The Conservative responsa is the body of responsa literature of Conservative Judaism (also known as Masorti Judaism). Most Conservative responsa have been written by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.
Conservative responsa - Methodology.
A prominent Conservative spokesman has written that "Reform Judaism has asserted the right of interpretation but it rejected the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the principle of authority, but has in our own and recent generations rejected ...
The tractate consists of five chapters. The number of mishnayot is according to the standard numbering; however, different versions split up the individual mishnayot or combine them and the chapter breaks may vary as well.
Chapter One (nine mishnayot) deals with the prohibition of trade with idolaters around their festival (so as not to be complicit in the festivity) and the items that are forbidden to be sold to idolaters (which is basically any item that the idolater is likely to offer in an idolatrous service or commit an immoral act with). Thus, the main com ...
In 1997 Rabbi David Golinkin wrote "As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the Conservative rabbis of North America have written hundreds of teshuvot but have not succeeded in publishing them. In recent years we have begun to rememdy this situation by publishing indices, monographs and complete volumes of Conservative responsa." Since that time the Conservative movement and the Masorti movement (in Israel) have addressed this issue in a serious way. Many volumes of Conservative and Masorti teshuvot and halakhic studies are now available, and more are being edited. In 2005 the Rabbinical Assembly made mos ...
A prominent Conservative spokesman has written that "Reform Judaism has asserted the right of interpretation but it rejected the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the principle of authority, but has in our own and recent generations rejected the right to any but minor interpretations. The Conservative view is that both are necessary for a living Judaism. Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds itself bound by the Jewish legal tradition, but asserts the right of its rabbinical body, acting as a whole, to interpret and to apply Jewish law." Source: Rabbi Mordecai Waxman Tradition an ...
