Content area
Full Text
In a bid to revitalize its aging and shrinking congregations, Conservative Judaism is embarking on an effort to draw prayer groups from the burgeoning independent minyan scene into the Conservative fold. But it's far from clear if the prayer groups are interested in what the Conservative movement is selling.
The draft strategic plan issued by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in February set outreach to the independent minyanim as a goal of the movement. Though their numbers are small - a 2009 survey cited about 60 new lay-led independent minyanim in the United States and Canada - the Conservative leadership says that it sees in their membership a highly committed young cohort whose background and worship style are closer to the Conservative movement than to any other denomination.
Though previous generations of independent prayer groups have, at times, grown into close relationships to mainstream Conservative synagogues, it may be too early to tell whether the newer independent minyanim will accept the movement's overtures over the long term.
Some members, though, already say they aren't interested. "Our standards are too high," said Aaron Bisman, a founder of the 5-year-old independent Altshul minyan in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood and president and CEO of JDub Records, the not-for-profit Jewish label. "And we have the skills amongst us to do it on our own."
The independent minyanim that have popped up in such cities as New York, Philadelphia and Boston over the past decade lack a leader or a rabbi, but their members are often highly knowledgeable in Jewish prayer and practice. Their style varies, but they are largely egalitarian. And though they may claim to be post-denominational, their religious outlook and background are often closest to the those of the Conservative movement.
In its strategic plan, the USCJ describes a rethinking of the definition of a Conservative synagogue in order to make space for the independent minyanim and other alternative prayer communities. Congregations within the USCJ will no longer be referred to by the movement as synagogues, but rather as kehillot, or sacred communities. The USCJ believes that this shift "signals a welcome to those who resonate with the ideas of Conservative...