I am not good with break-ups, but I am considering ending a lifelong relationship. My “partner” is my synagogue in Chicago, and I am considering not just breaking up with it but the entire Conservative movement.
This is not a small, impulsive decision. But I am starting to realize that it’s not that I have changed so much, it’s that my partner has. It has become something increasingly unrecognizable to me. Even so, it saddens me to contemplate breaking up with such a close, lifelong partner.
I was raised Conservative. I celebrated my bar mitzvah in a Conservative synagogue. I’ve been a member of my current synagogue for almost 30 years, and my children all celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs there within the past decade. But I am thinking of leaving because the movement and my synagogue have become less places for religious and spiritual guidance, and more organs for political haranguing.
To me, the basics are simple. Places of worship should be just that: Religious and spiritually based spaces centered on the teachings of their respective good books. They should not be quasi-political gatherings in disguise. To the extent possible, they should avoid politics.
I am not naive. Some spiritual teachings, of course, overlap with modern-day politics. And when they do, they should be acknowledged without picking favorites, like how a teacher frames a thorny problem for her students, letting the students come to their own conclusions.
But, sadly, much of “organized” Judaism is going the other way. It is proactively inserting itself into the political fray. And, in so doing, it is not only losing members but its soul.
It’s one thing for synagogues to support Israel, as I believe they should, since the promised land is part of our covenant and a core tenet of the Torah. But to take positions on climate, immigration, abortion, school funding and other current events is a whole different matter. After all, the Haggadah says, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” not fight for your issue of choice, no matter how noble that issue may be.
Separation of church and state needs to be a two-way street. Though we normally think of it as the government not interfering with religious affairs, increasingly, we have to ask if religion is interfering with government affairs.
It used to be the exception for religious “authorities,” like rabbinical councils, to issue statements and resolutions on political matters. Now, rabbinical councils meet regularly to pass “resolutions” weighing in on whatever the political controversy of the day might be.
What alarms me is not which side of a political issue my temple and the Conservative movement are on. What alarms me is that they pick a side to begin with. It’s not about whether my side’s political position prevailed, but rather that any side was chosen.
For me, two recent events highlight my concerns.
First, my synagogue formally partnered with a new pro-choice Jewish group that supports abortion at any stage for any reason. I wrote to my rabbi and the temple board, stating that partnering with this group is unnecessary and wrong. I did so even though I am historically pro-choice.
Similarly, during Shabbat services around Passover, our rabbi essentially gave two separate sermons. One was lovely, centering on spiritual faith, in which he explained how God did not part the sea for the fleeing Israelites until the water was up to their nostrils; the other was a lecture on our three branches of government and criticizing President Donald Trump. To me, it didn’t matter whether the rabbi was praising or scorning the president; both are inappropriate and unnecessary in a temple sermon.
I don’t think most rabbis, ministers, priests and imams studied at religious seminaries in hopes of one day taking political positions. Then again, I am told that the Reform and Conservative rabbinical seminaries today are spitting out graduates who seem to compete for who can be the most woke. Some even pride themselves on openly despising Israel. And these are our future spiritual leaders? If so, then shame on Jewish “leadership.”
Perhaps, I am naive to think my synagogue could stay above the fray and not become caught in the political quagmire of our times. But for generations prior, organized religion sure did a better job of doing so. Religious leaders didn’t sit around thinking about how they could enter the political fray. They didn’t need to validate themselves or search for alliances. The Torah was enough.
The final straw for me may be that the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, recently signed a statement condemning some of Trump’s orders to fight antisemitism on college campuses.
I have always viewed my place of worship as a solemn place of refuge from politics and the daily grind. A place to use its teachings to help frame things for me, but not decide things for me or take formal positions on my behalf. A place where the Torah itself is more than enough, and it need not be supplemented with weekly political commentaries.
If I wanted another place where I could hear political ideas, I have no shortage of choices and don’t need a house of worship. I wouldn’t even have to pay temple dues for that.