Conservative Judaism: Halakhah, Culture and Sociology
December 29-30, 2009

10:15 - 10:45
Opening Session

Greetings: Prof. Gabriel Motzkin, Head, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (VLJI)
Rabbi Prof. Naftali Rothenberg, Jewish Culture and Identity Chair, VLJI
Opening Remarks: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak, Conference Chair

10:45 - 12:45
History

Chair: Prof. Chaim I. Waxman
Prof. Michael A. Meyer, Conservative Judaism from the Perspective of Reform Judaism
Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna, How and When Orthodox and Conservative Judaism Split into

Two Different Movements
Prof. Eli Lederhendler, Jewish Middle-Class Ethnicity?
Prof. Guy Miron, In Search of a Usable Past: On the German Roots of Conservative Judaism
in America

13:45 - 15:45
Sociology and Culture
Chair: Dr. Uzi Rebhun
Prof. Sylvia Barack Fishman, Conservative Elite Migration: Fluidity and Reconstruction in a Pan-Denominational Era
Dr. Adam Ferziger, The Conservative Synagogue Sanctuary as a Framework for Boundary Definition in Response to Assimilation and Intermarriage
Deby Babis, “Importing a Religious Stream” - The Conservative Movement in Latin-American Jewry
Prof. Steven M. Cohen, From Movement to Terrain: Post-Denominational Influences on Conservative Judaism in North America

16:00 - 18:00
Theology and Philosophy
Chair: Dr. Esther Eisenmann
Prof. Hanan Alexander, Two Concepts of Conservative Judaism
Dr. Ari Ackerman, Individualizing and Universalizing the Jewish People: Mordecai M. Kaplan and Mid-Twentieth Century Conservative Theology
Dr. Hanoch Ben Pazi, The Philosophical Discourse on Tradition in the Conservative Movement
Prof. Yaakov Ariel, Walking Separately or Together? The Conservative and Renewal Movements in Contemporary Judaism

18:15 - 20:30
Evening Session – Keynote Address
Chair: Rabbi Prof. Naftali Rothenberg
Prof. Arnold M. Eisen, Torah, Mitzvah, and Community: Charting the Future of Conservative Judaism
Respondents:
Prof. Sylvia Barack Fishman
Prof. Eliezer Schweid
Prof. Lee Levine

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

09:30 - 11:00
Aspects and Phenomena in the Israeli Masorti Movement
Chair: Prof. Tamar El-Or
Dr. Elana Sztokman, Conservative Culture and Israeli Culture: A Male-Ethnographic Perspective
Dr. Kobi Cohen-Hattab, Exclusion and Rebellion against Authority - The Conservative Movement and Prayer at ‘Keshet Robinson’: A Chapter in an Israeli Public Campaign
Dr. Michal Muszkat-Barkan, Educational Ideologies: TALI Schools and the Conservative Movement – Teachers, Prayers and Education for Prayer

11:15 - 12:45
Gender and Tradition
Chair: Dafna Schreiber
Dr. Rachel Gordin, The Struggle for Ordination of Women in the Conservative Movement
Yakir Englander, The Conservative Movement’s Attitude towards Gay Sex: A Critical Analysis
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin, The Status of Women in Jewish Law in the Conservative Movement

13:45 - 15:45
Halakhah, Meta-Halakhah and Philosophy
Chair: Dr. Shmuel Wygoda
Dr. Ariel Picard, The Shabbat in Conservative Halakhic Rulings
Avraham Slater, Conservative Halakhic Rulings: ‘Yashan Mipnei Hadash Totzi’u? Does the Old Really Give Way to the New?
Rabbi Dr. Einat Ramon, The Halakhic Philosophy of Max Kadushin
Prof. David Halivni, What Attracted the Greatest Judaic Scholars to the Jewish Theological Seminary During Prof. Louis Finkelstein’s Incumbency?

16:00 - 18:00
Challenges Posed By the Conservative Movement to Other Movements
Chair: Prof. Tamar Ross
Dr. Meir Buzaglo, The Conservative Movement and Challenges for Judaism in Israel
Rabbi Prof. Yehoyada Amir, The Masorti Movement - Challenges, Concerns and Hopes: An Israeli-Reform Perspective
Dr. Aviad Hacohen, The Distinctiveness and Goals of the Conservative Halakhic Discourse: Between the Orthodox Hammer and the Reform Anvil
Respondent: Rabbi Prof. Reuven Hammer

18:15 - 21:00
Concluding Symposium: Halakhah and the Limits of Openness
Chair: Dr. Avinoam Rosenak
Prof. Arnold M. Eisen
Rabbi Prof. Joel Roth
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin
Rabbi Dr. Avram I. Reisner
Concluding Remarks:
Dr. Avinoam Rosenak