My Prediction: Blogs and the Chancellor Search

This item will likely be of little interest to my non-Jewish readers.

This week, I had dinner with a group of my former JTS colleagues, and of course, we were talking about the search for the new chancellor (which will be conducted over the course of the next year). I said, "I think that the bloggers are going to heavily influence the selection of the new chancellor, identifying likely candidates, etc." And I got laughed at. I believe someone said something along the lines of "what do you think this is, a presidential election?" (But I could be making that up.)

In any case, it's time for my little "told-you-so" dance. (Will & Grace fans, anyone?) Miriam reports that there are two new blogs about the chancellor search: JTSFuture and JTS2006. The discussion is very preliminary at this point, but the names of several potential candidates have emerged. If you're interested in following this story over the next year or so, you should check in with either of these two blogs (or the likely others that will follow them)--we don't do community politics here at the Urban K. Especially at places where we used to work.

Why is the search for a new chancellor important? Because the next chancellor (along with the head of the Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative board of rabbis, and the head of United Synagogue) will set the tone for the next few decades of Conservative Judaism. The person who is selected will also represent the vox populi, not in an electoral sense, but in the sense that the choice will reflect what Conservative Judaism as a whole is ready to embrace. The gays-in-the-rabbinate/gay weddings issue springs to mind, but there are other issues of how conservative or liberal the movement should be--too liberal and they run the risk of blending into Reform; too conservative (with a small c) and they run the risk of alienating people who are more liberal.

Right now, it's too soon to tell where the movement's headed. But time will tell. And bloggers will be watching.

Comments

[SP]

but there are other issues of how conservative or liberal the movement should be--too liberal and they run the risk of blending into Reform; too conservative (with a small c) and they run the risk of alienating people who are more liberal.

you do realize that sounds like defining yourself by not what you are, but by what you are not. If what you are is similiar to reform, what's the big deal?