However, some tough questions arise from this choice. The first and most important one is: Where have all the rabbis gone? Aren't there any good enough rabbis to take on such a job? When one come to think of it, there once was a time in America in which rabbis cast a very long shadow (in a good sense) over the community - but these days are probably over, at least for the time being. Eisen's choice is a vote of no confidence in the new generation of rabbis.
Rosner hits the nail right on the head. Where is the next Heschel or Kaplan, Buber or Rosenzweig? Where are the Rabbinic thinkers who inspire, challenge and lead us to new and rediscovered paradigms? Is it any wonder that the Conservative movement has lost its way; there is no one to raise the flag and inspire us to follow. Who can articulate a vision for the Conservative movement that excites and inspires the laity?
Instead, we have factionalism and fragmentism. We have those who would abandon the basic tenets of the Conservative movement at the altar of modernity and pluralism. We have those whose adherence to a specific outcome decries the very notion of halachic evolution.
It is far too early to decide whether the selection of Arnold Eisen is a good one or not. But, I completely agree with Rosen that the selection of a non-Rabbi is the clearest signal to date that the Rabbinate is losing its relevance to modern Judaism.
(Update 5/9/2006 - Neither Buber nor Rozensweig were Rabbis, a fact of which I was aware, but neglected to point out in my original post. Perhaps, then, one should hope that a non-Rabbi can do what our current group of JTS Rabbis have been unable to do - to produce a vision that serious Conservative Jews want to follow )
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