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Looking for a good book on Conservative Judaism?
Conservative Judaism in America began as a reaction. There were several efforts in the
1800s to unite all Jews in America, which explains why many of the institutions
created then have such nondenominational names. (Take, for example,
Reform
Judaism's Central Conference of American Rabbis, or its congregational arm, the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations; on the Conservative side, how about the
Rabbinical Assembly or the United Synagogue of America?) But these efforts,
already straining, came to a quick halt with the famous "treif
banquet" .
The Conservative movement chose the middle ground between Reform, which it
felt went too far toward assimilation, and Orthodoxy, which it felt mistakenly
had frozen halacha (Jewish law) instead of adapting it to modern times.
Speaking sociologically, the Conservative movement aimed to serve the immigrants
and children of immigrants from Eastern Europe who wanted a mostly traditional
service, mostly in Hebrew, but in a comfortable, suburban style. Postwar
Conservative Judaism grew rapidly, and many synagogues built in that period are
large buildings with many kinds of facilities ("shuls with pools") in order to
offer something for everyone.
In Israel, the Conservative movement is known as Masorti, which means
traditional...not to be confused with the Traditional movement that broke away
from the Conservative movement when the latter began admitting women to
rabbinical school.
The books shown below include books of Conservative Jewish theology and
practice, histories of Conservative Judaism, some publications of the
Conservative movement and its rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological
Seminary, and the new Conservative commentary on the Torah,
Etz
Hayim.
Want more books on Conservative Judaism?
Click here to search on Amazon.
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