In a wide-ranging conversation, David Wolpe—the rabbi of a large Conservative congregation in Los Angeles, the author of several books, and a regular contributor to Time—outlines his views on theology, spirituality, the rabbinate, and his own personal experiences. Herewith, his comments on the future of his denomination. (Interview by Alan Brill.)
I think of Conservative Judaism as a movement suffering from a lack of self-definition. When it was a big-tent movement, people did not want to define it for fear of losing those at the edges of the tent. But mushy movements are not growing ones. So I still believe that it is essential for the movement to arrive at a single centralized vision. And it should be [the product of] a combined effort by all the organizational branches—the rabbinical schools, the Rabbinical Assembly, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism—with input from laity around the country. The very process of such reexamination will create dynamism, I believe, that will lead to other and better things.
But I believe deeply in its potential. Conservative Judaism takes modern scholarship seriously and is not afraid of its insights. It believes that in relationships lies the secret of our continuity. . . . And I believe that Conservative Judaism motivates people to see the larger Jewish picture. . . . That’s not a coincidence. Conservative Judaism at its best pushes people not only intellectually but communally and encourages them to think beyond their boundaries. It is, or should be, the commitment of a thinking Jew in the modern world.
Read more on Book of Doctrines and Opinions: https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/interview-with-rabbi-david-wolpe/