Front Lines
The New
Hechtman
Apartments
Conservative Shul Group
Offers Strategic Plan
New York/JTA
T
he Conservative movement's
synagogue association
released a draft strategic
plan calling for a narrowing and
streamlining of its functions.
The plan is
a joint product
of the United
Synagogue for
Conservative
Judaism and
Hayom, a coalition
of Conservative
leaders that
Rabbi Wernick
emerged in 2009
to demand funda-
mental reforms.
The draft strategy urges the
synagogue association to focus on
three functions: strengthening con-
gregations; creating an integrated
educational system; and seeding
new congregations and congrega-
tional leadership. It also calls for
the development of new philan-
thropic sources and the reduction
of synagogue dues.
"As we enter a second century
of Conservative Judaism, this plan
calls for significant changes in
focus and leadership and dra-
matic improvement in the way
United Synagogue partners with
its congregations and others across
North America," said Rabbi Steven
Wernick, USCJ's chief executive, in
a statement.
Hayom had complained that the
USCJ was not providing adequate
services to synagogues.
The plan calls for reconceptual-
izing the United Synagogue con-
stituency — from synagogues to
kehillot, or sacred communities —
a nod toward the many informal
movement-inspired groups that
don't formally identity with the
USCJ.
Rabbi Michael Siegel, the
Chicago rabbi who helped initiate
Hayom, said the plan's implementa-
tion would "go a long way toward
demonstrating the value of United
Synagogue and restoring the confi-
dence of member congregations."
Once the country's dominant
Jewish stream, Conservative
Judaism has been in decline since
the 1960s, a trend that has given rise
to much hand-wringing among the
leadership and which was starkly
acknowledged in the report. I)
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