How will the major Jewish religious movements ride out this downturn?
Orthodox organizations appear to be in the worst shape. Orthodox Jews have been disproportionately involved in banking and the stock market, and were also disproportionately hurt by Madoff; $2 billion, by one account, were lost by members of a single Orthodox synagogue. My guess, sadly, is that some educational and charitable Orthodox institutions will go bankrupt. Reform temples across the country have been badly hurt, affecting the Union for Reform Judaism and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as well; both organizations are likely to look different in the years ahead. In the Conservative Movement, financial woes have led to quite a few recent synagogue mergers, especially between synagogues located close by whose members walked to shul in the ’50s but who drive there now; the transformation of several Solomon Schechter days schools into community day schools; and significant cutbacks at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In short, no religious sector of the Jewish
