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PAGE 2 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE June 6, 1986 UNL ""irt 0 ^CHILDREN'S CLOTHING w SAMPLES CLEARANCE SALE 40° s^v JUNE 6 T nmj 2l BUCKHEAD 3847 ROSWELL ROAD 231-3246 MON -SAT 10-5 30 DUNWOODY 4947 WINTER CHAPEL 396-6795 TUES -SAT 10-5 30 Riedy s 255-524Q l£% OFF PANTED iNVITATIONS Conservative rabbis pursue self-definition at convention Super Saturday ►H PH PH PH K mmm 10-2 all you can play Golf and Video games plus Hot Dog and Coke $3 95 3382 Shallowford Rd mmnnnr [?QDU'ir°[PQD , D ,, D , * J o o o o <J Chamblee 458-0888 TTTIII1I1ITTT PH PH r Grand Opening Feel special at The Great China 1 Special Food • Special Atmosphere Eat In—Take Out GREAT CHINA Restaurant North Hill Shopping Center Chamblee, GA • 454-8777 10% Discount on Dinner w/this ad Good through 6 30 86 Hours: M-F 11:30-2:30 M-Sat. 5-10 Sun 12-10 by Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman Ahavath Achim Synagogue The theme of the 86th conven tion of the Rabbinical Assembly was self-definition. How does the Conservative Movement differ from its Orthodox and Reform coun terparts? Can the movement ac commodate varying approaches to tradition and to modernity? Is the historical formula of ‘unity within diversity’ still applicable? These became primary questions during the past years because of two developments: the inner strug gle within Conservative circles on the ordination of women and the Reform Movement’s promulgation of a partrilineal definition of Jewishness. Tensions within the Conserva tive Movement were exacerbated by the creation of a group within its midst. The Union for Tradi tional Conservative Judaism (UTCJ). Enlisting its membership from laity as well as rabbis, the UTCJ actively opposed the ordi nation of women. It contended that the advocacy of such a radical step was a slippery slope which would lead to further erosion of commitment to traditional practi ces and values. The UTCJ thus organized itself as a separate group within the Conservative Movement. It estab lished its own panel of halachic inquiry and gave notice that it would no longer be bound by the rulings of the Rabbinical Assem bly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. This radical move chal lenged the authority of the RA Law Committee as the official dec- isor for the Conservative Move ment. In its losing effort to prevent the ordination of women, the UTCJ warned that within a decade the Conservative Movement would follow Reform in accepting‘patril- Yeshiva High School of Atlanta invites you to attend its 16th Anniversary Dinner Honoring Larry and Eleanor Bogart Rabbi Avrohom Weiss Spiritual Leader of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, New York Distinguished Guest Speaker Sunday, the Fifteenth of June Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Six Plaza Ballroom Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel Atlanta, Georgia t"uzl \ $150 per couple Dietary laws observed Reception — 6:30 p m Dinner — 7 30 p m Rabbi Arnold Goodman inealism.’ Indeed, this was precisely the prediction of many Reform leaders. As is often the case, volatile questions are confronted in and through a political process. Fol lowing several years of debate and discussion on both women’s rights and patrilinealism, the Conserva tive rabbinate stated its consensus through resolutions passed at convention. On Monday, May 18, the con vention overwhelmingly approved a resolution which stated that “ascription of Jewish lineage...on the basis of anything other than matrilineal descent or appropriate conversion...shall be regarded as violations of the halacha of the Conservative Movement and...vio lations of a Standard of Rabbinic Practice and inconsistent with membership in the Rabbinical Assembly...” With this strong resolution, the RA affirmed that it unequivocally and sharply differs from Reform on the issue of patrilineal. The resolution was accompanied by a call to our Reform colleagues to rethink their position on patrili- neaiism for the sake of the unity of the Jewish People. Yet, the Conservative Movement does not perceive itself as being but a modernized version of Orthod oxy. The Rabbinical Assembly in a series of resolutions rejected the platform of the UTCJ. The most pointed resolution demanded that the Union of Traditional Conser vative Judaism “cease and desist from issuing any further Halachic opinions as an organized body and to utilize the proper channel estab lished for our movement: the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.” While the Union has sought to move the RA to the right on a number of issues, the central issue which gave birth to the Union was egalitarianism in synagogue ritual in general and the ordination of women in particular. The RA has now affirmed that just as partili- nealism separates it from Reform, egalitarianism separates it from Orthodox. With the outer parameters of the Movement staked out, attention is now directed to charting the area that we occupy. A newly formed Commission on Conservative Ideology has been formed by the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jew ish Theological Seminary. Chaired by one of the great figures in the history of our Movement, Rabbi Robert Gordis, this commission has been charged to complete its work and to bring in a report at the 1987 Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly. Our convention unfolded during the celebration of the centennial of the Jewish Theological Seminars Sessions were devoted to a study of the contribution of our past mas ters and to a projection of how, during its second hundred years, the Seminary might best serve American Jewry. Diversity continues to charac terize our movement, but the vast majority of colleagues and I came away from the 1986 Convention strengthened in our identity as Conservative Jews. While we are committed to the unity of the Jew ish People, we insist that there be a sense of appreciation of the differ ences which enable each movement within American Jewry to make a contribution to the quality of Jew ish life on these shores. The parting words at the con vention were “see y’all in Atlanta in 1987.” Come next March, Atlanta Jewry will have the dual opportun ity of sharing in the excitement of a Rabbinical Assembly convention and of extending that traditional Southern hospitality to hundreds of rabbis and their wives—or husbands. Special for Shavuot ( heese pockets and danish and strips and strudels and cakes and all of our challahs. Remember, we wil 13th. lor the holid; [J be closed on Friday, June UNDER ORTHODOX RABBINICAL SUPERVISION In the Toco Hills Shopping Center between C & S Bank Theater. and the 633-1986 CLOSED SHABBAT Em more mlormation. call I l\sc Wertheimer at 6.D-690K or the Vcslma oil ice at 87 3-1492