Nowhere is this challenge more urgent than in the area of communal divisiveness. For two decades now, polarization has grown apace in the American Jewish community. The number of patrilineal Jews and converts accepted as Jewish by only one part of the community has risen sharply. The interdenominationally organized Synagogue Council of America has been allowed to die of financial and programmatic inanition. Each movement is now training and using its own mohelim .
Polarization is reflected in political and communal policy choices.
In short, the movements increasingly are governed by internal consensus-seekers that evade complexity and are impatient with disagreements. They act as if they have nothing to learn from the views of the others. Yet, perhaps now there are signs of openness to one another. There has been a changing of the guard of the rabbinic leadership of American Reform. The key to reversing the tide of polarization lies in repentance.