That’s why I said in my comment- “we know what we know, and we know what we DON’T know - ie- in cases when there is question in the Halacha, (machlokes), we know the sides of the argument and often, even the reasoning for the question. Furthermore, the disputes themselves point to the authenticity of the underlying source by displaying how much thought and care goes into maintaining its accuracy.

#2. Regarding the comment above: “I think describing the Conservative movement as “null and void” is meanspirited, and wrong”

I don’t.

But in any case, the intention was not to be, and I revise my comment #4 as follows:

There are no quick-fixes, or particular decisions that made their movement the “spectacular failure at raising a second generation of committed laypeople” it is reported above to be; in my opinion, it’s inherent in the underlying philosophy.

Michoel - @ Chareidio !

My wife and I have thought for quite a while that there ought to be a study of this subject. We know of many ourselves, and actually they span the gamut (including those who are active and involved Conservative Jews). Many are quite distinguished professionals and “quirky”, if you will.

It cannot be easy to be the child of any rabbi, but the children of a Conservative rabbis probably face additional pressures due to the lack of peers that share the same kind of Jewish upbringing.

It’s really not correct for any individual, including yours truly, to make any summary judgements on this subject without doing an actual study. For that matter, I would be fascinated to see comparative results among children of Reform, Reconstructionist and Orthodox rabbis.

So there are no differences of opinion in the Talmud as to which laws are from the torah and which aren’t? Same thing for Moshe Rabbeinu?

KT

For me, one of the most beautiful aspects of the Oral Torah is the extent to which our sages identify the source of every aspect of Jewish Law. We know what was said by G-d and what wasn’t. We know what was said by Moshe Rabeinu and what wasn’t…etc., and we even know which traditions are considered “minhag-shtus” (a wrong tradition) and what to do about such a minhag when we encounter it. In all, we have clarity in what we know and in what we don’t know.

Regarding origins of Jewish Law, the fact that “seforim are written by people” is as irrelevant to the point of origin as the fact that they are printed on printing presses or spoken on radios (or podcasts:). It’s the difference between the source of information and the means by which it’s communicated. Confusing the two is muddled logic.

Michoel @ Chareidio

2. The blog you cite is clearly recommending modifications and improvement in Conservative Judaism, not abandoning it.

In fact, most of the people I know who’s fathers were conservative rabbis, are orthodox.

I remember in a conservative nursery school being dressed up in nomad’s clothes and performing for our parents at a lunch picnic the process of the caananites turning into early Jews.

There are no quick-fixes, or particular decisions that made their movement null and void; it’s inherent in the underlying philosophy.

Michoel

“…children who grow up in Conservative synagogues rarely care much about Jewish observance — and when they do, they become rabbis, join Orthodox synagogues, or move to Israel.”

I have personally seen all three of these happen.