Conservative Judaism

A modern Jewish religious movement that regards Jewish law and tradition as binding while allowing them to develop through historical study and reinterpretation.

Halakha: The collective body of Jewish law, derived from scripture, rabbinic interpretation, and established practice. Conservative Judaism treats halakha as binding while permitting its interpretation to evolve.
Zecharias Frankel: A nineteenth-century German rabbi who advocated historical study and continuity in Jewish religious life. His approach helped shape the intellectual foundations of Conservative Judaism.
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards: The Conservative movement's rabbinic body that issues legal opinions and guidance on Jewish practice. It evaluates contemporary questions through halakhic reasoning for affiliated communities.
Orthodox Judaism: A Jewish religious movement that holds traditional Jewish law and rabbinic authority to be binding. It generally resists the movement's institutional authorization of some changes in Jewish practice.
Torah: The foundational Jewish sacred teaching, especially the Five Books of Moses and their interpretation. Conservative Judaism places Torah at the center of Jewish practice and study.
Positive-Historical Judaism: Zecharias Frankel's approach to Judaism, joining commitment to tradition with historical development. It supplied an early framework for the movement's balance of observance and change.
Responsa: Written rabbinic answers to questions of Jewish law and practice, grounded in precedent and interpretation. Responsa provide a principal method for addressing new circumstances without abandoning halakhic argument.
Reform Judaism: A Jewish religious movement that emphasizes ethical teachings and individual choice in religious practice. Its approach gives individual autonomy a different role from Conservative Judaism's halakhic framework.
Talmud: A major compilation of Jewish rabbinic discussions of law, ethics, scripture, and practice. Its debates exemplify the interpretive tradition Conservative Judaism seeks to continue.
Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau: A rabbinical seminary founded in 1854 that trained clergy in Frankel's historical approach to Judaism. Its founding institutionalized the approach that preceded Conservative Judaism.

Linked from 14 pages