school proposal should not be seen as a first step toward accepting patri- lineal Jews, the term for children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish moth- ers. The Reform movement's accep- tance of such children, as long as they are being raised Jewish, set off a furor among non-Reform Jews two decades ago. The Conservative movement's intensified outreach efforts began last December at the United Synagogue's Boston biennial when Rabbi Jerome Epstein, the group's executive vice president, announced a movement- wide kiruv, or "ingathering" initiative, to make intermarried families more welcome in Conservative institutional life. The ultimate goal is still for the non-Jews in those families to convert, with conversion seen not as an end in itself but "the beginning of a Jewish journey" that synagogues, day schools and other institutions of Conservative Jewish life should help the family take, Rabbi Epstein said. Speaking to day-school delegates last week in Boca Raton, Rabbi Epstein made an impassioned plea for the schools to be more welcoming to chil- dren of non-Jewish mothers, and then engage in concerted efforts to encour- age the children and their non-Jewish mother to convert "as part of their Jewish journey." He also said the schools should clearly articulate "the point by which that child must be Jewish, certainly no more than a few years." Reaction to Rabbi Epstein's sugges- is that if a family does not buy into the school's mission, it is not going to buy into Shabbat obser- vance and kashrut. "Hillel opens its arms to every family," he said. "But they must respect and bide by our norms." Freedman thinks the debate over non-Jews is misplaced. "If it were me, I'd stand on the high- est tower and say that everyone should have a Jewish day school education – all Jewish and inter- faith children. Why just pick on interfaith? "The Orthodox figured this out in the 1940s, and we have to, too." Rabbi Elliot Pachter of Congregation B'nai Moshe in West Bloomfield supported Freedman's contention. Rabbi Pachter, who formerly taught at Hillel, sees no reason to make a change. "The tion drew mixed reviews at the confer- ence. Mildred David, head of the Brandeis School in Lawrence, N.Y., favors a more flexible conversion timetable for non-halachically Jewish children. "If the parents want their child at the Brandeis School, it means their lifestyle is Jewish, so why should we distance them?" she asked. Rabbi Epstein admitted that his suggestion involves "a change in cul- ture which he acknowledged takes time. He told conference delegates that "rabbis have been slow to come on board" with his kiruv initiative, but he expects "that within a year or two we will be in field-goal position" — rela- tively close. In St. Louis, the city's 12 Conservative rabbis have been work- ing since September to create a unified policy for their Schechter school "that would be acceptable to us as rabbis and livable for our school," said Rabbi Carnie Rose of B'nai Amoona. The policy, sent to the school board last week, specifies that the school will accept a child of a non-Jewish mother up to the age of bar or bat mitzvah. The child will be assigned a rabbinic mentor who will work closely with the family, "so it will not come as a surprise" that the child will be asked to convert by age 12 or 13, or else leave the school. The school also would admit chil- dren of non-Jewish mothers after bar mitzvah age, with the stipulation that they must convert within a year. 1i rabbis work with the school and the (interfaith] families and it is handled with great discretion." Dina Shtull in Ann Arbor sent a formal statement to the Jewish News: "We are a Solomon Schechter day school, but we also function as a community (elementary) school because we are the only Jewish day school in Ann Arbor. Over the years, we have worked with our local rabbis to address issues of Jewish identity, and encouragement of conversion if and when appropriate. "In general, we aim to be inclu- sive. We meet the needs of the entire spectrum of religious and cultural expressions in Judaism. This is important to us." THINK RINK. Rink Detroit's Destination For Winter Fun! CAMPUS (frr 1 PARK w V eid, Feel the nip of the crisp winter air, enjoy the music, and take in the view as you skate (gracefully or not) alongside family and friends. 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