Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism (also known as "Historical Judaism" and "Masorti Judaism") is a branch of Judaism that moderates between the traditional Orthodox and the progressive Reform branches. Formed in the mid-19th century C.E. under the initiative of Zecharias Frankel, Conservative Judaism, like other reformers, sought to adapt Judaism to modern ways of thought. Unlike the Reform movement, however, Frankel based his changes on traditional halakhic processes of rabbinic decision-making. He conceived of Judaism as a historically developing religion that promoted the conservation of Jewish law within the context of contemporary realities and ongoing encounters with God in every generation. Conservative Jews claim it is possible to maintain traditional Jewish elements while continuing in moderated modernization. In this, Conservative Judaism claims that both the Orthodox (traditionalism) and Reform (modernization) are too extreme. Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City has become an essential component in the continual growth of Conservative Judaism, educating most of its new rabbis. Like Orthodox Jews, Conservatives still maintain many traditional Jewish religious observances such as the dietary laws and the adherence to the Sabbath, but they have also moved beyond traditional practices by ordaining women as rabbis. Because of the diverse religious practices of Conservative Judaism, spanning between Orthodoxy to Reform, it is difficult to determine a uniform theological position consistent within the Conservative movement. Conservative Judaism has been significantly successful within the United States becoming the largest Jewish association in the country.

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Initially in Germany in the 1850s, under the title of "Historical Judaism," and in the United States in the 1880s, Conservative Judaism emerged as a moderately traditionalist response to what its founders viewed as the excessive departures from Jewish law and rituals made by Reform Judaism.

Early Conservative Judaism was mainly influenced by the theology of a group of modernizing, but ritually traditionalist, rabbis and Jewish historians in Germany, who founded the Judisch-Theologisches Serminar in Breslau in 1847 in reaction to the radicalism of the early Reform movement.

The Conservative movement regards the German rabbi, Zacharias Frankel of Breslau, as its theological patriarch, and Dr. Solomon Schechter, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the early 20th century, as the institutional founder of the movement in America.

While accepting the findings of modern, critical biblical scholarship, Conservative Judaism still considers the Torah to be divinely inspired, if not textually immaculate. Conservative Judaism also encourages study of the Talmud and rabbinic codes, but treats their legal rulings more loosely than does Orthodox Judaism.

True to its establishment as a movement that safeguards the traditions of rabbinical Judaism, while remaining open to adaptations to historical changes, the Conservative movement has never ceased to evolve in response to major social trends, most recently in the areas of gender egalitarianism and recognition of equal rights for homosexuals.

Although the Jewish Theological Seminary was established in 1886, it was not until 1901 that its alumnae formed a professional association, which became known as the Rabbinical Assembly. In 1913, the first congregational assembly of Conservative congregations, the United Synagogue of America, was formed.

The departure of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, an alumnus of the first class of the Jewish Theological Seminary, from the movement was a significant rupture. Dissatisfied with Conservative's traditionalism, though personally committed to Jewish ritual, Kaplan eventually founded the Reconstructionist movement.

The massive late 19th-century immigration to America of Russian Jews fleeing persecution and pogroms was the greatest single impetus for the success of Conservative Judaism in establishing itself, by the early 20th century, as the largest Jewish denomination in the United States.

Conservative Judaism enjoyed a period of rapid spread across America in the first half of the 20th century largely due to the upwardly mobile movement of many Jews from inner city communities, where Orthodoxy was dominant, to the suburbs. In recent decades, however, the movement's membership has declined precipitously.

Consistent with its founding of ideology of responsiveness to "positive historical" change, Conservative Judaism varies greatly in different regions of North America. The Canadian congregations are the most traditional, while those on the American west coast are generally the most liberal.

While sharing the Orthodox view that the Torah was divinely inspired, Conservative Judaism upholds a flexible, historically complex, position on the central question of rabbinical authority and the traditional "chain-of-tradition" narrative.

The leading theologian of Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, authored some of the most original, neo-mystical works about the relationship between man and the divine that heavily influence Conservative thinking to this day.

Conservative Judaism upholds the classical dualistic view of the early rabbis that human nature consists of conflicting good and evil impulses. However, it tends to stress moral and ethical behavior, more than Torah study and ritual, as the ideal path to vanquish evil.

While having no official doctrinal position on issues like theodicy, some alumnae of the Jewish Theological Seminary, most famously Richard Rubenstein, have developed radical post-Holocaust theology.

The only significant departure among Conservative Jews from the traditional rabbinic theology about the afterlife is a rejection of a literal belief in the notion of the "resurrection of the dead" during the Messianic era.

Conservative Jews observe the Sabbath and all major festivals in much the same way as the Orthodox. However there is greater flexibility regarding some of the restrictions against labor on these sacred days, most notably permitting driving to the synagogue to attend services, which the Orthodox prohibit.

The vast majority of Conservative synagogues today are large, architecturally modernist suburban structures. Key innovations in Conservative synagogue design are the absence of an elevated section, or gallery for women, and the replacement of the traditional central bima (reader's stand) with an altar from which rabbis and cantors officiate.

Conservative Jews continue to uphold most of the central rites of rabbinic Judaism, although the clergy generally play a central role, with the congregation often reduced to the vicarious role of spectators in many rituals that require knowledge of Hebrew and rabbinic texts.

The larger majority of Conservative Jews today do not participate in daily services, and those who do attend morning services at the synagogue are usually mourners observing the obligatory recitation of the Kaddish prayer for the dead. Most Conservative synagogues struggle to maintain the minimum quorum of ten persons in order to conduct daily services.

In addition to the universal Jewish symbols, such as the Star of David and Lion of Judah, a symbol of the burning bush, with the Hebrew inscription "and the bush was not consumed," is a distinctive emblem of the Conservative movement.

Conservative rabbis are trained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where there is less focus on traditional Talmudic learning and more emphasis on training in ethics, pastoral skills, and preaching. Most Conservative congregations also employ full-time cantors to lead services and train Bar and Bat Mitzvah students.

American Conservative Judaism is the most highly organized and disciplined of the contemporary denominations of Judaism. Members of the United Synagogues of America are required to employ only members of the movement's Rabbinical Assembly.

While basing their teachings loosely on the Torah and rabbinic traditions, Conservative ethicists, such as Elliot Dorf, tend to be far more liberal and original in their positions and interpretations of Jewish law than their Orthodox counterparts.

Since the era of Solomon Shechter, the Conservative movement has been the most Zionistic of the three major Jewish denominations. Still, most Conservative rabbis have a universal outlook, strongly support interfaith dialogue, and tend to hold liberal positions on the major issues of the day.

The most dramatic and significant difference between the Conservative and Orthodox movements centers on the role of women in Jewish religious life. Except for a few traditionalist holdouts, mostly in Canada, almost all Conservative synagogues practice full gender egalitarianism.