Conservative Judaism

The very notion of theology was alien to traditional Judaism, according to Rabbi Zecharias Frankel, the intellectual progenitor of a movement that would eventually claim to be the authentic heir to Jewish law. This paradox defines the origins of Conservative Judaism, a religious force that emerged from the ashes of 19th-century European Jewish life to become the third-largest Jewish movement in the world. Frankel, appointed chief rabbi of the Kingdom of Saxony in 1836, stood in the middle of a fierce ideological war between radical Reformers and rigid Orthodox traditionalists. He argued that the further development of Judaism could not be achieved through total reform, which would lead to dissipation, nor through a refusal to engage with modern science. Instead, he proposed a positive-historical approach, studying the evolution of Jewish law through critical research while maintaining reverence for tradition. This middle path was so ambiguous that Frankel himself was often accused of obscurity by opponents on both sides, and he never fully elucidated his beliefs regarding the divine origin of the Oral Torah. The movement he inspired would inherit this ambiguity, lacking a consensus on faith and allowing great pluralism in matters of belief. For decades, American leaders of this movement avoided theological definitions, believing that the lack of definition was useful for maintaining unity. It was not until 1988, with the issuance of the Statement of Principles Emet ve-Emunah, that the movement attempted to articulate a clear credo, acknowledging that a variety of positions existed within its ranks and that dogmatism was philosophically unjustified.

The Positive Historical School

In 1843, Frankel clashed with the radical Reform rabbi Samuel Holdheim, who argued that marriage in Judaism was a civic matter subject to the Law of the Land. This conflict led Frankel to launch the magazine Zeitschrift für die Religiösen Interessen des Judenthums, where he presented his approach to the present plight of the Jewish people. He argued that the means of progress must be applied with such care and discretion that forward progress would be reached unnoticed. The term Positive-Historical became associated with him and his middle way, distinguishing his followers from both the Reform camp and the Orthodox. In 1854, Frankel was appointed chancellor in the new Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, Germany's first modern rabbinical seminary. His opponents on both flanks were incensed, with Reformers accusing him of theological ambiguity and Orthodox leaders like Samson Raphael Hirsch branding him a heretic. Hirsch demanded that Frankel announce whether he believed that both the Oral and Written Torah were of celestial origin. Frankel issued an ambiguous defense, writing that his book was not concerned with theology and avoiding giving any clear answer. This schism was severe, with Hildesheimer and Hirsch launching a protracted public campaign through the 1860s to prove the dogmatic divide between their understanding of Halakha and Frankel's evolutionary, historicist approach. Despite the controversy, the Positive-Historical School was influential, with many graduates of Breslau leading central congregations in Vienna and Berlin. However, the school never institutionalized itself as thoroughly as its opponents, and the rabbinate of the liberal Neolog public in Hungary, which formally separated from the Orthodox, was permeated with the Breslau spirit. The movement's failure to organize or articulate a coherent agenda, coupled with the declining prestige of Breslau, imposed a relatively uniform and mild character on what was known in Germany as Liberal Judaism.

Common questions

Who founded Conservative Judaism and what was his approach?

Rabbi Zecharias Frankel founded Conservative Judaism through his Positive-Historical approach, which studied the evolution of Jewish law through critical research while maintaining reverence for tradition. He served as chief rabbi of the Kingdom of Saxony in 1836 and later became chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau in 1854.

When was the Jewish Theological Seminary of America established and where?

The Jewish Theological Seminary of America was established in 1886 in New York City by conservative ministers including Sabato Morais and Rabbi Alexander Kohut. The institution began as a small, fledgling organization with financial difficulties before receiving a $500,000 donation from Jacob Schiff in 1902 to appoint Solomon Schechter as Chancellor.

What major changes did the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards enact in 1948?

During the national conference held on the 13th of May 1948 in Chicago, the Rabbinical Assembly voted to reorganize the Committee of Jewish Law into the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. This new body gained the power to issue takkanot by a majority vote and enacted ordinances allowing driving on the Sabbath for worship and the use of electricity.

When did Conservative Judaism begin ordaining women and allowing them to count in a quorum?

The movement allowed women to count as part of a quorum in 1973 and enacted a decision in 1983 to allow women rabbinic ordination. Rabbi Joel Roth adopted a responsa that enabled women to be ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and other seminaries.

How many Jews identified with Conservative Judaism in the 2013 Pew Research Center survey?

According to the Pew Research Center survey in 2013, 18 per cent of Jews in the United States identified with Conservative Judaism. Steven M. Cohen calculated that 962,000 U.S. Jewish adults considered themselves Conservative as of 2013.

The American Synthesis

Jewish immigration to the United States bred an amalgam of loose communities, lacking strong tradition or stable structures, until the arrival of Rabbi Alexander Kohut in 1885. Kohut, an adherent of Frankel, publicly excoriated Reform for disdaining ritual and received forms, triggering a heated polemic with Kaufmann Kohler. This debate was one of the main factors which motivated the latter to compose the Pittsburgh Platform, which unambiguously declared the principles of Reform Judaism. The explicit wording alienated a handful of conservative ministers, who joined Kohut, Sabato Morais, and others in seeking to establish a traditional rabbinic seminary. In 1886, they founded the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City. The seminary was a small, fledgling institution with financial difficulties, ordaining merely a rabbi per year, until a wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe inundated the country. By 1920, 2.5 million immigrants had arrived, increasing American Jewry tenfold. These immigrants, coming from regions where civil equality was never granted, mostly retained strong traditional sentiments in matters of faith. The need to find a religious framework that would both accommodate and Americanize them motivated Jacob Schiff and other rich philanthropists to donate $500,000 to the JTS, conditioned on the appointment of Solomon Schechter as Chancellor. Schechter arrived in 1902 and at once reorganized the faculty, dismissing both Pereira Mendes and Drachman for lack of academic merit. Under his aegis, the institute began to draw famous scholars, becoming a center of learning on par with Hebrew Union College. Schechter maintained that theology was of little importance and it was practice that must be preserved, aspiring to solicit unity in American Judaism and denouncing sectarianism. He did not perceive himself as leading a new party, but rather as consolidating an old one. In 1913, he founded the United Synagogue of America, which then consisted of 22 communities, creating a congregational arm for the Rabbinical Assembly and the JTS.

The Halakhic Revolution

The Conservative treatment of Halakha is defined by several features, though the entire range of its Halakhic discourse cannot be sharply distinguished from either the Traditional or Orthodox one. A more distinctive characterization is a greater proclivity to base rulings on earlier sources, in the Rishonim or before them, as far back as the Talmud. Conservative decisors frequently resort to less canonical sources, isolated responsa or minority opinions, demonstrating more fluidity in regards to established precedent. They are far more inclined to contend with old rulings, to be flexible towards custom or to wholly disregard it. This is especially expressed in less hesitancy to rule against or notwithstanding the major codifications of Jewish Law, like Mishneh Torah, Arba'ah Turim and especially the Shulchan Aruch. In 1950, it was ruled that using electricity did not constitute kindling a fire unto itself, and therefore was not a forbidden labour and could be done on the Sabbath. On that basis, while performing banned labours is forbidden, switching lights and other functions are allowed. The need to encourage arrival at synagogue also motivated the CJLS, during the same year, to issue a temporal statue allowing driving on that day, for that purpose alone. The validity of this argument was heavily disputed within the movement. In 1952, members of the priestly caste were allowed to marry divorcees, conditioned on forfeiture of their privileges, as termination of marriage became widespread. In 1954, the issue of agunot, women refused divorce by their husbands, was largely settled by adding a clause to the prenuptial contract under which men had to pay alimony as long as they did not concede. In 1968, this mechanism was replaced by a retroactive expropriation of the bride price, rendering the marriage void. The movement also embraced egalitarianism, with the CJLS agreeing in 1955 that women could be allowed ascents to the Torah, and in 1972 it was decreed that rennet, even if derived from unclean animals, was so transformed that it constituted a wholly new item and therefore all hard cheese could be considered kosher.

The Egalitarian Shift

The 1970s and 1980s saw the emergence of women's rights on the main agenda, as growing pressure led the CJLS to adopt a motion that females may be counted as part of a quorum, based on the argument that only the Shulchan Aruch explicitly stated that it consist of men. While accepted, this was very controversial in the committee and heavily disputed. A more complete solution was offered in 1983 by Rabbi Joel Roth, and was also enacted to allow women rabbinic ordination. Roth noted that some decisors of old acknowledged that women may bless when performing positive time-bound commandments, especially citing the manner in which they assumed upon themselves the Counting of the Omer. He suggested that women voluntarily commit to pray thrice a day et cetera, and his responsa was adopted. Since then, female rabbis were ordained at JTS and other seminaries. In 1994, the movement accepted Judith Hauptman's principally egalitarian argument, according to which equal prayer obligations for women were never banned explicitly and it was only their inferior status that hindered participation. The movement also expanded its inclusivity to the LGBTQ community, with openly gay rabbinic candidates admitted into the JTS in 2006. In 2012, a commitment ceremony for same-sex couples was devised, though not defined as kiddushin. In 2016, the rabbis passed a resolution supporting transgender rights. The movement also addressed the issue of intermarriage, holding a relatively strict policy regarding interfaith unions. Propositions for acknowledging Jews by patrilineal descent, as in the Reform movement, were overwhelmingly dismissed. Unconverted spouses were largely barred from community membership and participation in rituals, and clergy are banned from any involvement in interfaith marriage on pain of dismissal. However, as the rate of such unions rose dramatically, Conservative congregations began describing gentile family members as K'rov Yisrael and be more open toward them. The Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism stated in 1995 that they wanted to encourage the Jewish partner to maintain his or her Jewish identity and raise their children as Jews.

The Demographic Decline

According to the Pew Research Center survey in 2013, 18 per cent of Jews in the United States and in 2020 13 per cent identified with the movement, making it the second largest in the country. Steven M. Cohen calculated that as of 2013, 962,000 U.S. Jewish adults considered themselves Conservative, with 570,000 registered congregants and further 392,000 who were not members in a synagogue but identified. In addition, Cohen assumed in 2006 that 57,000 unconverted non-Jewish spouses were also registered, and 40 per cent of members intermarry. Conservatives are also the most aged group, with among those aged under 30 only 11 per cent identifying as such, and there are three people over 55 for every single one aged between 35 and 44. As of November 2015, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism had 580 member congregations, a sharp decline from 630 two years prior. In 2011, the USCJ initiated a plan to reinvigorate the movement, but the demographic trends remained challenging. Beyond North America, the movement has little presence, with only 100,000 members outside the U.S. in 2011. The Masorti Movement in Israel incorporates about seventy communities and prayer groups with several thousand members, while the British Assembly of Masorti Synagogues has thirteen communities and estimates its membership at over 4000. The movement's global youth organization is known as NOAM, an acronym for No'ar Masorti, and its North American organization is called United Synagogue Youth. The USCJ maintains the Schechter Day School Network, comprising 76 day schools in 17 American states and 2 Canadian provinces serving Jewish children. Many other community day schools that are not affiliated with Schechter take a generally Conservative approach, but unlike these, generally have no barriers to enrollment based on the faith of the parents or on religious practices in the home. During the first decade of the 21st century, several schools that were part of the Schechter network transformed into non-affiliated community day schools, reflecting the challenges of maintaining a distinct identity in a changing landscape.