Both/And: 250 Years of Conservative Judaism in 80 Minutes
Learn how Conservative Judaism became what it is today in this accessible mini-series adaptation of Chancellor Eisen’s semester-long course for JTS students. Subscribe now
Stock audio provided by perov / Pond5.
Episode Notes
episode 1: Encountering Enlightenment
Our story begins with the pre-history of modern Jewish philosophy and the radical writings of Benedict Spinoza, who considered the Enlightenment’s challenges to Judaism, and found Judaism wanting. We then meet Moses Mendelssohn, the first traditional Jew to engage with the Enlightenment and mount a sophisticated defense of Judaism. (transcript)
Further reading:
Moses Mendelssohn, Jerusalem, translated by Allan Arkush (102-139)
Episode 2: History and halakhah
Moses Mendelssohn had already acknowledged that Jews in the modern era can make choices about how to practice and believe in Judaism, or whether to keep it at all. A range of choices then emerged in response to this new freedom, including ultra-Orthodoxy, the neo-Orthodoxy of Samson Raphael Hirsch, Reform Judaism, and the emergence of Conservative Judaism with Zacharias Frankel, when he said “yes” to both history and halakhah. (transcript)
Further reading:
Zachariah Frankel in Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World (2nd ed., 1995), 194-197, 178-182
episode 3: A Judaism BY the people
Once Zacharias Frankel and other historically-minded scholars had affirmed that Judaism has always been changing, a question presented itself: How does Judaism change? Frankel and Solomon Schechter, then a lecturer at Cambridge University, both saw the authority for change as rooted in the Jewish People—but which of the people? (transcript)
Further reading:
Zachariah Frankel in Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World (2nd ed., 1995), 194-197, 178-182
Solomon Schechter, “Historical Judaism,” “Excerpts from Seminary Addresses,” and “The Work of Heaven,” in Waxman, Tradition and Change (89-109, 163-172)
episode 4: A Judaism OF the people
If Judaism can change, what must remain constant? Solomon Schechter, who became the President of JTS, identified the core elements of Judaism that unite all Jews who are part of the tradition, across ideologies and across time. Mordecai Kaplan, a professor of Midrash at JTS, took these elements and interpreted them as constituting a civilization that, he proposed, could be embraced by modern American Jews. (transcript)
Further reading:
Solomon Schechter, “Historical Judaism,” “Excerpts from Seminary Addresses,” and “The Work of Heaven,” in Waxman, Tradition and Change (89-109, 163-172)
Mordecai M. Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization, (3-15, 173-208, 431-435); The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, Chapter 1
episode 5: American Judaism in the mid-20th Century
In identifying the aspects of Judaism that he considered compelling for modern American Jews, Mordecai Kaplan focused on the human part of Judaism: community and folkways, rather than commandments and spirituality. In contrast, JTS professor Abraham Joshua Heschel sought to reawaken American Jewry to the power of mystery and the imperative to respond to God’s presence in the world. (transcript)
Further reading:
Mordecai M. Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization, (3-15, 173-208, 431-435); The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, Chapter 1
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 3-4, 167, 184-199
episode 6: Finding God through the “leap of action”
Both Mordecai Kaplan, the rationalist, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, the mystic, believed that Judaism compels us to make the world a better place. Kaplan was committed to the ethical practice adopted by the Jewish People throughout our history, while Heschel’s social activism was motivated by a prophetic imperative: transforming God’s will into action. Louis Finkelstein, the influential Chancellor of JTS, also stressed the importance of action, recognizing the unique role of the Jewish community in his time and place. (transcript)
Further reading:
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 3-4, 167, 184-199
Louis Finkelstein, “Tradition in the Making,” “The Things that Unite Us,” in Waxman, Tradition and Change, 187-197, 313-324
episode 7: Hearing women’s voices and moving “from path to pathlessness”
Jewish feminism has been a major influence on Conservative Judaism since the 1970s. Judith Hauptman, professor emerita at JTS, has brought her deep knowledge of rabbinic literature to developing new positions on women’s halakhic obligations. Mara Benjamin is soon to publish a book that uses her own experience of motherhood as a lens on Jewish ethics. A further example of innovating out of a thorough understanding of the tradition comes from Arthur Green, who syntheses Kaplan and Heschel into a naturalist mystical theology. (transcript)
Further reading:
Judith Hauptman, “Women and Prayer: An Attempt to Dispel Some Fallacies,” (JUDAISM, Winter 1993)
Mara Benjamin, The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought
Arthur Green, “Rethinking Theology,” Radical Judaism, 1-15
episode 8: looking to the future
Neil Gillman, professor of philosophy at JTS, made it his mission to encourage generations of JTS students, as well as countless members of the Jewish public, to develop their own theologies, rather than relying exclusively on the giants of the past such as those who have been discussed in this podcast. Chancellor Eisen lays out his own approach, grounded in the ongoing covenant with God that enables us to continue the authoritative Jewish conversation in our generation. (transcript)
Further reading:
Neil Gillman, Sacred Fragments
Arnold Eisen, Conservative Judaism Today and Tomorrow
