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Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary from 1940 to 1972, summed up what he considered the “fundamental premises” of Conservative Judaism in the twin affirmations that Judaism “is a developing religion” that has always undergone change; and that “this change was not one of deterioration and ossification but of growth, self-expression and foliation.” Our task and privilege, now as ever, is both to study the sages of old and to emulate them: to render Judaism compelling for our revolutionary age, as our learned ancestors did for theirs. Finkelstein’s statement explains why, for Conservative Jews even more than others, the rabbinic principle holds. “Talmud Torah ke-neged kulam: the study of Torah is weighed against the importance of all the other commandments combined.” The task of following the Torah’s precepts is difficult. Relating Torah to the finest insights of the larger culture and responsibly adapting Judaism to changed conditions, when necessary, is still more so. Both tasks require thorough, complex, and nuanced knowledge of the Jewish past, including understanding of the manifold ways in which Jews over the centuries have interacted with the larger cultures of which they were a part. Indeed, the Conservative vision of Judaism as evolving religious civilization only makes sense if one has studied enough Jewish history to know that our tradition has always been evolving in this fashion—sometimes radically and sometimes gradually, at times explicitly and at other moments unaware. Learning Torah, for Conservative Jews as for all others, remains one of Judaism’s major commandments—a discipline of study and practice that I shall describe in detail in my next posting. But it is crucial to stress, as Finkelstein did, that Jews often come to love the learning of Torah. That passion is nurtured for Conservative Jews, I think, by the distinctive ways in which our learning combines study of text with study of the history that shaped the text and was shaped by the text; this wider lens takes in both the history of Jewish communities throughout the centuries and the interactions between those communities and Gentile societies and cultures. Conservative Jews, like others—if fortunate in their teachers and studypartners—experience moments of excitement, joy, and gratitude from active participation in the age-old conversation with Torah. I will never forget the man in his 50s who, in tears, told our prayer group of the day he had first understood the Shema’—word by word—when it was read from the Torah. Or the times when study of the dilemmas facing a Jewish community hundreds of years ago informed and inspired members of synagogue and Federation boards. Or the heated conversation about drawing boundaries between Judaism and the larger culture in relation to the Mishnaic passage about “Rabban Gamliel in the bath of Aphrodite.”
Or my own formative realization, as a teenager, that serious study of medieval commentators on the Torah held out the promise that I could join them. My thoughts mattered. Their disagreements opened space for new voices. It is deeply meaningful to come closer to tradition in this way, and that connection is intensified when no question is ruled out of limits, no body of knowledge considered irrelevant. Every experience of personal and professional life assists our understanding of what Torah means and what it wants of us. Learning of this sort partakes of both obligation and passion. As Finkelstein put it, “We are drawn to the Torah with the bonds of love for it and for its norms. We love its ceremonies, its commandments, its rules and its spirit. We delight in its study . . . And it is this response to it that we want to hand down to our children.” This does not happen every day—but it happens enough of the time, touching us deeply enough, that the learning we do matters greatly and clearly stands as one of life’s great pleasures. We bring everything we have to the learning—all we are—and we are more than repaid for the investment. I think it is Conservative Judaism’s approach to learning that, more than anything, makes our Movement unique. We seek—and, in my experience, often attain—a distinctive balance between text and history, tradition and contemporary dilemmas, halakhah and Aggadah, continuity and change, focus on distinctive Jewish wisdom and attention to the interaction between Judaism and other civilizations. We want women as well as men at every table of learning, and value the diversity of voices heard at every table of learning, even as we strive for common practice worthy of our shared devotion. In doing so, we carry on the conversation begun at Sinai in word and deed, and in a way that no other path in Judaism can attempt or achieve.
Page 1: By: Arnold M. Eisen, Chancellor, Th

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