The United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism
The following passage was adapted from "The First Seventy-Five Years" by Dr. Ruth B. Waxman, found in the United Synagogue Biennial Report, 1987-1989.
It was on Sunday February 23, 1913
at 531 West 123rd Street in New York, that Dr.
Solomon Schechter raised a call for unity and foresaw a United Synagogue
that would encompass the entire continent.
Dr. Schechter considered The United Synagogue to
be "the greatest bequest that I shall leave to American
Israel." Today, it encompasses approximately 800 affiliated
congregations, representing some 1.5 million members.
Called into being to implement certain key ideas,
The United Synagogue has succeeded admirably in addressing several
concepts: a) K'lal Yisrael (the whole of the Jewish
community); b) a Jewry based on the North American experience; c) a
Jewry related to modern living; d) a Jewry devoted to Torah,
with education a major priority; and e) a Jewry normatively halachic.
Advice and guidance might be sought from rabbis
and scholars in the Conservative
Movement, but realization and achievement depended on the Jewish
community -- the laypeople. As Dr. Schechter said,"the
characteristic contribution of Judaism to the world is not its
scholars or rabbis but its laity," so the history of The United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has reflected that view, expanding
well beyond the imaginings of its founders, with synagogues rising up
where none had been before and with the concomitant expansion of
activities and services which new growth dictated. The United
Synagogue has accomplished a great deal, encouraging participation
and leadership from the grass roots up.
The oldest of all departments within The United
Synagogue is the Department of Education, which was formed in the
teen years of this century, and today boasts a substantial and
creative program of supervision, standards, text books, curricula,
and more. From a total of 4,481 children in 1914, the United
Synagogue congregational religious school network numbered close to
110,000 students in 1996. Another of the department's major
achievements has been the Solomon Schechter Day School system, a
network of 68 schools throughout the continent with a combined
enrollment of over 17,000 children. Additionally, the Education
Commission has programs for Jewish adults, Jewish families and the
needs of special children.
Another department with origins in the earliest
years of the movement is the Department of Youth Activities,
successor to the Young People's League organized in 1921. Reflecting
The United Synagogue's total commitment to Jewish education, even
beyond the classroom, the United Synagogue Youth, has equipped
hundreds of thousands of young people to live as Jews. USY, the
association of Conservative synagogue youth between ages 13 and 17,
instills in young people a strong and lasting attachment to the
Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and a deep sense of loyalty to
the synagogue as the central institution of Jewish life.
Two extraordinarily successful USY summer projects
are its USY on Wheels tours, which have provided thousands of
youngsters with a "living Judaism" trip through North
America, and USY Israel Pilgrimage, which has increased from 12
pilgrims in 1956 to nearly 600 in 1996. The pre-USY group, Kadima,
supports a Youth Department credo that children are never too young
to find Judaism a joyful
experience.
Throughout its history, The United Synagogue has
placed an importance on having all its synagogues observe Shabbat, the holidays,
and kashrut; that, where
applicable, they have schools for their children; that they abide by
the regulations of the professional organizations which have
developed; that they are halachically oriented (and, when changes are recommended by the Movement's
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, each congregation is free to
accept them if and when they so decide); and that they conform to the
standards established by The United Synagogue.
The concern for K'lal Yisrael could readily
include all the goals of The United Synagogue. From an openness to
diverse patterns of behavior within individual synagogues, to
programming in response to the distressing social problems which
beset us as human beings, the organization has expanded its horizons
to meet the needs of the times.
The United Synagogue has been active for K'lal
Yisrael in another sense, through protests and resolutions during
the darkness of the Holocaust;
through their efforts on behalf of Soviet and Syrian Jewry; and on
all social issues that relate to world Jewry, cooperating with the
major secular Jewish organizations which grapple specifically with
such matters.
Always deeply committed to the Zionist dream of reestablishing a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael,
The United Synagogue created The Center for Conservative Judaism at 2
Agron Street in Jerusalem in 1972 in order to participate in that
dream. For almost a quarter of a century, the Center has served as
the address for many educational activities both for Jerusalemites
and for visitors from abroad. In addition, the Center serves as the
Israel headquarters for all USY Israel activities. As the USCJ
embassy in Israel, the Center engages in outreach to Conservative
Jewish students at Israeli universities and reaches out as well to
visitors who come to tour, work, or celebrate a simcha. The United
Synagogue Yeshiva, housed at the Center, provides a place for young
people to engage in intensive Jewish study. The property at 6 Agron
Street, adjacent to the Center, has now been acquired by The United
Synagogue to be used for an Education Center and Youth Residence.
As an activist Jewish organization, it has
established a tradition of reaching out to those in need, and new
commissions are constantly being formed to address issues such as
teen suicide, HIV/AIDS and substance abuse. Through its awareness of
communal responsibility, adherence to religious observance and strong
sense of commitment, The United Synagogue continues to move into the
future as a dynamic force.
Sources: United
Synagogue for Conservative Judaism |