YourMoralLeader: what’s new in your jewish journey chavi? reading anything good?
YourMoralLeader: saw your new blog posts
Chavi: Thanks 🙂 Where is ElShaddai, anyhow?
YourMoralLeader: wherever you invite him in
Chavi: Ha ha …
Chavi: Nothing new on the reading. Still trying to get through Constatine’s Sword
YourMoralLeader: if you had the faith of a mustard seed
Chavi: Thing’s like trying to read Torah in one sitting
YourMoralLeader: yeah, i couldn’t make it thru that
Chavi: You know, they should publish it in volumes
Chavi: It’d make more sense
YourMoralLeader: what are you reading these days emma?
Chavi: For the commuter (like me) it’s just ridiculous
Chavi: Indeed! Emma, what’s on the bookshelf?
YourMoralLeader: good door stop
Emma: Books on horses.. for my course
Emma: Thats it for now
Chavi: One of my best friends is a horse lover, owns her own out in Washington state
Emma: Cool..
Chavi: Well, not best friend anymore, unfortunately
Chavi: She’s a little drama-filled
Emma: I see
Chavi: How are things where are you Emma?
Chavi: Weather good?
Emma: Fine and you?
Emma: Not bad
Chavi: Cool, actually. Chilly. Which is weird considering it was nearly 80 a week ago
YourMoralLeader: do you have your classes for the fall?
Emma: That is weird
Chavi: YML — Emma or me?
YourMoralLeader: chavi
Chavi: Nada
Chavi: I actually should figure out how to go about arranging all that …
Chavi: I’m dealing with health requirements and financial aid stuff, which is obnoxious
Chavi: Had to get two shots yesterday 🙁
Chavi: One in each arm, and today it feels like I have a horrible sunburn on both arms
YourMoralLeader: oy ve
YourMoralLeader: did you lose friends/family when you converted? people drift away?
YourMoralLeader: what do you think, chavi, of jeremiah wright?
Chavi: People gave me funny looks and I definitely got some "what the heck are you doing?" and "aren’t you a christian?" kind of statements from long-time friends who I don’t speak to that much anymore
Chavi: Jeremiah Wright is his own man, and though I don’t agree with much that he says, he has a right to his opinion
Chavi: I just wish he’d back off — he says he’s not hurting the Obama campaign, but that means he’s delusional
YourMoralLeader: I think you’re going to end up Orthodox, not because it is more true, but because it is practical community, not many observant Conservative jews
Chavi: I think the same thing about 92 percent of the time
Chavi: The Conservative movement has the problem of the elite vs. the mass, yes.
Chavi: I sometimes wonder how Conservative rabbis can be Conservative rabbis
YourMoralLeader: the more religious you go on the jewish spectrum, the more elitist it becomes
Chavi: since really they’re mostly Orthodox, just preaching to a Conservative crowd and living without an observant community
Chavi: Oh I don’t know that that is always true
YourMoralLeader: Conservativism is elite in theory
YourMoralLeader: In reform/conservative, anyone can pop off with an opinion on the parsha
YourMoralLeader: that dont fly in most ortho shuls
Emma: I’m off
YourMoralLeader: IMHO, conservative judaism meant well, it just dont work.
Chavi: True
Emma: Bye bye xx
YourMoralLeader: bye
Chavi: Ta ta Emma
YourMoralLeader: xoxox
Chavi: YML — that could be said for Reform as well
User Emma left the room.
YourMoralLeader: No chavi, I think Reform works practically
Chavi: Practically in a secular society
Chavi: Impractical in a Jewish society
YourMoralLeader: eventually conser will be subsumed by reform
Chavi: It splits both ways, actually. I think the divide is just about even
Chavi: The kids who go to the Conservative camp, though I can’t remember the name, usually end up leading the minyans, which are more Orthodox than Conservative
YourMoralLeader: how do you feel about same sex marriage?
Chavi: I read a book about the whole movement
Chavi: It was fascinating
YourMoralLeader: which book?
Chavi: Same sex marriage? I say if the GLBT community wants to be as miserable as the rest of the world 😀 so be it!
Chavi: I believe it was called The Conservative Movement in Judaism
Chavi: I blogged about it here:
Chavi: http://mamaloshen.blogspot.com/2008/03/finally-finished-conservative-movement.html
Chavi: I hate that I can’t copy paste here!
Chavi: But it’s interesting how people liken the Conservative movement to the Masorati movement, when they’re not really that alike
QuixoticLass: how are they not alike?
Chavi: Because there’s a difference between "Conservative" and "Traditional"
Chavi: there are Traditional Jews who are not Conservative
Chavi: Masorti is Traditional, not necessarily Conservative
YourMoralLeader: chavi, lass was married to a conservative rabbi american
Chavi: Traditional in practice (and thus theology) is not the same as Conservative, Traditional Jews tend to be more like Conservative Rabbis, in that they adhere more to the mitzvoth
QuixoticLass: uh…still no definition
QuixoticLass: and since I lived with a Conservative rabbi, was I more traditional?
Chavi: You’re asking a Jew to define something Jewish!?
QuixoticLass: yes
Chavi: Insanity!
QuixoticLass: you just said that traditional jews are like conservative jews
Chavi: No …
Chavi: There is Traditional and there is Conservative
Chavi: In the Conservative movement, there is the elite (the rabbis) and the mass (the congregation)
QuixoticLass: yes the vast majority of lay people in the conservative movement don’t give a flying fig about observance…but this is not "the movement" position
Chavi: Yah … but if the community of the movement doesn’t represent the movement, then doesn’t the movement take on the facade of its community?
QuixoticLass: oooo I was elite!
Chavi: Like YML said, the Conservative mass will likely fade into Reform
Chavi: Thus, the elite will fade into Traditional or Mod. Orthodox, likely
Chavi: The Consv. movement is too confused about what it’s trying to be. Those with a good sense usually fall out into Mod. Orthodox or Traditional (where there’s a lot of Orthodox, but egalitarian — so confusing!)
