Conservatives Reversing Direction

For the past decade or so, the Conservative branch of Judaism has put much of its energy into breaking new ground, making such exceptions to tradition as allowing women to become rabbis.

But now the movement, formed in the 19th Century as a middle ground between Orthodox Jews and liberals, is swinging back the other way.

At a recent conference here of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the focus for virtually every speaker was educating Conservative Jews about tradition and Jewish laws.

“We are moving to a recommitment to what Conservative Judaism stands for,” Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of United Synagogue, said in an interview. “We’re prepared to deal with the idea of returning to serious Jewish living. Our mission is to change people, by not always giving them what they want, but what they need.”

The movement, which has 1.5 million adherents, estimates that only about 10% or 15% of its synagogue members keep kosher and attend Shabbat services regularly.