Yesterday morning an article came out that misrepresented fundamental facts about the Blue Ribbon Commission. In light of this article, we want to make sure you are aware of the following:
The Rabbinical Assembly observed several inaccuracies and misstatements in the Forward's story yesterday on the Blue Ribbon Commission formed to examine the RA's Standards of Practice. First and foremost, the BRC was not at all "a secret commission." We informed the full RA membership of its creation last March, and then sent three updates to the full membership, including one just this week.
The headline and article mischaracterizes the BRC's purpose as "re-doing" standards pertaining to intermarriage. In fact, the BRC examined all three Standards of Practice, including our rules on divorce and Jewish identity. The RA did not envision the BRC as primarily a forum to re-affirm our standards on their merits, but rather to ensure they had been adopted according to a proper process. The Forward's story erroneously claims that the BRC re-affirmed the intermarriage officiation ban without responding to claims that it had not been adopted according to the correct procedure. In fact, the BRC explicitly found that the intermarriage officiation ban had been properly approved following procedures in effect at the time of adoption.
The Forward's story also erroneously asserts that the BRC's recommendation that the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards review the matter of attendance of rabbis at intermarriages signals the prohibition will be withdrawn. The BRC merely held that since the attendance ban has fallen into disuse it should no longer be considered a Standard of Practice. There are many rules within the Conservative movement that remain in force despite not being Standards of Practice. There is no guarantee that the attendance ban will be withdrawn.
You can view our public press release on the Blue Ribbon Commission report here.