Jewish Theological Seminary
ORG
Jewish Theological Seminary
The Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism in America, appears close to having a new leader at a pivotal period when the movement is struggling with dwindling membership and the question of becoming more accommodating to gay Jews. The seminary's search committee has chosen an unusual candidate, Arnold Eisen, a Stanford University professor who is not a rabbi but is known as one of the country's leading scholars of modern Judaism. Because of the seminary's prominence, the next chancellor would play a profound role in determining the movement's ultimate decision on whether to end its prohibition on gay rabbis and same-sex unions. The seminary's longtime chancellor, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, who was seen as reluctant to change Conservative Judaism's position on homosexuals, announced that he would step down at the end of the school year.