To: Minyan gal…
Respectfully… to say, as you did, that “I would much rather be a religious…Conservative Jew than a…non-observant Orthodox one” is to say really that “conservative Judaism” and orthodox Judaism are TWO different religions.
Why? Because you said you are “religious”. What does “religious” mean? Yes, of course you are “entitled to” your opinions, but IF we are talking about ONE religion, i.e. Judaism, then there is only ONE barometer for what “religious” means. G-d did NOT give the Jewish Nation an Orthodox Torah, a “conservative” Torah and a “reform” Torah. He gave us only ONE Torah, ONE tradition, ONE body of law. The reform and conservative “movements” were clearly break away movements (less than 2 hundred years old) from a Jewish tradition of THOUSANDS of years that began at Mount Sinai, given by an eternal G-d for whom 2010 was as much the “present” as 1500 B.C.E. was.
Therefore, “religious” can have ONLY ONE defintion IF we are talking about (the same religion) Judaism, and that is strict adherence to the Mitzvot HaSh-m gave us.
Having come from the “conservative movement” myself, many, many years ago, I can understand that from your viewpoint, acceptance of the obligation of mitzva observance SEEMS like “it would be a great burden”. Be assured, that feeling is only because of a lack of understanding of what a religiously observant life is. Having “been there” myself, I am well aware of how the “conservative movement” likes to paint “orthodoxy” (-another word I dislike, because it too would seem to make it appear that there is more than one form of Judaism) – as a fanatic, restrictive, antiquated, close-minded form of Judaism. Trust me, – that is a VERY biased and VERY inaccurate spin on the joyous tradition which has sustained us for the last 3,700 years.
I would urge you to not only immerse yourself in the Aish.com website, but to contact and speak to the wonderful people at Aish.
May HaSh-m guide you to the joy of a true Torah life for yourself and your family.