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56-408: Conservative Jewish thinkers take the position that halakha can and should evolve to meet the changing reality of Jewish life. Conservative Judaism, therefore, views that traditional Jewish legal codes must be viewed through the lens of academic criticism. As Solomon Schechter noted, "however great the literary value of a code may be, it does not invest it with infallibility, nor does it exempt it from

112-683: A Bat-Kohen (daughter of a Kohen) can perform priestly functions, including the Pidyon HaBen ceremony and the Priestly Blessing . The CJLS issued a ruling, which, while not abolishing the Torah category of mamzerut (children born of an incestuous or adulterous union), effectively ended the category's application to Conservative Judaism. The CJLS accepted a responsum that instructs Conservative rabbis to refuse to accept evidence on this subject, thus preventing anyone from being declared

168-432: A mamzer by a Conservative rabbi. The responsum explained that its approach was based on "morality... of our tradition": Orthodox Jewish approaches had recognized the difficulty of maintaining such a category under circumstances where it has become common to divorce civilly and remarry without obtaining a Jewish get (bill of divorce). Orthodoxy thus devised strict rules of evidence rendering it all but impossible to prove

224-585: A takkanah that would uproot a Torah prohibition if passed. Under the CJLS rules, once a majority of the committee found a responsum to be a takkanah, accepting it would require a majority of the Committee (13 of 25 votes), while an ordinary responsum could be accepted as a valid alternative with as few as 6 of 25 votes. On December 6, 2006, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards adopted opposing responsa on

280-634: A broad spectrum of views, including Orthodox views on some issues. Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter ( Hebrew : שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר ‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian -born British-American rabbi , academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of American Conservative Judaism . He

336-545: A legislative decree or takkanah . Besides responsa and takkanah, the CJLS creates several other literary sources. For instance, the CJLS approved an "Organ and Tissue Donation Card" in 1996. For handling the agunah problem, the CJLS approved a Jewish marriage contract ( ketubbah ), supplanting a 1935 plan by Louis Epstein, prepared by Saul Lieberman ). In addition, Conservative halakha may be found in academic and popular writings, including an effort at codification (Isaac Klein's A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice ). Finally,

392-555: A major part of the halakhic process. They hold that rabbis in practice viewed both halakhah and aggadah as inter-related domains and that one could not be used exclusively without the other. See Roth's "The Halakhic Process", Louis Jacobs "A Tree of Life", and Robert Gordis "The Dynamics of Judaism: A Study in Jewish Law" (stressed in introduction and chapters 8, 9). The CJLS has on a number of occasions accepted teshuvot, which include moral and aggadic reasoning alongside and within

448-514: A marked increase in the observance of members of the movement (Silvestein, ibid.) This section describes how Conservative beliefs and theory have been applied in practice over the last century. Conservative Judaism began with rabbinical practices similar to those of contemporary Modern Orthodoxy and somewhat laxer observance among its laity. Over the years, specific issues and decisions have resulted in increasing divergence from Orthodoxy. Key differences include: Conservative Judaism has long discussed

504-458: A minority of RA rabbis, but ultimately it was made clear that the CJLS would not accept this argument as sufficient. Two additional papers, one by rabbi Gordon Tucker and one by rabbis Myron Geller, Robert Fine, and David Fine, went further than Dorff's paper. Tucker's paper stated that it is necessary to expand the definition of the halakhic process, and the Geller, Fine, and Fine paper redefined

560-596: A period of time during and following the woman's menstrual period , and regards this requirement as a Biblical commandment. Two of the three responsa, however, adapted positions more permissive on certain details than required in Orthodox Judaism . These details included: There has recently been a debate within Conservative Judaism as to whether and to what extent the movement should continue to base, or claim to base, its practices on halakha . In

616-623: A strict precedent-based halakhic framework. As such, they sometimes come to conclusions that differ from their Orthodox peers. The CJLS cites cases in the Talmud in which Biblical laws became inoperative, such as when the Sanhedrin stopped meeting at its seat in the Temple in Jerusalem where it was required to meet in order to administer capital punishment and the abolition of such practices as

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672-476: A view that Conservative Judaism's rabbinate can overrule Biblical as well as rabbinic law believed to be inconsistent with modern requirements. The CJLS has issued a number of rabbinic decrees, or takkanot (plural of takkanah ), that lift biblically-derived prohibitions – prohibitions which Orthodox Judaism universally regards as sacrosanct. Examples of such Conservative decrees are: Despite these decrees, Conservative Judaism's theories of halakha incorporate

728-529: Is Eligible to Testify"; Susan Grossman, "Edut Nashim k'Edut Anashim: The Testimony of Women is as the Testimony of Men" and Joseph H. Prouser, "On Women Serving as Witnesses–A Dissent". The Conservative movement's understanding of kashrut is generally the same as that within Orthodox Judaism. However, on issues where leniency is possible, its Committee on Jewish Law and Standards consistently allows

784-755: Is a key component, such as egla arufa , breaking the heifer's neck; Hakheil , the Jewish King 's septa-annual public Torah reading; and the Blessings and Curses of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal . The Tosefta of Sotah is divided into fifteen chapters and contains a large number of aggadic and exegetic interpretations, as well as various historical statements and narratives. Both Gemaras , Bavli , and Yerushalmi , contain many tales and legends, aggadic interpretations, sayings, and proverbs, in addition to their elucidations of Mishnaic passages. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

840-605: Is formed and evolves based on the behavior of the people. This concept of modifying the law based on national consensus is an untraditional viewpoint. Schechter was an early advocate of Zionism . He was the chairman of the committee that edited the Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Hebrew Bible . Schechter's name is synonymous with the findings of the Cairo Geniza. He placed

896-475: Is one of the mitzvot in the Torah to obey the 'judges in your day,' and anything they see necessary to permit is permissible from the Torah." (Chidushai Rashba, Nedarim, p. 90a) Conservative Jewish philosophy does not allow the use of popular will to overturn Biblical or rabbinic laws. Like Orthodoxy, Conservative Judaism requires responsa citing a full range of precedential authorities as part of any halakhic decision. Changes in halakha must come about through

952-463: Is that both are necessary for a living Judaism. Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds itself bound by the Jewish legal tradition , but asserts the right of its rabbinical body, acting as a whole, to reinterpret and to apply Jewish law." A major difference between Conservative and Orthodox methodology is the former's frequent use of Takkanot (rabbinic decrees), which is far more prevalent than among

1008-583: Is the fifth in the order of Nashim , and it is divided into nine chapters. The tractate exists in the Mishnah , Tosefta , and both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud . Sotah is also the term used for the woman tried in this manner. The mishnas ( mishnayot ) are devoted in the main to an exact definition of the rules of procedure in the case of a wife who was either actually or supposedly unfaithful. The mishnas discuss other rituals in which speech

1064-623: The United States and was replaced by Israel Abrahams . In 1902, traditional Jews reacting against the progress of the American Reform Judaism movement, which was trying to establish an authoritative "synod" of American rabbis, recruited Schechter to become President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA). Schechter served as the second President of the JTSA, from 1902 to 1915, during which time he founded

1120-599: The American branch of Conservative Judaism formally approved same-sex marriage ceremonies in a 13–0 vote. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Conservative movement permitted limited circumstances regarding driving to a synagogue on Shabbat . The CJLS effectively passed a takkanah ruling that women may be counted as witnesses in all areas of Jewish law. This change is viewed as a lifting of a rabbinical prohibition that were rooted in social dynamics. See Myron S. Geller, "Woman

1176-765: The Cairo Geniza, and arrived there in December 1896 with an introduction from the Chief Rabbi, Hermann Adler , to the Chief Rabbi of Cairo, Aaron Raphael Ben Shim'on. He carefully selected for the Cambridge University Library a trove three times the size of any other collection: this is now part of the Taylor-Schechter Collection . The find was instrumental in Schechter resolving a dispute with David Margoliouth as to

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1232-442: The Committee adopted a consensus position reaffirming a blanket prohibition on homosexual conduct while welcoming homosexuals as members. Arguments over homosexuality were framed as formal halakhic responsa , one of the most prominent by rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson . He argued that homosexuality, as it is now understood today, was not described by the Torah nor understood by traditional rabbis. As such, one would be able to restrict

1288-574: The Conservative interpretation of halakha. Conservative Jewish practice, however, is significantly stronger than that found in Reform Judaism , such as following Shabbat, Kashrut, life-cycle events and holiday observances. There is a substantial committed core of Conservative Jews, consisting of the lay leadership, rabbis , cantors , educators, and those who have graduated from the movement's religious day schools and summer camps , that do take Jewish law very seriously. Recent studies have shown

1344-511: The Conservative movement abandons its claim that it is a halakhic movement, it really has no reason to exist." Both Conservative Judaism and Orthodox Judaism view rabbinic decrees and interpretations as open to some re-evaluation. However, whereas according to the Thirteen Principles of Faith of Orthodox Judaism, the halakha contains a core reflecting a direct Divine revelation that represents God's final and unalterable word to

1400-410: The Conservative movement teaches and what most of its laypeople have incorporated into their daily lives. A primary source of such information about this gap is Jewish Identity and Religious Commitment: The North American Study of Conservative Synagogues and Their Members , 1995–96, edited by Jack Wertheimer (1997). In practice, the majority of Jews affiliated with Conservative synagogues do not observe

1456-640: The Divine Will, and that "Aggadah", its evolving conception of morality, can and should override Biblical injunctions when the two come into conflict: On December 6, 2006, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards adopted three responsa on the subject of Niddah .". Two responsa were the majority opinions, one by rabbi Susan Grossman and one by rabbi Avram Reisner, the other responsum was the minority opinion, written by rabbi Miriam Berkowitz. All three responsa held that Conservative Judaism requires women and their sexual partners to abstain from sexual relations for

1512-584: The Geniza that contained the Hebrew text of Sirach , which had for centuries only been known in Greek and Latin translation. Letters, written at Schechter's prompting, by Agnes Smith to The Athenaeum and The Academy quickly revealed the existence of another nine leaves of the same manuscript in the possession of Archibald Sayce at University of Oxford. Schechter quickly found support for another expedition to

1568-537: The JTSA on an institutional footing strong enough to endure for over a century. He became identified as the foremost personality of Conservative Judaism and is regarded as its founder. A network of Conservative Jewish day schools is named in his honor, as well as a summer camp in Olympia, Washington. There are several dozen Solomon Schechter Day Schools across the United States and Canada. His daughter Ruth

1624-482: The Jewish people on these matters, Conservative Judaism does not necessarily consider portions of the halakha, and even Biblical law, as a direct record of Divine revelation. The CJLS has written that the Torah represents merely "the beginning of a relationship" rather than a final word and can be superseded by new understanding and new circumstances "as we mature". This more liberal approach to revelation has resulted in

1680-622: The Orthodox view, regarded kohanim in and offspring of prohibited marriages as disqualified from performing priestly functions or receiving priestly honors and benefits, the Takkanah held that they are to be regarded as Kohanim in good standing. The CJLS accepted a responsum concluding that synagogues are not required to call a Kohen to the first aliyah (reading) at a Torah reading , although traditionalist synagogues may choose to continue to do so out of custom. The CJLS has also determined that

1736-762: The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel. As a matter of custom and rabbinical decision, the Masorti movement differs from its American partner on some matters of Jewish law. Conservative Judaism holds that both the ethical and ritual mitzvot ("biblical commandments") are normative. Conservative Jews are obligated to observe ritual laws, including the laws of Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), kashrut (dietary rules), daily prayer and Jewish holidays, and life-cycle events, as well as guidelines in such matters as medical and social ethics. A gap exists between what

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1792-438: The Talmud .) Conservative Judaism relies on a somewhat different Jewish legal methodology than is typical of Orthodoxy. The prominent Conservative rabbi Mordecai Waxman has written that " Reform Judaism has asserted the right of interpretation, but it rejected the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the principle of authority but has rejected the right to significant reinterpretations. The Conservative view

1848-582: The United Synagogue of America, later renamed as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism . He died in 1915, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens . Schechter emphasized the centrality of Jewish law (Halakha) in Jewish life in a speech in his inaugural address as President of the JTSA in 1902: Schechter, on the other hand, believed in what he termed "Catholic Israel." The basic idea being that Jewish law, Halacha ,

1904-478: The authority of Reform Jewish responsa. Through its own deliberations, Conservative Judaism modifies or adds to pre-modern and Orthodox halakha through several literary forms, primarily responsa . Such Conservative responsa may be given official force within Conservative Judaism through the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly . CJLS decisions may also result in

1960-480: The belief in a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem , in which Kohanim may bring offerings. However, Conservative Jews generally reject the idea that animal sacrifices will be a part of these services. The movement has no official position on what will or should occur in a future Temple. In 1968 rabbi Isaac Klein wrote a responsum accepted by the CJLS that allowed a Kohen to marry a convert if the Kohen, after counseling on

2016-461: The conditions and situations where it would be appropriate and necessary to uproot.." but then states on p. 3 that "Yet the right to uproot was never completely prohibited. There was often the need for an escape hatch, and the right of rabbinic authorities to do so was articulated by the Rashba as follows: It was not a matter of the sages deciding on their own to uproot a matter of the Torah, but it

2072-414: The corpus of halakha as representing the evolving beliefs and ideals of the Jewish people of a particular time and place as distinct from representing an infallible Divine will. While both papers had the support of at least 6 members, a majority of the CJLS found that both papers represented so extensive a change that they could not be accepted as mere changes of Jewish law. However, each should be regarded as

2128-850: The death of Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy , he was appointed to the faculty at Cambridge University , serving as a lecturer in Talmudics and reader in Rabbinics. The students of the Cambridge University Jewish Society hold an annual Solomon Schechter Memorial Lecture. His greatest academic fame came from his excavation in 1896 of the papers of the Cairo Geniza , an extraordinary collection of over 100,000 pages (around 300,000 documents) of rare Hebrew religious manuscripts and medieval Jewish texts that were preserved at an Egyptian synagogue. The find revolutionized

2184-434: The existence of such cases but had kept the category as a theoretical possibility and enforced it in a very small number of controversial modern cases. In declaring its willingness to "do explicitly what was largely implicit in the past" and get rid of the applicability of the category entirely, the CJLS expressly declared that it did not consider a classical rabbinic understanding of this subject to be "the final word" regarding

2240-517: The halakhic process. For examples of this view, see rabbi David Golinkin's essay "The Whys and Hows of Conservative Halakhah", Elliot N. Dorff's "The Unfolding Tradition" (esp. introduction and chapter 1), Joel Roth "The Halakhic Process" (Chapter 1, but also throughout the entire book). A significant difference with Orthodoxy is that Conservative rabbis have produced a body of research on the history of halakha, which, in their view, concludes that rabbis in every age have always included ethical concerns as

2296-457: The issue of homosexuality and whether or not a re-evaluation of the subject is appropriate. The issue had been informally discussed since the 1980s and became a formal issue studied by the CJLS in the early 1990s. The CJLS consistently refused to pass several proposed takkanot concerning the Levitical prohibitions on male-male anal sex as well as other forms of homosexual intimacy. In 1993,

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2352-449: The issue of homosexuality. The CJLS's action permits each congregational rabbi and rabbinical school to decide which responsum to adopt and hence set its own policy on the subject. The adoption of dual responsa represents a straddling of the contemporary societal divide over sexual matters. The responsa was entitled, "Homosexuality, Human Dignity & Halachah: A Combined Responsum For The Committee On Jewish Law And Standards" In June 2012,

2408-526: The keynote address to the December 2005 Biennial convention, JTS philosophy professor Neil Gillman urged Conservative Judaism to "abandon its claim that we are a halakhic movement", which he called "irrelevant to the vast majority of our laypeople". This speech was strongly criticized. Rabbi David Golinkin , head of the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem , for example, commented that "If

2464-674: The latter. The Talmud states that in exceptional cases, rabbis have the right to uproot Biblical prohibitions for a variety of reasons; it gives examples of how this was done in practice, e.g., Talmud Bavli, tractate Yevamot 89a-90b, and tractate Nazir 43b. See the discussion by rabbi Arnold Goodman in Solemnizing the Marriage Between a Kohen and a Divorcee p. 2 (bottom) p. 3 (top.) Goodman notes that "Later authorities were reluctant to assume such unilateral authority... Later authorities thus imposed severe limitations on

2520-552: The lenient views as an acceptable option. For instance, it is permissible to view all gelatin as kosher, milk does not have to be cholov yisrael , and red meat does not have to be glatt . The one significant difference between Orthodox and conservative interpretations of halakha is that in the 1960s, the CJLS accepted a responsum that stated that American wines, being manufactured automatically rather than "by gentiles", might be viewed as kosher. A 1985 responsum by rabbi Elliot Dorff overturned that ruling. Conservative Judaism affirms

2576-746: The likely Hebrew language origins of Sirach . Charles Taylor took a great interest in Solomon Schechter's work in Cairo, and the genizah fragments presented to the University of Cambridge are known as the Taylor-Schechter Collection. He was joint editor with Schechter of The Wisdom of Ben Sira , 1899. He published separately Cairo Genizah Palimpsests , 1900. He became a Professor of Hebrew at University College London in 1899 and remained until 1902 when he moved to

2632-778: The major Talmudic scholars, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson of Lemberg . In his 20s, he went to the Rabbinical College in Vienna , where he studied under the more modern Talmudic scholar Meir Friedmann , before moving on in 1879 to undertake further studies at the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums and at the University of Berlin . In 1882, he was invited to Britain, to be tutor of rabbinics under Claude Montefiore in London. In 1890, after

2688-454: The movement's major liturgical publications—its prayer books and new chumash – constitute de facto halakhic choices about Conservative Jewish religious practice. In Israel, the Masorti movement recognizes the sources of Conservative halakhah, for the most part. In 1989, the first collection of responsa was published by three Israeli Masorti rabbis in the Va'ad Halacha (Jewish law committee) of

2744-465: The religious issues involved, agreed to stop performing priestly functions and understood that offspring of the marriage would not be regarded as Kohanim. ( Responsa and Halakhic Studies , Ktav.) The reasoning behind this responsum was that: As the rate of intermarriage among American Jews increased, the issue was revisited again in the 1990s. In 1996 the CJLS issued two emergency takkanot, effectively lifting biblical restrictions on Kohen marriages. This

2800-514: The rite of Sotah (the ordeal of a suspected adulteress) and the breaking of the heifer's neck in a case of suspected murder as precedents for refusing to administer Biblically mandated procedures on moral grounds. As classified by Menachem Elon 's Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri , the legal sources of Jewish law include Torah interpretation, legislation, and custom ( minhag ). The Conservative movement utilizes these legal sources as found in both pre-modern and Orthodox Jewish law , though it does not recognize

2856-414: The student or the rabbi who makes use of it from the duty of examining each paragraph on its own merits, and subjecting it to the same rules of interpretation that were always applied to Tradition". Conservative Judaism believes that its view of Jewish law as evolving and adaptable is indeed consistent with Jewish tradition. (See also the various positions within contemporary Judaism as regards halakha and

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2912-510: The study of Medieval Judaism. Jacob Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo Geniza, as well as the first to publicize the existence of the Midrash ha-Gadol . Schechter was alerted to the existence of the Geniza's papers in May 1896 by two Scottish sisters, Agnes and Margaret Smith (also known as Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson), who showed him some leaves from

2968-407: The understanding of the Torah prohibition to cases not being considered today. His views were not accepted. Later, rabbi Elliot N. Dorff used similar arguments in his case for re-evaluating homosexuality. Dorff studied the issue of coercion, arguing that people who were innately homosexual due to biology were not to be regarded as sinning. His early papers on the subject began to gain acceptance among

3024-536: Was born in Focşani , Moldavia (now Romania), to Rabbi Yitzchok Hakohen, a shochet ("ritual slaughterer") and member of Chabad hasidim . He was named after its founder, Shneur Zalman of Liadi . Schechter received his early education from his father. Reportedly, he learned to read Hebrew by age 3, and by 5 mastered Chumash . He went to a yeshiva in Piatra Neamț at age 10 and at age thirteen studied with one of

3080-524: Was done given the high rate of intermarriage in the USA and the need to keep two Jews who marry within the Jewish community. Rabbi Goodman details the Talmud's ruling that rabbis have the right to uproot Biblical prohibitions in three cases, and examples of how this was done in practice (Solemnizing the Marriage Between a Kohen and a Divorcee) p. 2 (bottom) p. 3 (top) Unlike the Klein responsum, which, like

3136-677: Was married to the South African Jewish politician Morris Alexander from 1907 to 1935. Sotah Sotah ( Hebrew : סוֹטָה or Hebrew : שׂוֹטָה ) is a tractate of the Talmud in Rabbinic Judaism . The tractate explains the ordeal of the bitter water , a trial by ordeal of a woman suspected of adultery , which is prescribed by the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh ). In most editions, this tractate

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