Emet v'Emunah

I suspect that a good many of you reading this blog will recognize the title of this post instinctively. But for those of you who don't, a brief explanation:

Emet v'Emunah was a statement put out by the Conservative movement some twenty-odd years ago in an attempt to define Conservative Jewish belief. A longstanding joke in the Jewish community has is that, "Reform Jews and lazy, Conservative Jews are hazy, and Orthodox Jews are crazy." Emet v'Emunah was an effort on the part of the Conservative Movement to dispel a little bit of its haziness, and give the average Conservative Jew in the pews an idea of what Conservative Judaism was, besides being "not Orthodoxy and not Reform."

Since then, the phrase "Emet v'Emunah", which means "Truth and Faithfulness", has become a catchphrase or sorts among Conservative rabbis and some committed Conservative lay Jews, to indicate the "fullness" of Conservative Judaism. In contrast to Orthodoxy (which rejects modern Biblical scholarship and therefore lacks emet, or truth) and Reform (which rejects too much of traditional observance and therefore lacks emunah, or faithfulness), Conservatism is presumed to possess both emet and emunah.

I have had a love-hate relationship with Conservative Judaism for a long time. Love, because I really feel most affinity for a Conservative davenning (prayer) style and worship service, and also an affinity for the way the Conservative movement attempts to treat halakha (traditional Jewish law). Hate, because the Movement continues to define people like me out of the fold by insisting on upholding matrilineal descent despite the problems and sufferings it causes.

The "hate" side of the equation grew for me a few months ago, when the Movement decided to liberalize its stance on gay and lesbian issues. I hope people won't misinterpret what I say next, because I really, in my heart of hearts, believed this was the right decision morally, philosophically, and religiously. But I took the decision as a slap in the face to the thousands of patrilineal Jews who would like to affiliate with the Conservative movement, or who have converted and already do so, because it showed just how far the movement would bend over backwards to include everyone except us. If the Movement can uproot a Biblical prohibition to make an excluded group feel included in Jewish life, it can no longer offer any good excuse for refusing to scrap matrilineal descent, a rabbinic law that dates to no earlier than the second century C.E. The movement's current position thus lacks both emet--truthfulness--and, in my opinion, emunah--faithfulness to the moral values for which Jewish tradition claims to stand.

For a long time, I thought I was alone in my anger over this. But through the wonders of the internet, I stumbled upon a woman named Robin Margolis, who was involved in one of the first groups for adult children of intermarriage, Pareveh, back in the 1980s. (Pareveh is the Hebrew/Yiddish word meaning 'netural'; it comes from the kosher dietary laws, which define all edible food as milk, meat, or pareveh). Ms. Margolis now operates a website, www.half-jewish.net, for all adult children of Jewish intermarriage, and their offspring.

We have been talking, and I am now announcing I have a website aimed at patrilineal Jews who want to work to change the status quo regarding our status in the Jewish community. It can be found here:

http://www.emunahavot.net

After a lot of tweaking, the site is pretty much together. Everything except a "Contact Us" section is in place. So it looks as if we are finally open for business.

I will not pontificate here on patrilineal descent, more than I did a few paragraphs ago. For my views on that subject, www.emunahavot.net will suffice. For an academic treatment of the origins and purpose (or rather, lack thereof) of the matrilineal principle, please see an article I published a few months ago at:

http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297405&ct=3690573

Comments regarding Emunah Avot are welcome provided they do not disparage or denigrate patrilineal descent.