Conservative Judaism Head Rabbi Calls Sabbath-Driving Rule a "Mistake"

The Forward reports on a remarkable admission by the head of Conservative Judaism's leading seminary.

The head of Conservative Judaism's flagship institution is arguing that the movement made a "mistake" when it issued a landmark ruling a half-century ago permitting Jews to drive to synagogue on the Sabbath.

Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, made his declaration last week in Dallas during a speech at the biennial convention of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. By sanctioning travel on the Sabbath, he said, the Conservative movement "gave up on the desirability of living close to the synagogue and creating a Shabbos community."

And what did others in the movement say?

Schorsch's argument was rejected by several other movement leaders who argued that it failed to take into account the inevitability of Jewish flight to the suburbs and was insensitive to those living outside of Jewish enclaves in the Northeast, such as the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Schorsch's institution is located.

If this is so, how have Orthodox communities outside the Northeast managed to build communities in the suburbs without driving?