Arnold Eisen has
already influenced American Judaism with research
showing that more individuals are following their own
spiritual path at the expense of the nation's Jewish
community.
Now he's got a
new way to put his scholarship to use, as chancellor of
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the flagship
institution for Conservative Judaism, located in New
York.
Eisen, 56, who
was installed Wednesday, is only the second layman to lead
the school since it was founded 121 years ago as the
intellectual center for the Conservative movement,
which follows tradition while allowing some changes
for modern times.
A leading analyst
of secularization and other modern trends shaping U.S.
Judaism, he most recently served as professor of Jewish
culture and religion at Stanford University.
But for the past
year, he's been on tour--traveling the country asking
Conservative Jews how they can revitalize their 760
synagogues in North America.
''The way to
bring people in is to be a community that is truly
welcoming,'' Eisen said in an interview in his Upper West
Side office. ''You don't seek some lowest common
denominator or go with what's trendy and hip. You open
your doors wide.''
Once the largest
branch of American Judaism, Conservative Judaism has
been eclipsed in size by the liberal Reform movement, which
has about 900 synagogues and is considered more open
to interfaith families. For Conservative Jews seeking
more traditional worship, Orthodox congregations are a
popular choice.
Conservative
Jewish summer camps and day schools are thriving, but when
the children become adults, they often move to other
branches of the faith. Some alumni of the seminary do
the same.
Eisen said he's
encouraged that ''all this leadership goes to klal
yisrael''--the entire Jewish community. He is starting
a program that will train Conservative and Reform
rabbis together so they can build relationships across
movement boundaries.
Yet he also is
committing the resources of the seminary to keep the
Conservative movement vital on its own.
''If young people
leave our movement because they want an intense
davening [prayer] experience and can't find it...then we are
at fault,'' he said.
The seminary will
be working with 10 pilot congregations to discuss what
engages them and what they love about Jewish life. He hopes
the discussion can be expanded nationwide.
The goal is to
re-create synagogues as centers of study, prayer, and
social justice work while making them more inviting for
newcomers. ''It's a regular occurrence for people to
come to a synagogue and they are never invited to a
meal,'' Eisen said.
The school also
is reviewing its curriculum for rabbis and cantors,
planning changes that can help them cope with the demands of
running a synagogue and working with congregants.
Eisen wants students to learn more about the American
Jewish community as a whole, not just synagogue life,
and receive more training for their work as counselors.
Eisen, who was
raised as a Conservative Jew, said he had considered
becoming a rabbi, but decided he could serve the community
as a scholar.
A father of two
college-age children, he earned a bachelor's degree in
religious thought from the University of Pennsylvania,
studied sociology of religion at Oxford University,
and completed his doctorate at Hebrew University in
Israel. His wife, Adriane Leveen, is a Hebrew Bible scholar
who teaches at the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Last December a
committee of scholars that interprets religious law for
Conservative Judaism voted to allow seminaries to decide
whether to admit openly gay students. Eisen supports
ordaining gays, and the first openly gay and lesbian
students at JTS started this fall.
Among Eisen's
role models is Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who taught at
the Jewish Theological Seminary and was revered for his
intense piety, his analysis of modern humanity's
relationship with God, and his activism on civil
rights and other issues.
As a college
student, Eisen convinced Heschel to sit for a two-hour
interview in 1971, the year before the rabbi died.
''He changed my
life by giving me the example of a man who on the one
hand marches with Martin Luther King, protests the war on
Vietnam, marches for Soviet Jewry, and meets with the
pope, but on the other hand is deeply immersed in
tradition and speaks out of that tradition,'' Eisen
said.
One of Eisen's
best-known books is The Jew Within, Self Family and
Community in America, which he coauthored with
Steven Cohen, about how a growing number of American
Jews are altering traditions to suit their personal
beliefs and observing Jewish rituals in the home instead
of the synagogue. Only 40% of American Jewish households
belong to a congregation, according to the 2001
National Jewish Population Survey.
The Jewish
community is deeply divided over whether its resources are
better spent trying to convince unaffiliated Jews to
participate or bolstering those who have chosen to be
involved. Eisen leans toward the latter, seeing the
best chance to renew the community in working with
people he and Cohen have called the ''moderately
affiliated.''
''No Jew is
unimportant,'' Eisen said. ''On the other hand, you have to
strengthen those who are already active.
''We have the
resources,'' Eisen said. ''There is so much good work to
do.'' (Rachel Zoll, AP)