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Beginnings
of Conservative Judaism
Although
sympathetic to Reform Judaism's desire to modernize Jewish practice,
some rabbis were shocked by the movement's more radical proposals
and actions. Some were scandalized by the non-kosher food served
at a Hebrew Union College banquet in 1883; others were offended
by the platform adopted by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
in Pittsburgh in 1885. Some of these critics gathered in New York
in 1886 and founded the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), thus
laying the foundations for Conservative Judaism.
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The
preamble to the Constitution of the Jewish Theological Seminary
The necessity having been made manifest for associated and
organized effort on the part of the Jews of America faithful
to Mosaic Law and ancestral traditions, for the purpose
of keeping alive the true Judaic spirit; in particular by
the establishment of a seminary where the Bible shall be
impartially taught, and rabbinical literature faithfully
expounded, and more especially where youths, desirous of
entering the ministry, may be thoroughly grounded in Jewish
knowledge and inspired by the precept and the example of
their instructors with the love of the Hebrew language,
and a spirit of fidelity and devotion to the Jewish law,
the subscribers have, in accordance with a resolution adopted
at a meeting of ministers held Shabat 25, 5646 (January
31, 1886), at the synagogue Shearith Israel, New York, agreed
to organize The Jewish Theological Seminary Association
. .
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DOCUMENT
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FURTHER
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