Temple Beth Shalom in Manalapan has withdrawn from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
July 22, 2008
Temple Beth Shalom in Manalapan has withdrawn from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
The Conservative movement’s synagogue body received a letter from Beth Shalom that stated their intent to disaffiliate as of July 1, according to Lisa Harris Glass, regional director of USCJ’s New Jersey region.
Rabbi Ira Rothstein, Beth Shalom’s religious leader since its inception in 1978, declined to comment on the decision to withdraw from USCJ.
“We’re still a Conservative temple, but we are no longer affiliated with USCJ,” Rothstein told NJ Jewish News. “There’s no mystery surrounding this. I, along with our board, do not wish to talk about it.”
Attempts to reach Richard Cohen, the temple’s board president, and Karen Ross, the temple’s executive director, were unsuccessful.
The synagogue has approximately 1,800 individual members, according to information posted on its Web site.
USCJ, founded in 1913, is the association of Conservative congregations in North America. It consists of approximately 760 affiliated synagogues and more than 1.5 million members. Dues-paying congregations are grouped within geographic regions, and USCJ regional offices provide a variety of services to these congregations, Harris Glass said.
By disaffiliating from USCJ, Harris Glass said, Beth Shalom has lost access to these resources, which include educational standards and materials, support for its United Synagogue Youth chapter, and other support services and program materials.
As a member of the Joint Placement Commission with the movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, the USCJ also controls rabbinical placement procedures within its affiliated synagogues.
“We hope to bring Temple Beth Shalom back into the fold,” Harris Glass told NJJN. “We’ve offered to meet with them, but so far, they haven’t responded to this offer.
TBS responds: ‘We are loyal to our vision’
Given the recent article printed by New Jersey Jewish News about our synagogue (“Manalapan temple quits Conservative alliance,” July 22), we welcome the opportunity to present Temple Beth Shalom in our own words.
The article left many with the impression that we are no longer a Conservative synagogue, no longer have a youth program, and have lowered the standards of our Hebrew school. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many of you are familiar with Temple Beth Shalom. After all, we were established in 1978 as a Conservative synagogue. It was the vision of our founding members to be a Conservative synagogue that would give equal rights to women. We were also determined to uphold the vital role of Jewish tradition within a modern and ever evolving context. We wanted TBS to be a center of Jewish life where people could deepen their Jewishness and sense of connection to something larger. We envisioned a place where people can deepen their relationship with God, prayer, study, and acts of kindness. We have made every effort to be loyal to the vision, and we invite anyone in our community who is interested in taking the journey to join us.
The recent upheaval caused by the NJJN article centered around one fact. Our board made the decision to disaffiliate with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, an umbrella organization of Conservative synagogues. One can still be a Conservative synagogue and not be a member of United Synagogue. Our decision to disaffiliate with USCJ was a straightforward one that our board made following a review of our congregation’s current needs, priorities, and resources. That’s it!
In that regard, we would like to assure readers of three major points:
- We have always had a very clear mission and message (see the beginning of this article). Our identity as a Conservative synagogue was formed long before we ever affiliated with United Synagogue in the late 1980s.
- Our curriculum, materials, and teaching methods remain the same. We are blessed with a wonderful Hebrew school, director, and staff. We invite people to entrust their children to us for an uplifting, meaningful, and fun educational experience.
- We are committed to a full youth program, including a brand-new working relationship with B’nai B’rith (BBYO) for our teens, and we will have our own youth program for our younger kids.
We look forward to moving ahead with the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County and NJJN so that together we may help make our community a more vital and vibrant center of Jewish life.
We welcome everyone interested in our synagogue to join us for services, to come by for a visit, or write or call us. We are happy to speak with you. We hope you will feel moved to join our synagogue community.
Temple Beth Shalom
Manalapan
--TOP--
Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com
