NEW YORK (AP) - A Philadelphia-area rabbi is in line to become the new executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism - part of a leadership overhaul that movement officials hope will help restore the footing of what was once was the largest branch of Judaism in the U.S.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, 41, spiritual leader since 2001 of Adath Israel in Merion Station, Pa., will assume the position heading the movement's congregational branch pending negotiations and board approval.
In a news release, the group called Wernick an innovator, community-builder and successful fundraiser who turned around a dwindling congregation. Wernick "has said that he hopes to move United Synagogue in the direction of ever-greater responsiveness, engagement, and transparency," the organization said.
Conservative Judaism is viewed as a middle ground between the more liberal Reform and conservative Orthodox movements. Studies show the movement is aging and has fallen behind the Reform movement in numbers.
About 26 percent of the American adult Jewish population identified as Conservative in the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey, compared with 35 percent who called themselves Reform.
Earlier this month, more than 50 Conservative rabbis, cantors and lay leaders wrote a letter warning against "business as usual" within the United Synagogue.
Other changes have taken place at the two other major Conservative institutions. Arnold Eisen became chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2006 and Rabbi Julie Schonfeld will take over as executive vice president of the movement's Rabbinical Assembly this summer.
Wernick would replace longtime executive president Rabbi Jerome Epstein, who is retiring.
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Religion: New leaders seek to revitalize Conservative Judaism
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Published: March 18, 2009
Published: March 18, 2009
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