Chatting With The Chancellor

An interview with the leader of the Conservative movement.

Reuben Berman and Gabriela Geselowitz in the book-lined office of Chancellor Arnold Eisen of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Courtesy Sherry S. Kirschenbaum

by Reuben Berman and Gabriela Geselowitz

This year we were given an incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity. We had the chance to interview Chancellor Arnold Eisen, head of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York. How does one even begin to prepare for such an assignment? We waited for almost a year, working out scheduling until we finally got a date.

A quick train and subway ride took us uptown. We didn’t really know what to expect, this being the first time that either of us had done an interview of such magnitude. After gaining entrance to JTS located at 122nd and Broadway, we were escorted to the office of the chancellor and waited to meet one of the most powerful men in the Conservative movement. The door opened and we were admitted, as prepared as we could ever be.
The room that we were admitted into was nothing more than that of a school principal, albeit larger. The walls were lined with bookcases and there was a large table in the middle and a desk to the side, but besides that it was humble. This seemed like the office of a professor, not the leader of the Conservative movement.

The man that greeted us was extremely tall with a welcoming look on his face. Shaking hands with him was like shaking hands with a giant; everything about him was so monumental. He had a business-like attitude about him trying to fit us in between meetings and calls that couldn’t be missed while giving us enough time to get to the more in-depth questions.

The interview itself was without a doubt one of the more intense events of our lives. There we were, seated across a table from Chancellor Eisen. The discussion covered a variety of topics from mixed marriages to education to synagogue attendance. He spoke with a focus on the questions at hand not deviating from them, but giving a calm, concise response. He never thought a long time before answering a question, as if the questions were ones that had been asked of him before.

He gave the appearance of a man at ease with his position, which is something completely necessary for the Conservative movement. The listening tour that he conducted this past year has exposed him to the views of Conservative Jews across the country. He knows what people need to practice their Judaism in a Conservative manner.
Our first question was one that could be joked about but has become a very serious issue for the Conservative movement. We asked the chancellor to define the movement in a single sentence. His answer included punctuation. “The Conservative movement is devoted to full, comma, authentic, comma, knowledgeable engagement with the Jewish past — hyphen — its history, its way of life, its texts, its commandments — end hyphen — as well as with full authentic engagement and participation in the society and culture of which we are a part,” he said.

Throughout his interview Eisen remained uncompromisingly optimistic. “When I envision what the movement can be I’m not a prophet crying in the wilderness and I’m not a utopian, trying to imagine things that don’t exist.” Throughout the interview, he laid out a series of upcoming plans that he hopes to enact including a restructuring of the JTS curriculum, the encouragement of adult education and the continued education of rabbis and cantors following their graduation.

On the subject of intermarriage the chancellor tried to speak realistically. “Intermarriage is a fact,” he said. He suggested that we should welcome mixed families into our communities and make them feel comfortable. This embrace of mixed families would have the ultimate goal of conversion. He thinks that a non-Jewish family member should be treated with respect and in essence be told, “You know? We really value your presence here. You’re contributing something here: you have a heart, you have a soul, you have a mind.”

In the last three years a number of Conservative day schools in the tri-state area have closed, including the Metropolitan Schechter High School in Teaneck, N.J., which merged with the Schechter High School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The chancellor held on to his upbeat attitude and claimed that this did not reflect the failures or successes of the Conservative movement rather an economic pattern occurring nationwide.

He also claimed that JTS alone could not support these “hugely expensive” schools and that they require serious donations from other parts of the Jewish community including those that are not Conservative because the schools are diverse. “We have Orthodox kids. We have Reform kids. We have unaffiliated kids. And we need these schools to service this population,” he said.

The chancellor mentioned that JTS would be assisting in the creation of a standardized Judaic studies curriculum. This would be done jointly with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, The Solomon Schechter Day School Association and the Association of Jewish Educators. With a unified curriculum teachers would be able to maintain a set path of education.

The rabbis out in the field are the greatest assets to the movement’s ability to reach synagogue members, according to Chancellor Eisen. He said that after their years at JTS rabbis and cantors may not have developed all of the pastoral skills necessary to keep a community running. The education that he hopes to provide can’t be found in books and will help them in their interactions with their synagogue and the outside world.
“Our plan is to bring them back and do a lot more continuing education for rabbis as we will for cantors and educators,” he said. “But to bring them back periodically over vacation periods, in the summer. We need more than one session.”

Our final and most important question to the chancellor was “What message would you like to convey to the Jewish youth?” His response was given with a great feeling of urgency. “We need you,” he immediately answered, “And we don’t just need you for what you do 10 years from now or 20 years from now. We need you right now.” He continued by saying there are always adults who listen to teenagers and will help them put their ideas into action.

When the interview ended the relief following an intense trial washed over us. After less than half an hour we had come one step closer to completing a task initiated a year ago. Behind his role as chancellor, Arnold Eisen was another Conservative Jew trying to find the correct answers.

Although his goals are lofty they are possible, given the substantial driving force that he can provide. However, not everyone will be as willing to jump headfirst into his new plans. Enacting them will require patience and diplomacy.

His final message directed to the teens of the movement left a powerful impression on us. He realizes that the Conservative movement will have nothing if it doesn’t establish a future for itself within the youth.

As we walk through the halls of Solomon Schechter every day, we see the future laid out before us. The future is in the education of the students, the enlightenment of the next generation of Jewish thinkers: us. n

Reuben Berman and Gabriela Geselowitz are juniors at the Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization