Conservative Judaism has been trying to chart a middle path between Jewish tradition and acceptance of the reality of interfaith families. (Stock photo/Burke/Triolo Productions via Getty Images)
(JTA) — A Conservative synagogue in Minnesota has become the first in its denomination to allow its clergy to participate in — but not officiate — weddings of Jews who marry outside their faith.
Rabbis and cantors at Adath Jeshurun Congregation, a large synagogue in suburban Minneapolis, can now offer blessings, teachings and music during wedding ceremonies for intermarrying couples, as long as the ceremonies do not feature rituals from religions other than Judaism.
Such weddings would take place outside the synagogue and be officiated by someone who is not clergy, such as a friend, relative or judge.
Announced Monday, the policy change was supported by the congregation’s board and signed by the congregation’s two rabbis and two cantors, including Joanna Dulkin, who is the immediate past president of the 600-member Cantors Assembly, the professional association for Conservative cantors.
The goal is to make the congregation of some 1,100 households more welcoming and inclusive while recognizing that intermarriage is a common reality among congregants and American Jews at large, according to Adath Jeshurun’s senior rabbi, Aaron Weininger.
“We see Conservative Judaism as offering nuance at a time when there are so many binaries, and this gives us a path forward to make sure everyone is seen and heard and welcomed into our community,” Weininger said.
About 42% of married American Jews have a non-Jewish spouse, with the intermarriage rate reaching about 60% for those who have wed since 2010, according to a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center.
The move by Adath Jeshurun’s leadership marks a deliberate departure from the stricter standards long upheld by the Conservative movement and its rabbinical association, known as the Rabbinical Assembly.
Weininger said the decision was reached through a public process with multiple listening sessions and after regular communication with the leadership of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the denomination’s umbrella organization.
“We hope we can play a role in being a living lab for the movement and working for change from within the system as a USCJ congregation,” he said.
It’s not the first time Adath Jeshurun has put itself at the forefront of denominational change. Many decades ago, it was among the first Conservative congregations to allow girls to have a bat mitzvah, an initiation ritual previously reserved for boys. In 2023, when Weininger assumed his current position, he became the first openly gay person appointed to the position of senior rabbi at a large Conservative synagogue.
Adath Jeshurun’s announcement comes as the Conservative movement weighs how to move beyond a history of treating intermarriage as a threat to Judaism, without forsaking its traditional grounding in Jewish law.
In a report released last year, the Rabbinical Assembly reaffirmed its ban on clergy officiating at weddings of intermarrying couples but called on members to be more welcoming toward mixed families. Since then, a working group with representatives from several Conservative movement bodies has been studying the issue and is expected to release its findings later this year.
In response to Adath Jeshurun’s announcement, Conservative leaders said they are awaiting the guidance that will come from the working group.
“When that work is complete in the coming months, it will inform our professional and lay leadership as they work with congregations like Adath Jeshurun to determine the appropriate path forward, aligned with the movement’s policies and values,” Andy Schaer, president of USCJ, and Rabbi Jay Kornsgold, president of the Rabbinical Assembly, said in a statement.
Their statement was conciliatory in tone, acknowledging the significance of the issue Adath Jeshurun is seeking to address.
“We fully recognize that disapproval has too often discouraged intermarried couples and their families from being part of our synagogue communities and building relationships with our clergy,” it read. “Today, we are, instead, focused on fostering a positive vision of Conservative/Masorti Judaism that encourages commitment, creativity, and inclusivity.”
There are a variety of approaches to intermarriage across Jewish denominations. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements permit it, while Orthodox Judaism strictly prohibits it — leaving Conservative Judaism to chart a middle path.
But as the movement enters the next phase of its debate on intermarriage, it will do so without the leader USCJ hired in 2020 to focus on the issue. As part of a budget reallocation, USCJ recently eliminated the position of director of intermarriage engagement and inclusion, leading to the layoff of Keren McGinity. A part-time racial justice and inclusion specialist position was also cut.
McGinity is not currently giving interviews. In a Facebook post, she noted that Adath Jeshurun’s announcement coincided with her final day.
“May the Adath clergy and community go from strength to even greater strength,” she wrote. “I can’t think of a post I’d rather read on my last day serving as Director of Intermarriage Engagement and Inclusion.”
Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, the CEO of USCJ, said in a letter to synagogue leaders in May that his organization remains committed to intermarriage engagement, albeit under a “different staff structure.”
The Conservative movement used to forbid its rabbis from even attending intermarriage ceremonies. That ban was lifted in 2018, after 40 years, by a vote of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which sets the movement’s interpretation of Jewish law.
By now, it is an open secret that some of the 1,600 rabbis belonging to the RA officiate at weddings of intermarrying couples. The RA has expelled some rabbis for flouting the ban, and others have left over the issue.
The policy change at Adath Jeshurun falls short of permitting officiation. Weininger said the congregation did not believe it could justify that move.
“The part of the wedding ceremony known as kiddushin that says, ‘you are betrothed to me according to the laws of Moses and Israel,’ does not apply to a couple in which one partner has not affirmed that covenant,” he said.
He also said the goal was to invite “as much buy-in as possible” and to encourage change throughout the movement.
Still, he acknowledges that both he and Adath Jeshurun are going against the rules and could face repercussions.
“My sense is that USCJ wants to hear different points of view, and I’m hopeful that our process — which has involved as many voices as possible — will be welcomed,” he said. “We hope to work for change within the system. It’s ultimately their decision how to respond.”
