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In Conservative Judaism, the central halachic authority of the movement, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), will often set out more than one acceptable position. In such a case, the rabbi of the congregation (mara d'atra) is free to choose from the range of acceptable positions (or none of them), and his congregation is expected to abide by his choice. The CJLS speaks for the Conservative movement and offers parameters to guide local rabbis who turn to it for assistance. Local rabbis will make use of traditional sources and, when available, teshuvot written for the CJLS.
An exception is made in the case of "standards". A "standard" requires an 80% (not unanimous) vote of the membership of the CJLS (not just those in attendance) and a majority vote by the plenum of the Rabbinical Assembly. Willful violations have led to resignations or expulsions from membership of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA). At present, there are four standards:
The movement believes that G-d is real and that G-d's will is made known to humanity through revelation. The revelation at Sinai was the clearest and most public of such divine revelations, but revelation also took place with other people - called prophets - and in a more subtle form, and can happen even today.
These concepts are very complex, and readers are referred to Emet VeEmunah, published jointly by the Rabbinical Assembly and USCJ.
Many people misinterpret Conservative Judaism as being like Reform Judaism except with more Hebrew in its services; They believe that if one simply goes to a Conservative synagogue, then one is a Conservative Jew. This of course is not true, and the movement's leadership is strongly concerned with whether or not the next generation of Conservative Jews will have the commitment to lead an authentic Jewish lifestyle.
In 1979 Chancellor Gerson Cohen announced the creation of the Masorti (Traditional) movement as Israel's own indigenous Conservative movement, with its own executive director, board and executive committee. Today the Masorti movement is an independent Israeli organization, that is parallel to, and not a subset of, the USCJ. There is cooperation on a large number of projects and issues. Many members of the Masorti movement are also members of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA).
The Masorti movement created MERCAZ, a party within the structure of the World Zionist Organization. The Conservative movement is thus officially represented in the centers of decision making within the Zionist movement.
The Masorti movement sponsors youth groups, an overnight camp, a system of day camps, Kibbutz Hanaton and its Education Center and Moshav Shorashim, and special programs teaching new Russian and Ethiopian olim (immigrants) basic Judaism. It is involved in many issues promoting the rights of non-orthodox, traditional Jews.
The movement also sponsors "The Center for Conservative Judaism in Jerusalem" 2 Agron Street, P.O. Box 7456, Jerusalem 94265. Phone 02-257-463 FAX 972-02-234127. The Center provides activities and resources such as: daily study Havurot; headquarters for the Israel operations of USY; campus outreach programs at Israeli universities; a resource center for those making Aliyah from our Movement; A youth hostel, the "Neshama" program for Schechter High School Seniors as well a variety of educational programs. Adjacent to the Center is Congregation Moreshet Israel providing daily, Shabbat, and festival services. The Center will provide outreach to movement members of all ages who are in Israel, including home hospitality, and support whenever needed.
Additional information may be found in the Conservative Reading List, available at www.scjfaq.org/rl/jcu-index.html or via the SCJFAQ autoretriever. Also worth exploring is the home page for the United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism (UCSJ) <http://www.uscj.org>. Another source of information is the Conservative and Masorti Judaism FAQs (http://communities.msn.com/JudaismFAQs&naventryid=114).*
[*: This source is controversial on soc.culture.jewish. There do not appear to be major disputes with its representations of Conservative/Masorti positions. However, some on the newsgroup dispute its representation of the positions of other movements.]
For more information on Masorti, see <http://www.masorti.org/>.
Interested readers might also want to look at the following documents available via WWW:
The FAQ is a collection of documents that is an attempt to answer questions that are continually asked on the soc.culture.jewish family of newsgroups. It was written by cooperating laypeople from the various Judaic movements. You should not make any assumption as to accuracy and/or authoritativeness of the answers provided herein. In all cases, it is always best to consult a competent authority--your local rabbi is a good place to start.
Hopefully, the FAQ will provide the answer to your questions. If it doesn't, please drop Email to questions@scjfaq.org. The FAQ maintainer will endeavor to direct your query to an appropriate individual that can answer it. If you would like to be part of the group to which the maintainer directs questions, please drop a note to the FAQ maintainer at maintainer@scjfaq.org.
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© (c) 1993-2004
Daniel P. Faigin <maintainer@scjfaq.org>