farmington Hills noted, "He
stated that he shared our agenda
of promoting a deeply commit-
ted practice of Judaism at every
level of our movement. Based on
his academic record, Eisen will
be able to straddle the worlds of
research and practical leader-
ship. I feel confident that he will
help refocus not only JTS but our
movement as we continue our
historic mission as teachers and
practitioners of Torah."
The search for chancellor
reflects a larger struggle that has
dogged the movement for years:
Since its inception, Conservative
Judaism has been pulled between
those who would adhere more
strictly to halachah, or traditional
Jewish law, and those who are
more willing to change tenets of
religious observance to fit mod-
ern living.
The choice of chancellor was
seen as a barometer of which
approach the movement would
take as it moves forward.
Eisen's views on these issues are
not well known, but many in the
movement say that given the seri-
ousness of the challenges, Eisen
is the right man at the right time
for JTS.
"I just think they hit a home
run," said Jonathan Sarna, a
Jewish studies professor at
Brandeis University, who praised
the search committee for think-
ing outside the box in its choice.
"Arnie Eisen is one of the most
respected Jewish scholars in
America. He is exceptionally
broad in his knowledge, able to
speak learnedly about the Bible
and rabbinics, even though
his specialty is modern Jewish
thought"
Creative Choice
Unlike other candidates who were
considered for the job, Eisen —
who at one point is said to have
taken himself out of the running
— has not played a role in the
movement's halachic discussions,
and his positions on these matters
are not well known.
"I can't say what halachic effect
it will have," said Rela Mintz
Geffen, president of Baltimore
Hebrew University. "He's not a
halachist, he's not a rabbinic
scholar. He's the kind of person
who would be careful about mak-
ing pronouncements in a field
that was not his own."
Others speculated that it was
precisely because Eisen is, hala-
chically speaking, an open book
that he was so attractive to the
search committee. Because his
focus as an academic is broader
than that of some movement
insiders who were considered for
the post, he may be able to shift
the movement's focus.
"He may move away from some
of the debates over social issues
that have bedeviled the seminary,
and he will address the larger
issues of what it means to be a Jew
in America;' Sarna said. "I think
that the very fact that he's not a
rabbi will turn out to be an asset."
Not everyone is so sure.
"He doesn't have a long back-
ground of movement insider-
ship," said one congregational
rabbi from New York. "That eans
he won't have as many contacts,
have built-up loyalties, which is a
problem."
Eisen will serve as chancellor-
designate for the first year while
he fulfills his teaching commit-
ments to Stanford. He will assume
the chancellorship on July 1, 2007.
Eisen holds a Ph.D. from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
and also has attended Oxford
University. ❑
Staff Writer Shelli Liebman Dorfman
contributed to this article.