31 Facts About Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people and the community through the generations, more than from divine revelation.

The Conservative Judaism rabbinate employs modern historical-critical research, rather than only traditional methods and sources, and lends great weight to its constituency when determining its stance on matters of practice.

Conservative Judaism is the third-largest Jewish religious movement worldwide, estimated to represent close to 1.

Conservative Judaism was often accused of obscurity on the subject by his opponents, both Reform and Orthodox.

Conservative Judaism's power called the world into being; Conservative Judaism's wisdom and goodness guide its destiny.

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Conservative Judaism regarded the Beatified Sages as innovators who added their own, original contribution to the canon, not merely as expounders and interpreters of a legal system given in its entirety to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The first doctrine, advocated by such leaders as rabbis Ben-Zion Bokser and Robert Gordis, largely imparted that some elements within Conservative Judaism are fully divine but determining which would be impractical, and therefore received forms of interpretation should be basically upheld.

Conservative Judaism turned the old rabbinic concept of K'lal Yisrael, which he translated as "Catholic Israel", into a comprehensive worldview.

Conservative Judaism leadership had limited success in imparting their worldview to the general public.

The halakhic commitment of Conservative Judaism has been subject to much criticism, from within and without.

Conservative Judaism explicitly acknowledges the principle of halakhic pluralism, enabling the panel to adopt more than one resolution in any given subject.

The final authority in each Conservative Judaism community is the local rabbi, the mara d'atra, enfranchised to adopt either minority or majority opinions from the CJLS or maintain local practice.

Likewise, while most Conservative Judaism synagogues approved of egalitarianism for women in religious life, some still maintain traditional gender roles and do not count females for prayer quorums.

In several occasions, Conservative Judaism rabbis discerned that the Shulchan Aruch ruled without firm precedent, sometimes deriving his conclusions from the Kabbalah.

The Conservative Judaism movement issued a wide range of new, thoroughgoing statues, from the famous 1950 responsum that allowed driving to the synagogue on the Sabbath and up to the 2000 decision to ban rabbis from inquiring about whether someone was a mamzer, de facto abolishing this legal category.

Conservative Judaism suggested that women voluntarily commit to pray thrice a day et cetera, and his responsa was adopted.

However, as the rate of such unions rose dramatically, Conservative Judaism congregations began describing gentile family members as K'rov Yisrael and be more open toward them.

Term Conservative Judaism was used, still generically and not yet as a specific label, already in the 1887 dedication speech of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America by Rabbi Alexander Kohut.

Conservative Judaism's is the first woman elected to this position in the History of JTS.

In 1843, Frankel clashed with the radical Reform rabbi Samuel Holdheim, who argued that the act of marriage in Conservative Judaism was a civic rather than sanctified matter and could be subject to the Law of the Land.

Conservative Judaism announced that one measure he was willing to countenance was the possible abolition of the second day of festivals, though only if a broad consensus will be reached and not before thorough deliberation.

Conservative Judaism heaved praise on the Beatified Sages, presenting them as bold innovators, but not once affirmed the divinity of the Oral Torah.

Conservative Judaism kept the dietary laws at home and attempted to assuage traditionalists.

Conservative Judaism publicly excoriated Reform for disdaining ritual and received forms, triggering a heated polemic with Kohler.

Kohut, professor of Talmud who held to the Positive-Historical ideal, was the main educational influence in the early years, prominent among the founders who encompassed the entire spectrum from progressive Orthodox to the brink of Reform; to describe what the seminary intended to espouse, he used the term "Conservative Judaism", which had no independent meaning at the time and was only in relation to Reform.

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Conservative Judaism maintained that theology was of little importance and it was practice that must be preserved.

Conservative Judaism aspired to solicit unity in American Judaism, denouncing sectarianism and not perceiving himself as leading a new denomination: "not to create a new party, but to consolidate an old one".

Conservative Judaism began to distinguish between the "Modern Orthodoxy" of himself and his peers in the OU, and "Conservatives" who tolerated what was beyond the pale for him.

Conservative Judaism formulated his own approach of Judaism as a Civilization, rejecting the concept of Revelation and any supernatural belief in favour of a cultural-ethnic perception.

Conservative Judaism offered to extensively apply the tool of takkanah, rabbinic ordinance.

Finkelstein opposed sectarianism and preferred the neutral epithet "traditional", later commenting that "Conservative Judaism is a gimmick to get Jews back to real Judaism".