The Times Herald Record reports: There was a time that the 86-year-old shul on Route 52 in Woodbourne was full on of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But members of the Congregation B’nai Israel have moved away, and many of the 45 or so who remain are now senior citizens. For the past two years, they haven’t been able to get a minyan, so they lost their rabbi.
So the congregation decided that, if times were changing, they would change, too. This year, they switched from Orthodox to Conservative Judaism.
“The change from Orthodox to Conservative only changes a couple of things as far as the services go: The women can sit with the men instead of separately, and they can be counted toward the minyan; and parts of the service will be read in English, instead of just Hebrew. Which I think brings more meaning, and brings us closer together,” the president said.
The shul remains the same: The Aron Kodesh draped with red velvet, Taleisim waiting for the men, and the Sedurim neatly lining shelves at the back of the room.
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13 Responses
Es vet dem gornisht helfen.
Oy Vei
A familiar story… nebach.
Next year they’ll be reform and then all assimilated
And gone!!!
Instead saying nebach or whatever..why dont a few boys from a yeshiva go there and be mechazek these people (ask your Rosh Yeshiva first)……its only twice a year, not every Shabbos.
who ever can do it, please contact the president and tell him Torah way is the only way and not to go back….show him we care!
(i am not knowledgeable enough to lead a minyan, but anyone in Yeshiva can).
sygy,
maybe we should do that in every conservative temple.
R. Yisrael Salanter once crticized the Chasam Sofer for his blanket cherem on Neologue Judaism thus: “Were I to have been there I would have tried very hard to fight the establishment of a Reform Temple. But if there was no choice, I would have gone to those reformers and said ‘If you must have such a temple, come let’s build it together.’ I would have then placed five students of mussar in the back of the Temple and told them to just sit and learn there every day. And I promise you that within a year, each any every member of the reform group would become a student of Mussar and the Temple would be a new yeshiva.”
#6, we should! alot the baalei teshuvah are from conservative and reform – and part of the reason they are Baalei Teshuva is because they came to us, if we can go there and take over – it would awesome! (ask your local rabbi though if you should become a rav in their shul with their “leader” still in place or open a shul next to it.
Cantoresq,
Beautiful quote from R’ Yisroel Salanter. What is the source?
Sygy,
There’s not one Godol around today who would sanction it. You would get slaughtered on YW (and rightfully so)for it.
sygy, I don’t know if “take over” is the right way to go about it. I know in communities with many shuls, there are many conservative and reform people who transition to orthodox shuls. Perhaps being open and welcoming to them would be the best solution.
i agree with cantoresq, what is the source.
i also agree with sharpestnail, no rosh yeshiva would allow his talmidim to a: go there b: miss his own yeshiva’s rosh hashanah/yom kippur c: roshei yeshiva dont care
by the way, r yisroel salanter would be called left wing modern orthodox today, for many of his practices. study a real bio of his life (not the artscroll sanitized / kosherized version).
The quote I cited above is found in Rabbi Dr. Menachem Glenn’s biography of R. Yisrael Salanter. Glenn was a student in Slabodka, as I recall, and was very well versed in the life of R. Yisrael Salanter. The biography of was a reqorking of his doctoral disertation from Dropsie College in the 1950’s. Indeed R. Yisrael might arguably be called “progressive” or “liberal” in light of many of his practices. Based on Glenn’s book, I’m not certain R. Yisrael would shep a great deal of naches from how his movement has evolved.