USCJ Centralizes Operation To Assert Stronger Role
USCJ Centralizes Operation To Assert Stronger Role C. SCOTT WEINER All About the Future: Conservative leaders discuss the movement’s future during a panel dis- cussion. They are, from left, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld of the Rabbinical Assembly; Cantor Stephen Stein of the Cantors Assembly; Rabbi Steven C. Wernick of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. By Josh Nathan-Kazis Published December 09, 2009 Cherry Hill, N.J. — Some of Conservative Judaism’s top leaders found little to criticize within their own movement when they gathered together December 7 for a panel discussion on the future direction of their troubled denomination. The plenary forum at the biennial convention of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism saw one panelist tout renewed involvement by rabbinic spouses in congregational life as a crucial tonic. Another lamented that the movement’s “detractors” failed to recognize Conservative Judaism’s…