However, he felt that the members of the CJLS were no longer following the parameters of the halakhic system, and as such quit the CJLS.

By adopting this Responsum, the CJLS found itself in a position to provide a considered Jewish-law justification for its egalitarian practices, without having to rely on potentially unconvincing arguments, undermine the religious importance of community and clergy, ask individual women intrusive questions, repudiate the halakhic tradition, or label women following traditional practices as sinners.

In 1992, the CJLS action affirmed its traditional prohibition on homosexual conduct, blessing same-sex unions, and ordaining openly gay clergy.

The CJLS has also held that the Talmudic concept of Kavod HaBriyot permits lifting rabbinic decrees ( as distinct from carving narrow exceptions ) on grounds of human dignity, and used this principle in a December 2006 opinion lifting all rabbinic prohibitions on homosexual conduct ( the opinion held that only male-male anal sex was forbidden by the Bible and that this remained prohibited ).

His motion was passed by the CJLS.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) is the movement's central body on interpreting Jewish law and custom ; it was founded by the Rabbinical Assembly in 1927, with Max Drob as its first head.

The CJLS does not view this as a change in Torah law, but rather as a lifting of a rabbinical prohibition that was rooted in social dynamics.

A later responsum on this subject was written by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, and also accepted by the CJLS.

CJLS was founded by Laurie Smith in 1934.

For years, CJLS was carried at 1340 kHz on the AM band until the switch to FM after receiving CRTC in 2002.

Rabbi Siegel reported to the Rabbinical Assembly membership that many on the CJLS, while agreeing with the result, found the arguments unconvincing.

The CJLS has stated that this particular ceremony should not be performed.

Gordon Tucker has argued that RA members should give " extraordinary weight " to CJLS decisions, while remaining free to disagree with then:

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism has declared that Conservative Rabbis should not inquire into or accept evidence of mamzer status under any circumstances, rendering the category inoperative.

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.

Because it is a body that seeks to coalesce judgment around particular halakhic opinions, and not simple to give voice to individually held positions, it is right and proper that six members of the CJLS be required to define an authoritative position.

Because it is a body that is ultimately here to provide service and guidance to Rabbinical Assembly members, it is also right and proper that authoritative opinions not be categorized by the number of votes they received, and that they not be binding on Rabbinical Assembly members in a coercive sense, but rather only in the sense that we are bound by our covenant to one another to give extraordinary weight to CJLS responsa in reaching our own legal decisions.

Should an RA member choose, upon study and consideration, not to follow any CJLS position on a given matter, he or she would thus be unable to claim any authority or backing for that position from the CJLS, a " sanction " which in some circumstances could be substantial, in others not.

The CJLS accepted a responsa which holds that if a person rides to synagogue on Shabbat with the intention of fulfilling various Shabbat mitzvot, and that if no other driving on Shabbat is done, than that person will not be held as being in violation of halakhah.

* The CJLS effectively passed a takkanah ruling that women may be counted as witnesses in all areas of Jewish law.

* The CJLS, in declaring that its rabbis would not accept evidence or entertaining questions as to the existence of mamzerim, declared that Biblical law represents only the beginning of a relationship with the divine and that in the Conservative movement, biblical law can be overridden on grounds of inconsistency with contemporary morality because " Aggadah controls Halacha "

The CJLS has used this power on a number of occasions, most famously in the " driving teshuva ", which says that if someone is unable to walk to any synagogue on the Sabbath, and their commitment to observance is so loose that not attending synagogue may lead them to drop it altogether, their rabbi may give them a dispensation to drive there and back ; and more recently in its decision prohibiting the taking of evidence on Mamzer status on the grounds that implementing such a status is immoral.

Responsa by both the CJLS and the Va ' ad Halacha are equally valid, although the Va ' ad's emphasis is on issues pertaining to Israeli society.

The Conservative Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ), consistent with the Conservative movement's general view of the role of Kohanim, has ruled that the practice of calling a Kohen to the first aliyah represents a custom rather than a law, and that accordingly, a Conservative rabbi is not obligated to follow it.

Within the movement it is known as the CJLS.

The current Chairman of the CJLS is Rabbi Elliot Dorff.

In fundamental ways Orthodox Judaism has a significantly different understanding of how halakha is determined ; thus Orthodox rabbis generally do not respect the decisions of the CJLS as valid or normative.

The CJLS is composed of 25 rabbis ( voting members ), and five laypeople, who participate in deliberations but whom do not have a vote.

CJLS holds membership in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada, and is represented nationally and regionally by Canadian Broadcast Sales.

An example of how different views of the origin of Jewish law inform Conservative approaches to interpreting that law involves the CJLS's acceptance of Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz's responsum decreeing the Biblical category of mamzer as " inoperative ", in which The CJLS adopted the Responsum's view that of how, in the Conservative view of Halakha, the " morality which we learn through the unfolding narrative of our tradition " informs the application of Mosaic law:

The CJLS and the Va ' ad do not always come up with the same answer to a question.

In doing so, the CJLS distinguished the Conservative approach to Jewish Law from the Orthodox approach, noting that Conservative Judaism regards Biblical law as only the beginning of a relationship rather than a final word, and that the Conservative movement regards it as its role and responsibility to revise Biblical law from time to time when such law conflicts with evolving concepts of morality.

In Conservative Judaism, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) of the Rabbinical Assembly makes the movement's decisions concerning Jewish law.

In 2006, the CJLS shifted its position and paved the way for significant changes regarding the Conservative movement's policies toward homosexuality.

On December 6, 2006, The CJLS adopted three distinct responsa reflecting very different approaches to the subject.

On the one hand, four members of the Committee, Rabbis Joel Roth, Leonard Levy, Mayer Rabinowitz, and Joseph Prouser, resigned from the CJLS following adoption of the change.

The head of the Israeli Masorti movement's Vaad Halakha ( equivalent to the CJLS ), Rabbi David Golinkin, wrote the CJLS protesting its reconsideration of the traditional ban on homosexual conduct.

" master of the house " in Aramaic, the local authority in Jewish law ), adopting the position he or she considers most compelling, even if it has not been approved by the CJLS.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) of the Rabbinical Assembly has approved a number of decisions and responsa on this topic.

The CJLS recently reaffirmed the obligation of Conservative women to observe niddah ( sexual abstinence during and after menstruation ) and mikvah ( ritual immersion ) following menstruation, although somewhat liberalizing certain details.

In 1973, the CJLS of the Rabbinical Assembly voted, without issuing an opinion, that women could count in a minyan.

In 2002, the CJLS adapted a responsum by Rabbi David Fine, Women and the Minyan, which provides an official religious-law foundation for these actions and explains the current Conservative approach to the role of women in prayer.

In 2006, the CJLS adopted three responsa on the subject of niddah, which reaffirmed an obligation of Conservative women to abstain from sexual relations during and following menstruation and to immerse in a mikvah prior to resumption, while liberalizing observance requirements including shortening the length of the niddah period, lifting restrictions on non-sexual contact during niddah, and reducing the circumstances under which spotting and similar conditions would mandate abstinence.

The first Sigal and the Blumenthal responsa were considered by the CJLS as part of its decision on prayer roles in 1973.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ( CJLS ) declined to adopt either responsum.

The CJLS, unwilling to use either an intrusive approach or a repudiation of the traditional legal process as bases for action, did not adopt either and let the JTS faculty vote stand unexplained.