More in ‘Conservative movement’

Today in Tablet Magazine, Staff Writer Marissa Brostoff reports that the in-debt Jewish Theological Seminary is merging its traditionally separate cantorial school into its rabbinical school; some worry that the shuttering expresses a larger trend of decline in Conservative Judaism. Contributing editor Daphne Merkin muses on how she learned (or didn’t learn) how to flirt, ...

As part of a major restructuring effort, the Jewish Theological Seminary announced last week that its cantorial school, traditionally separate from the rabbinical school, will be integrated into the rabbinical school. Henry Rosenblum, the well-regarded dean of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School, will be laid off. The move provoked an outcry from the seminary’s cantorial ...

• West Bank settlers vandalized and then set fire to a mosque in a Palestinian village south of Nablus. [JPost]
• The White House Hanukkah party, scheduled for December 16, has been the subject of controversy over its guest list, its self-declared status of “holiday party,” and other issues, much to the consternation of administration officials. ...

Hadeish Yameinu by David Gelernter

David Gelernter, a prominent victim of the Unabomber, is a Yale computer science professor who is also fluent in the history and practice of Judaism. An observant Jew, Gelernter just published Judaism: A Way of Being (Yale University Press). Partly an exploration of the religion’s core themes and partly a defense ...

• Turns out the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, won’t speak at the J Street conference next week, after all. The embassy announced the final decision yesterday. [JPost]
• In honor of the International Year of Astronomy (who knew?), Uranus and Neptune will be given Hebrew names, the last two planets to get ...

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism—the umbrella association comprising over 700 Conservative congregations in North America—today announced a reorganization designed to prioritize consistency across congregations and to strengthen the organization’s youth and young-adult initiatives by grouping them into a single department. The group also announced a 10 percent central staff cut. Both the reorganization, which ...

• In advance of Thursday’s National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran in Washington, D.C., major organizations affiliated with the Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox movements together called on American Jews to highlight the urgency of the Iranian nuclear question. [JTA]
• Even though the government he serves in just approved the construction of over 450 ...

• Journalist James Marcus has created a new techno song out of Philip Roth’s “Jewish shouting” from an interview last year. Word has it, the track will be the biggest thing to hit the clubs since the mashup of Bernard Malamud’s grumbling and John Updike’s harrumphs. [Galleycat]
• Israelis, according to JTA, think of a fraternity ...