JTS Policy On Outreach

by Chancellor Arnold Eisen

Julie Wiener’s article, “JTS Intermarriage Workshop Signals Change On Issue” (Feb. 26), reporting on a workshop on keruv skills conducted at The Jewish Theological Seminary by Rabbi Charles Simon, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Mens’ Clubs, has raised questions in the minds of readers concerning our policy on the matter of outreach to intermarried families.

That policy is straightforward: JTS subscribes fully to the Conservative Movement position on keruv, with its twin pillars of (1) warm welcome to all who wish to be part of our communities; and (2) honest expression of the hope that non-Jewish family members will be moved at some point to take on full participation in the Covenant of Israel by means of conversion.

Putting

those principles into practice requires skills and sensitivity that we hope the FJMC workshop has imparted to the students who chose to attend. JTS expects the various organizations invited or permitted to address our students to exhibit the balance, care and respect for diverse views that are demanded by the subjects they are treating.

The Jewish Theological Seminary
Manhattan