Conservative Judaism around the world: The World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues.

World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues
155 Fifth Avenue                       2 Argon Street (P.O. Box 7456)
New York, NY 10010  U.S.A.     Jerusalem 91073  Israel
Tel. (212) 533-7693                   Tel. (02) 256-386

 

    The World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues, founded in 1957, is the international arm of the Conservative/Masorti Movement. It is presently comprised of congregations in 22 countries. It offers a speakers' referral service, and the English language newsletter Spectrum, which provides a global update twice yearly. Two World Council representatives sit on the Executive of the World Zionist Organization.

    In 1989, the World Council opened its international headquarters at the Center for Conservative Judaism in Jerusalem, to serve as a center of Conservative outreach to Diaspora communities. In 1992 the first Conservative synagogue was built in Paris, and has since helped create two new Conservative Havurot in outlying areas of Paris. They are in the process of publishing liturgical and educational materials in French.

    http://www.jtsa.edu/synagogues/adathsfr/

    New congregations have also opened in South Africa and Cuba. The recent opening of Eastern Europe has enabled Conservative Jewry to reestablish strong ties with its Hungarian counterpart, the Neolog Movement, centered at the Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest. The World Council initiated the establishment the Pedagogium (Teachers Training Institute) at the Budapest Seminary. The Pedagogium provides teachers of Judaica to serve communities in Hungary and in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

    In Latin America, the World Council is centered at the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano where it serves as the unifying force of some 80 Conservative congregations throughout the continent. The Seminario trains rabbis and educators for Jewish communities all across South and Central America.

    In England, the World Council was instrumental in establishing the Masorti Assembly of Synagogues, which has now grown to encompass eight synagogues in the United Kingdom. The Masorti Assembly has recently established an institute for training both professional and lay cantors. View their official WWW homepage at:

http://www.masorti.uk.org/   e-mail: office@masorti.org.uk

To read more about Conservative Judaism around the world see these sites:

http://www.fjmc.org/torchw0.pdf

http://www.jtsa.edu/pubs/jtsnews/vol2iss4/nw.html

http://www.jewishsf.com/bk000317/ijtaconservative.shtml