Given my background, one of the most frequent questions that I’m asked is what the difference is between Orthodox and Conservative approaches to Halakhah.
A beautiful book for the five people in the conservative movement who care. The halakhic decisions of the Conservative movement are about as relevant as the decisions of the Esperanto language committee and both.for the same reason.
There was a group blog a few years back where they had two in-depth discussions, on tekhelet and on the proper date to start v'ten tal umatar. The conclusions were, basically, yeah, we should wear tekhelet and change the date. But there's no authority in Orthodoxy to do that and enforce it.
So one of the bloggers had a chavruta who was on the Conservative Jewish Law committee, and said to him, "Hey, Conservatism can do this! Have these subjects ever come up?" And he answered, no, because no one's interested. And the blogger said, that's one the problem with the movement. They will debate gay marriage, or driving on Shabbat, or whatever. But these questions don't come up, because...how many Conservative Jews wear tzitzit, or daven during the week?
The CJLS actually did publish a teshuvah in 2019 concluding that "we permit and encourage people to add in one tekhelet thread to the three white on their tallitot, with the sense that this may even be fulfilling a biblical commandment. At the same time, out of respect for existing practice, we permit people to continue to wear only white threads as well." It passed with 16 votes, but I'm not sure what encouraged them to tackle it (https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/thread-of-blue-final.pdf). For what it's worth, when I first considered adding techeiles to my tzitzis and tallis, it was my hometown Conservative rabbi who encouraged me most.
But yes, the CJLS is responding to questions that they are asked, and those questions reflect what Conservative Jews do and talk about on the ground which are very different than what Orthodox Jews do - at least in the US. If you read Rabbi David Golinkin (the head Conservative/Masorti posek in Israel) does receive questions similar to what Orthodox poskim would be asked. Many of them can be found here, at least in English summary: https://schechter.edu/responsa-by-david-golinkin/
In fairness, the blog post was from well before 2019. :-) But I am glad to see and hear that, and even as a big tekhelet partisan I couldn't really ask for more, even from Orthodox poskim!
To be a bit less fair, I wouldn't so much say the responsa are responding to what Conservative laypeople *ask* so much as what they *do*, or are already *doing*. Conservative Jews were probably already driving on Shabbat when the question was tackled, for example. And of course it's not surprising when the responsa (or at least minority opinions) tend to confirm the facts on the ground.
But I will admit I may be being a bit unfair there.
I am actually familiar with Golinkin's teshuvot, and even Golinkin himself- we're both part of the greater Jerusalem English-speaking theater world. :-)
Absolutely! One of the biggest critiques that detractors from the Conservative Movement often cite is the process through which halakhic decisions are reached rather than the decisions themselves. Many question why "Catholic Israel" should include people who aren't otherwise observant, some say that Professor Halivni left JTS not because of the decision to ordain women per se but because professors were given voting rights alongside rabbis, and a personal issue for me is that teshuvot can be passed by the CJLS with only 6 votes out of the 26 who sit on the committee.
A beautiful book for the five people in the conservative movement who care. The halakhic decisions of the Conservative movement are about as relevant as the decisions of the Esperanto language committee and both.for the same reason.
A far better lesson to learn imo, is why.
There was a group blog a few years back where they had two in-depth discussions, on tekhelet and on the proper date to start v'ten tal umatar. The conclusions were, basically, yeah, we should wear tekhelet and change the date. But there's no authority in Orthodoxy to do that and enforce it.
So one of the bloggers had a chavruta who was on the Conservative Jewish Law committee, and said to him, "Hey, Conservatism can do this! Have these subjects ever come up?" And he answered, no, because no one's interested. And the blogger said, that's one the problem with the movement. They will debate gay marriage, or driving on Shabbat, or whatever. But these questions don't come up, because...how many Conservative Jews wear tzitzit, or daven during the week?
The CJLS actually did publish a teshuvah in 2019 concluding that "we permit and encourage people to add in one tekhelet thread to the three white on their tallitot, with the sense that this may even be fulfilling a biblical commandment. At the same time, out of respect for existing practice, we permit people to continue to wear only white threads as well." It passed with 16 votes, but I'm not sure what encouraged them to tackle it (https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/thread-of-blue-final.pdf). For what it's worth, when I first considered adding techeiles to my tzitzis and tallis, it was my hometown Conservative rabbi who encouraged me most.
But yes, the CJLS is responding to questions that they are asked, and those questions reflect what Conservative Jews do and talk about on the ground which are very different than what Orthodox Jews do - at least in the US. If you read Rabbi David Golinkin (the head Conservative/Masorti posek in Israel) does receive questions similar to what Orthodox poskim would be asked. Many of them can be found here, at least in English summary: https://schechter.edu/responsa-by-david-golinkin/
In fairness, the blog post was from well before 2019. :-) But I am glad to see and hear that, and even as a big tekhelet partisan I couldn't really ask for more, even from Orthodox poskim!
To be a bit less fair, I wouldn't so much say the responsa are responding to what Conservative laypeople *ask* so much as what they *do*, or are already *doing*. Conservative Jews were probably already driving on Shabbat when the question was tackled, for example. And of course it's not surprising when the responsa (or at least minority opinions) tend to confirm the facts on the ground.
But I will admit I may be being a bit unfair there.
I am actually familiar with Golinkin's teshuvot, and even Golinkin himself- we're both part of the greater Jerusalem English-speaking theater world. :-)
Absolutely! One of the biggest critiques that detractors from the Conservative Movement often cite is the process through which halakhic decisions are reached rather than the decisions themselves. Many question why "Catholic Israel" should include people who aren't otherwise observant, some say that Professor Halivni left JTS not because of the decision to ordain women per se but because professors were given voting rights alongside rabbis, and a personal issue for me is that teshuvot can be passed by the CJLS with only 6 votes out of the 26 who sit on the committee.