The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) is the central authority on Halakha (Jewish law) within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. The current chairman of the CJLS is Rabbi Pamela Barmash.
History The Committee on Jewish Law was created by the Rabbinical Assembly (RA) in 1927. Rabbi Max Drob was the first chair of the committee. The committee was tasked with including representatives from the "Various tendencies" of the Rabbinical Assembly. Of the ten members of the committee, four were to represent a "more conservative tendency," four were to represent "the liberal tendency," and two more were to be chosen by the eight. The more conservative rabbis on the initial committee were Louis Epstein, Louis Finkelstein, Julius Greenstone, and Chairman Drob. The liberals were Mordecai Kaplan, Jacob Kohn, Herman Rubenovitz, and Solomon Goldman. The two additional members were Harry S. Davidowitz and Morris Levine.Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook by Pamela Susan Nadell, p. 5 Drob viewed the creation of the committee as "the first step towards the organization of an American beit din hagadol [supreme court of Jewish law] which will study the problems arising in our new environment and solve them in the spirit of our Torah."Nadell, p. 5
Drob was succeeded by Julius Greenstone, who chaired the committee from 1932 to 1936, and Louis Epstein (1936–1940). Boaz Cohen, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, served as chair from 1940 to 1948.Nadell, p. 5–6
In 1948, the committee was expanded to 25 members and renamed the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards., accessed 2010-11-29 The new name signaled the Rabbinical Assembly's hopes that Jewish practice should be guided by the highest moral standards along with traditional law. The committee was tasked with "raising the standards of piety, understanding, and participating in Jewish life" among Conservative Jews.Nadell, p. 9 In 1986, Amy Eilberg became the first woman appointed to serve on the committee.
After the reconstitution of the committee in 1948, the following rabbis served as chair:Nadell, p. 10–16 Morris Adler (1948–1951) Theodore Friedman (1951–1954) Arthur Neulander (1954–1959) Ben Zion Bokser (1959–1960) Max Routtenberg (1960–1963) Ben Zion Bokser (1963–1965) Israel Silverman (1965–1966) Benjamin Kreitman (1966–1972) S. Gerson Levi (1972–1973) Seymour Siegel (1973–1980) Ben Zion Bokser (1980–1984) Joel Roth (1984–1992) Kassel Abelson (1992–2007) Elliot Dorff (2007–2019) Elliot Dorff and Pamela Barmash (2019-2024) Pamela Barmash (2024-present)
Other rabbis who have served on the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards include: Morris Adler (1952) Jacob Agus (1949–1952, 1954, 1958) Aaronson (1932) David Aronson (1948–1952, 1954, 1958) Max Arzt (1940, 1948, 1951–1952, 1954, 1958, 1958) Alexander Basel (1937) Noah Bickart (present) Aaron Blumenthal (1949–1952, 1954) Ben Zion Bokser (1937, 1949–1952, 1954, 1958) Alexander Burnstein (1949-1950) Paul Chertoff (1937, 1939–1940, 1944, 1948) Boaz Cohen (1932, 1937) Herman M. Cohen (1948) Max D. Davidson (1951–1952, 1954, 1958) Max Drob (1932, 1937, 1939–1940, 1944) Ira Eisenstein (1949–1952, 1954) Louis M. Epstein (1932, 1944, 1948–1949) Salamon Faber (1948, 1951–1952, 1954) Louis Feinberg (1937, 1939–1940, 1948) Louis Finkelstein (1932, 1939–1940, 1952, 1954, 1958) Henry Fisher (1948, 1951–1952) Theodore Friedman (1948–1950, 1958) Israel M. Goldman (1948) Solomon Goldman (1948–1950) Solomon Goldfarb (1952, 1954, 1958) Fishel J. Goldfeder (1948, 1952, 1954, 1958) Robert Gordis (1937, 1944, 1948–1952) Albert I. Gordon (1952, 1954) Harold H. Gordon (1948) David Graubart (1948–1950, 1958) Simon Greenberg (1937, 1948) William P. Greenfeld (1949–1952, 1954) Julius H. Greenstone (1932, 1937, 1939–1940, 1948) Susan Grossman (1995–2022) Herman Hailperin (1949–1952, 1954, 1958) Harry Halpern (1940) Michael Higger (1939-1940, 1944, 1948–1952) Max Kadushin (1939–1940) Mordecai M. Kaplan (1932, 1944) Harry M. Katzen (1944, 1948) Charles E. H. Kauvar (1944, 1948) Israel J. Kazis (1949–1951) Isaac Klein (1937, 1940, 1944, 1948–1952, 1954) Eugene Kohn (1932) Benjamin Kreitman (1958) Israel Lebendiger (1937, 1939–1940, 1944, 1948) Levine (1932) Amy Levin (2011-present) Louis M. Levitsky (1948) S. Gerson Levi (1949–1951) Israel H. Levinthal (1944) Joshua Lindenberg (1958) Hugo Mantel (1944, 1948) Solomon H. Metz (1939–1940) Abraham E. Millgram (1948) Judah Nadich (1954, 1958) Arthur H. Neulander (1944, 1948–1952, 1954) Daniel S. Nevins (present) Simon Noveck (1950) David Panitz (1954, 1958) Joseph Prouser (2006) Jacob Radin (1958) James Rosen Samuel Rosenblatt (1937, 1939–1940, 1944, 1948) Hyman Routtenberg (1949–1951) Rubenowitz (1932) Ralph Simon (1954, 1958) Sanders A. Tofield (1939–1940, 1944, 1949–1951, 1954, 1958) Raysh Weiss (present) Gershon Winer (1954)
Secretaries of the committee have included the following rabbis: Boaz Cohen (1939) Philip Sigal (1958) Ashira Konigsburg (2013)
Secretaries of the committee have included the following people who were not, at the time, rabbis: Gabriel Seed (2010) Philip Gibbs (2016)
Ex officio members of the committee have included the following rabbis: Aaron H. Blumenthal (1958) Isaac Klein (1958) Perry Rank (2004–2006) William Gershon (2014–2016) Philip Scheim (2016–2018) Debra Newman Kamin (2018)
Ex officio members of the committee who were not rabbis have included the following: Marc Gary
Consultants to the Committee on Jewish Law have included the following rabbis: Max Arzt (1949) Boaz Cohen (1949-1950) Herman Carmel (1954) Albert I. Gordon (1949-1950) Simon Greenberg (1949-1950) Mordecai M. Kaplan (1949-1950) Milton Steinberg (1949)
In 1950, Rabbi Milton Steinberg was notably still listed as a consultant to the committee while also being listed as deceased.
In 1949, the Rabbinical Assembly commissioned a "Special Committee on Scope of the Law Committee." This special committee was chaired by Rabbi Israel H. Levinthal and included Rabbis Morris Adler, Ben Zion Bokser, Max D. Davidson, Ira Eisenstein and Theodore Friedman. The special committee lasted through 1950.
Process Conservative rabbis hold that the boundaries of Jewish law are determined through Halakha, a religious-ethical system of legal precedents. In this system, one may re-interpret or change the law through a formal argument. These arguments are effectively peer-reviewed. When a rabbi proposes a new interpretation of a law, that interpretation is not normative for the Jewish community until it becomes accepted by other committed and observant members in the community. New legal precedents are based on the standard codes of Jewish law, and the responsa literature. The Hebrew term for the responsa is "She'elot U-Teshuvot", literally "Questions and Answers".
There is no formal peer-review process for the entire Jewish community in general, since the Jewish community has no one central body that speaks for all of Judaism. However, within certain Jewish communities, formally organized bodies exist: Each strand of Orthodox Hasidic Judaism has its own rebbe, who is its ultimate decisor of Jewish law. Within Modern Orthodox Judaism, there is no one committee or leader, but Modern Orthodox rabbis generally agree with the views set by consensus by the leaders of the Rabbinical Council of America. Within Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly has the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.
Conservative Judaism teaches that one can use literary and historical analysis to understand how Jewish law has developed and to help them understand how such laws should be understood in our own day. It generally views the laws and customs from the various law codes as the basis for normative Jewish law. Solomon Schechter writes "however great the literary value of a code may be, it does not invest it with infallibility, nor does it exempt it from 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".
In fundamental ways, Orthodox Judaism has a significantly different understanding of how halakha is determined; thus, Orthodox rabbis generally do not respect the decisions of the CJLS as valid or normative.
The CJLS is composed of 25 rabbis (voting members) and five laypeople, who participate in deliberations but do not have a vote. When any six (or more) members vote in favor of a position, that position becomes an official position of the committee. Any particular issue can generate from one to four official positions. When multiple positions are validated, they usually have much common ground.
When more than one position is validated, a congregation's rabbi functions as its mara de-atra (local authority), adopting for their congregation the position they consider most compelling. As Aaron Mackler states: "The positions authorized by the Committee offer important guidance for Conservative Jews and others. Still, each Conservative rabbi has the authority to make halakhic judgments. Each rabbi formulates decisions about numerous issues not discussed explicitly by the Committee, relying on other halakhic sources and his or her own judgment. For issues the Committee has addressed, each rabbi may choose among various positions endorsed by the Committee, or may even find a different position best mandated by halakhah."Mackler, Aaron. Life and Death Responsibilities in Jewish Biomedical Ethics 2000, p.10
Gordon Tucker has argued that RA members should give "extraordinary weight" to CJLS decisions, while remaining free to disagree with them:
Because it is a body that seeks to coalesce judgment around particular halakhic opinions, and not simply to give voice to individually held positions, it is right and proper that six members of the CJLS be required to define an authoritative position. Because it is a body that is ultimately here to provide service and guidance to Rabbinical Assembly members, it is also right and proper that authoritative opinions not be categorized by the number of votes they received, and that they not be binding on Rabbinical Assembly members in a coercive sense, but rather only in the sense that we are bound by our covenant to one another to give extraordinary weight to CJLS responsa in reaching our own legal decisions. Should an RA member choose, upon study and consideration, not to follow any CJLS position on a given matter, he or she would thus be unable to claim any authority or backing for that position from the CJLS, a "sanction" which in some circumstances could be substantial, in others not.
While responsa are not enforceable on rabbis, there are a few standards of rabbinic practice that are enforced by the RA. Willful violations of these standards have led to resignations or expulsions from membership of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA). At present, three standards of rabbinic practice have been issued, containing four rules:
1) A complete prohibition on rabbis and cantors to officiate in any way at intermarriages.
2) A complete prohibition against officiating at the remarriage of a Jew whose previous marriage has not been halakhically terminated, whether by a halakhic divorce [get], hafka'at Kiddushin [annulment], or death.
3a) A complete prohibition against taking any action that would intimate that native Jewishness can be confirmed in any way but matrilineal descent.
3b) A complete prohibition against supervising a conversion to Judaism that does not include circumcision for males, and immersion in a Mikvah for both males and females.
Responsa A separate article exists on Conservative responsa, the body of responsa created by Conservative rabbis (primarily by the CJLS.)
Difference in methodology from Orthodoxy