Dr. Cohen

After Rabbi Reisner's speech the previous week, I felt like Dr. Cohen's tied in well with what we had learned. I think the Conservative movement is important to understand (not necessarily more or less than any other) because it is a sort of mix between what the people want and tradition. Dr. Cohen's stress that conservatism focuses on ideology but is a movement of the middle seemed to tie into this concept.



I had only ever heard the name Shechter but was unaware of his contributions to the religion. Learning of his contributions and his vision to unite the traditional values with today's world on the basis of english sermons, modern educational methods, and order and decorum in the synagogue (a refined atmosphere) was very interesting. They were all things I have experienced during my time at synogague and while studying Judaism, but never really paid attention to. Reflecting on Shechter's contributions, I realize how imortant they were to preserving a sense of tradition in the religion. He was able to give people a way to create the unity they strove for without having to create a whole new movement. Overall, I found the speech very thought provoking and it left me wondering how my own view of Judaism would have been different without people like Shechter and their views.