Abbreviation USCJ Purpose Religious | Tax ID no. 13-1659707 | |
Formation February 23, 1913; 104 years ago (1913-02-23) Legal status 501(c)(3) religious organization | ||
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) is the primary organization of synagogues practicing Conservative Judaism in North America. It closely works with the Rabbinical Assembly, the international body of Conservative rabbis, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.
Contents
History
Representatives of twenty-two Jewish congregations in North America met at the Jewish Theological Seminary on 23 February 1913. The representatives formed the United Synagogue of America to develop and perpetuate Conservative Judaism. The group elected Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schechter the first president.
The name of the organization was changed to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 1991.
Role and description
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has 594 affiliated congregations as of 2015.
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism works in the fields of Jewish education, youth activities, congregational standards and action and Israel affairs, and published the magazine United Synagogue Review.
Historically, the Jewish Theological Seminary has taken the leadership role in the Conservative movement (unlike the Reform movement, whose congregational organization has dominated its rabbinical school).
The diminished number of affiliated congregations noted above raised serious concern in the first decade of the century as new congregational forms, often populated by people who were educated in the Conservative movement, have become popular. The Conservative movement is perceived to have lost its uniqueness as its once-path-finding ideology of tradition and change has spread to and become a bedrock assumption of the Reform, Reconstructionist and "Renewal" groups, where services use Hebrew and traditional prayers, (often in updated versions) where study of traditional texts is considered important, where halakha is treated with both respect and flexibility, and where egalitarian gender practices prevail.
The diminished population of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and its congregations is seen by many as a symptom of a weak organizational culture in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism itself. A strategic plan undertaken in the 1990s was squelched when the report challenged many of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's practices. In 2010, dissension reached the point at which a coalition known as Hayom ("Today") was formed and threatened to break away from United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism if significant changes were not undertaken. The creation of this coalition was in part a response to a restructuring announced by the new executive director, Rabbi Steven Wernick, without input from the field. A new strategic planning committee was formed, co-opting the Hayom group, and in March 2011 a draft of a new plan was announced and posted on the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism website.
Projects
United Synagogue sponsors the following projects:
During the 1970s and 1980s United Synagogue participated in the Soviet Jewry Movement.