( This prohibition has been relaxed in many Reform and some Conservative congregations.

This was primarily a political strategy designed to give the Conservative party control of the reform process and the subsequent long-term benefits in the Commons, similar to those derived by the Whigs after their 1832 Reform Act.

After a brief Conservative interlude ( during which the Second Reform Act was passed by agreement between the parties ), Gladstone won a huge victory at the 1868 election and formed the first Liberal government.

Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism, developed in 1850s Germany as a reaction to the more liberal religious positions taken by Reform Judaism.

Like Reform Judaism, the Conservative movement developed in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, as Jews reacted to the changes brought about by the Enlightenment and Jewish emancipation, a confluence of events that lead to Haskalah, or the Jewish Enlightenment.

Working with this 1990s trend of diversity and institutional growth, Conservative Judaism remained the largest denomination in America, with 43 percent of Jewish households affiliated with a synagogue belonging to Conservative synagogues ( compared to 35 percent for Reform and 16 percent for Orthodox ).

However, Conservative Judaism also rejects the Reform view, that the Torah was not revealed but divinely inspired.

Conservative Jews believe that movements to its left, such as Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, have erred by rejecting the traditional authority of Jewish law and tradition.

Conservative Judaism views the process by which Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism make changes to Jewish tradition as potentially invalid.

Thus, Conservative Judaism rejects patrilineal descent and would hold that a child of a non-Jewish mother who was raised as a Reform or Reconstructionist Jew is not legally Jewish and would have to undergo conversion to become a Jew.

The Conservative movement is committed to Jewish pluralism and respects the religious practices of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews.

The three largest Jewish denominations — Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism — maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose.

" On August 13, 2002 American Catholic bishops issued a joint statement with leaders of Reform and Conservative Judaism, called " Reflections on Covenant and Mission ", which affirmed that Christians should not target Jews for conversion.

The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism ( Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism ), Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism.

The main denominations today outside Israel ( where the situation is rather different ) are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform.

This portion of the population largely ignores organized religious life, be it of the official Israeli rabbinate ( Orthodox ) or of the liberal movements common to diaspora Judaism ( Reform, Conservative ).

In general, Orthodox and Conservative congregations adhere most closely to tradition, and Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues are more likely to incorporate translations and contemporary writings in their services.

Also, in most Conservative synagogues, and all Reform and Reconstructionist congregations, women participate in prayer services on an equal basis with men, including roles traditionally filled only by men, such as reading from the Torah.

This role requires ordination by the congregation's preferred authority ( i. e. from a respected Orthodox rabbi or, if the congregation is Conservative or Reform, from academic seminaries ).

Since the Enlightenment large synagogues have often adopted the practice of hiring rabbis and hazzans to act as shatz and baal kriyah, and this is still typically the case in many Conservative and Reform congregations.

In 1946, he took a position at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America ( JTS ), the main seminary of Conservative Judaism, where he served as professor of Jewish ethics and Mysticism until his death in 1972.

Conservative Judaism ( also known as Masorti Judaism outside of the United States and Canada ) is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.

Because of this potential for confusion, a number of Conservative Rabbis have proposed renaming the movement, and outside of the United States and Canada, in many countries including Israel and the UK, it is today known as Masorti Judaism ( Hebrew for " Traditional ").

In the United States and Canada, the term Conservative, as applied, does not always indicate that a congregation is affliliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement's central institution and the one to which the term, without qualifier, usually refers.

The moniker Conservadox is sometimes employed to refer to the right wing of the Conservative spectrum, although " Traditional " is used as well ( as in the Union for Traditional Judaism ).

* The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism ( USCJ ) in the United States and Canada,

Positive-Historical Judaism, the intellectual forerunner to Conservative Judaism, was developed as a school of thought in the 1840s and 1850s in Germany.

The fortunes of Conservative Judaism underwent a dramatic turnaround when in 1902, the famed scholar Solomon Schechter, lecturer in Talmud at the University of Cambridge, accepted the invitation to become president of JTS.

In 1913, the Conservative Movement founded its congregational arm, the United Synagogue of America, which would later become the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Conservative Judaism enjoyed rapid growth in the first half of the 20th century, becoming the largest American Jewish denomination.

After World War II, Conservative Judaism continued to thrive.

Conservative Judaism occupied an enviable middle position during a period where American society prized consensus.

By the 1990s Conservative Judaism continued to flourish, yet dichotomies of practice and belief, which had been present for years, began to formulate.

For the first time in nearly a century, Conservative Judaism is no longer the largest denomination in America.

The Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites are direct descendants of the movement.

The dissenters were discontented with the general leftward trend in USCJ policies over the previous decades, such as " prayer book revision, egalitarianism, redefining halakhic boundaries of sexual relationships, and advocacy of Israel accepting conversions that are non-halakhic even by Conservative standards "., and the Union suggests that " The Conservative Movement thus appears to endorse the notion that changing societal norms can supersede the proper application of halakhic sources ".

The movement is supported by the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, an American organization that provides funding to Masorti programs, which are disadvantaged by the Israeli government's practice of funding only Orthodox institutions.

The Conservative view is that both are necessary for a living Judaism.

Conservative Rabbis are not allowed to perform intermarriages ( marriages between Jews and non-Jews ).

Many smaller programs, such as Rabbi Benay Lappe's SVARA yeshiva, are also led by Conservative rabbis.

Many other " community day schools " that are not affiliated with the Solomon Schechter network take a generally Conservative approach, but unlike the Schechter schools, these schools generally have " no barriers to enrollment based on the faith of the parents or on religious practices in the home.

From the Orthodox perspective, Conservative Jews are considered just as Jewish as Orthodox Jews, but they are viewed as misguided, consistent violators of halakha.

" Other notable writers who have explored regional and ethnic communities in their detective novels are Harry Kemelman, whose Rabbi Small series were set the Conservative Jewish community of Massachusetts ; Walter Mosley, whose Easy Rawlins books are set in the African American community of 1950s Los Angeles ; and Sara Paretsky, whose V. I. Warshawski books have explored the various subcultures of Chicago.

Conservative programs are often based on classical education, which is seen by conservatives to reliably teach valuable skills in a developmentally appropriate order to the majority of Myers-Briggs temperaments, by teaching facts.

While there are a wide variety of Conservative views, a common belief is that Halakha is, and has always been, an evolving process subject to interpretation by rabbis in every time period.

A key practical difference between Conservative and Orthodox approaches is that Conservative Judaism holds that its Rabbinical body's powers are not limited to reconsidering later precedents based on earlier sources, but the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) is empowered to override Biblical and Taanitic prohibitions by takkanah ( decree ) when perceived to be inconsistent with modern requirements and / or views of ethics.

In nearly all Orthodox and a few Conservative circles, only male Jews are counted toward a minyan ; most Conservative Jews and members of other Jewish denominations count female Jews as well.

In Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has issued several responsa ( legal rulings ) which hold that the prohibitions against weddings in this timeframe are deeply held traditions, but should not be construed as binding law.

* Musaf ( מו ּ ס ָ ף, " additional ") are recited by Orthodox and Conservative congregations on Shabbat, major Jewish holidays ( including Chol HaMoed ), and Rosh Chodesh.