“Mostly” secular? In other words, there’s a lot of social stuff and some politics along with the prayers? And yet there are prayers, and they are to God, and that makes Reform Judaism a religion and not a secular social club.

She used the term for Judaism. Judaism is not secular, although plenty of Jews are. Some of them even go to synagogues now and then. But Judaism is not secular. That was my point.

*The Conservative movement was intended almost as a holding strategy between Orthodoxy, which was losing adherents as children of immigrants Americanized and assimilated, and Reform, which had abandoned much of what makes Judaism actually Jewish. It was intended to conserve Jews as traditional Jews. I could argue that it more or less worked for a couple of generations, and many “Ba’alei Tshuvah”, Jews who embraced orthodoxy in the ’70s and ’80s, came from Conservative backgrounds. In general, though, the Conservative approach (eg. driving on Shabbat was permitted if going to synagogue) was really only adopted by a relative handful of affiliated families, and many Jews saw it as either “orthodox lite” or “stricter than Reform”.

Starting in the 1970s, though, one could start seeing more similarities between the Conservative and Reform laities in terms of levels of religious rituals and commitment. Observance of Kashrut went down, and intermarriage went up. Today the Conservative movement is literally dying out. Synagogues are merging or folding and attendance on Sabbath services is down. The Conservative seminary and rabbinate made a bad mistake in letting the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism be the driving force in the movement, making changes that made Conservative synagogues less welcoming for men. For centuries, the morning “minyan”, the quorum of at least 10 Jewish adult males needed for communal prayer, served a social function for Jewish men akin to fraternal organizations, or the corner barbershop/bar. A male place. Making women count, took that place away. Making women synagogue officers meant men had half the chance to be leaders. So men have walked away from the Conservative movement. There’s a huge gender disparity on Saturday morning services.

Essentially, almost two centuries of Reform and Conservative Judaism have failed because they decided to be less Jewish.

Who is a Jew? Someone who works hard at having Jewish grandchildren.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/my-mother-cia-antisemitism-israel
My Mother’s Secret BY JUSTINE EL-KHAZEN
“My mother was a top Middle East analyst for the CIA. On her deathbed, she begged me not to raise my children Jewish. To find out why, I asked her former colleagues. I’m still reeling from their answers.”

She seems to be trying to explain to the Jews caught up in it, that it is politics, not religiously based, and not Judaism— and it’s dangerous, run away.