Conservative Judaism views Halakha (Jewish law) as normative and binding in contemporary Jewish practice.The Indispensability of Halakhah, Emet Ve-Emunah: Statements of Principles of Conservative Judaism, 1990Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Medieval And Modern Theories Of Revelation, Etz Hayim, 2001 The Conservative movement applies Jewish law to the full range of Jewish beliefs and practices, including thrice-daily prayer, Shabbat and holidays, marital relations and family purity, conversion, dietary laws (Kashrut), and Jewish medical ethics. Institutionally, the Conservative movement rules on Jewish law both through centralized decision-making bodies—primarily by the Rabbinical Assembly and its Committee on Jewish Law and Standards—and through the congregation-level authority held by rabbis known as mara d'atra. Conservative authorities have produced voluminous Responsa literature, and halakhic decisions continue to be published by individuals and institutions.
Conservative Jewish thinkers take the position that Halakha can and should evolve to meet the changing reality of Jewish life. Conservative Judaism writ large, therefore, argues that traditional Jewish legal codes must be viewed through the lens of academic criticism. As Rabbi Solomon Schechter noted in an 1896 publication by the Jewish Publication Society:
The movement of Conservative Judaism holds that its interpretation of Jewish law as evolving and adaptable aligns with Jewish tradition (mesorah). Conservative Jewish application and interpretation of Jewish law can be compared to those of other contemporary Jewish religious movements, specifically with regard to Halakha and the Talmud.)
Difference in methodology from Orthodoxy 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 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."Rabbi Mordecai Waxman Tradition and Change: The Development of Conservative Judaism
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 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.
B'shev va'al ta'aseh. Rabbis may rule that a Torah mitzvah should not be performed, e.g., blowing the shofar on Shabbat or blessing the lulav and etrog on Shabbat. These are not done out of fear that one may carry these items from home to a synagogue, thus inadvertently violating a Shabbat melakha. (Yevamot) B'kum v'ase. When there is emergency measure that needs to be taken, one may violate a Torah mitzvah, in order to maintain the Jewish system as a whole. Arnold Goodman writes "The example cited is Elijah offering a sacrifice on Mt. Carmel in order to turn the people back from idolatry. (Yevamot) B'davar she'b'mammon. The principle of Hefker Bet Din Hefker, a rabbinic court has the power to declare an object, or money, ownerless. (Yevamot) A Kohen may violate the Torah mitzvah ordering Kohanim not to bury the dead. The example given in Nazir 43b is that a Kohen may bury his wife, as her own father is dead and cannot bury her. Arnold Goodman writes: "In a famous tosfot, Rabbi Yitzhak explains that by Biblical law, she is not a Met mitzvah because she has other family. Yet since her relatives and family may have abandoned her, the Rabbis regarded her as a Met mitzvah and even though a Bet Din does not have the authority to uproot a Biblical prohibition, in an instance where there is a panim v'taam l'davr, it is universally accepted that there is authority to uproot."
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.Rabbi Ellie Kaplan Spitz, Mamzerut, Committee of Jewish Law and Standards, EH 4.2000a, pp. 5587–585.
Legal and literary sources 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 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 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.Mackler, ed., 2000, p.471 For handling the agunah problem, the CJLS approved a Jewish marriage contract (ketubbah), supplanting a 1935 plan by Louis Epstein, prepared by Saul Lieberman).Gordis, p.159 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, 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 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 Jewish observance of halakha 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 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 the Conservative interpretation of halakha.Jewish Identity and Religious Commitment: The North American Study of Conservative Synagogues and Their Members, 1995–96, edited by Jack Wertheimer, 1997, Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism.
Conservative Jewish practice, however, is significantly stronger than that found in Reform Judaism, such as following Shabbat, Kashrut, life-cycle events and holiday observances.The Jews in the Center: Conservative Synagogues and Their Members, edited by Jack Wertheimer, 2000
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 a marked increase in the observance of members of the movement (Silvestein, ibid.)The Conservative Movement in Judaism: Dilemmas and Opportunities, Daniel J. Elazar, Rela M. Geffen, SUNY Press, 2000
Specific decisions in Jewish law 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:
Homosexuality
Conservative Judaism has long discussed 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, the Committee adopted a consensus position reaffirming a blanket prohibition on homosexual conduct while welcoming homosexuals as members.