Committee on Jewish Law and Standards

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) sets halakhic policy for Rabbinical Assembly rabbis and for the Conservative movement as a whole. It includes 25 rabbis who are voting members, as well as 5 non-voting lay representatives from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and one non-voting cantor from the Cantors’ Assembly. The committee discusses all questions of Jewish law posed by members of the Rabbinical Assembly or other arms of the Conservative movement. When a question is on the agenda, individual members of the committee write teshuvot (responsa) which are discussed by the relevant subcommittees, and then heard by the committee as a whole. Teshuvot are approved by at least six affirmative votes. Approved teshuvot are considered the official halakhic positions of the Conservative Movement. Members of the committee can also submit concurring or dissenting opinions that are attached to a decision.

Teshuvot are valuable sources of learning, but are not a substitute for the guidance of a local rabbi. Individual rabbis, as marei d’atra, consider the committee’s positions but make their own decisions. Each teshuvah was written in response to a specific question, and questions about religious practice should be directed to your local Conservative rabbi, the mara d’atra of your community.

The CJLS teshuvot are sorted into the following categories:

אורח חיים- Orah Hayyim - prayer, synagogue, Shabbat, holidays
יורה דעה- Yoreh Deah - kashrut, conversion, mourning and family purity
אבן העזר- Even HaEzer - marriage, divorce and interpersonal relationships
חושן משפט- Hoshen Mishpat - financial responsibility, business, and public responsibility.

Here is our searchable CJLS Teshuvot Database. You can search through over 350 teshuvot by title, Shulhan Arukh categories and subcategories, authors and even text directly from the teshuvot. Please be in touch with our CJLS secretary Max Buchdahl if you have any questions.

The Vaad Halakhah of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel also publishes teshuvot.

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The CJLS has prepared a number of study guides, which can be accessed here.

In 2018 CJLS launched the International Seminar for Halakhic Study, a movement-wide day on which Conservative/Masorti congregations, communities, and schools will come together to study a specific teshuvah of the CJLS.

View the materials from previous seminars here:

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