A Middle Path

This affirmation defines Conservative Judaism's position between Orthodoxy, which holds the law binding and resists such development, and Reform, which treats observance as a matter of informed personal choice. The movement presents itself as conserving traditional practice while allowing disciplined evolution, so that change must be argued from within the sources rather than adopted by individual preference. The belief is thus both a theology of law and the organising principle that distinguishes the movement from its neighbours.

The movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has issued a series of landmark rulings often cited as test cases of its method: a 1950 responsum permitting driving to synagogue on Shabbat where walking distance made attendance otherwise impossible, the 1983 decision to ordain women as rabbis, and a 2006 ruling easing restrictions on gay and lesbian ordination and commitment ceremonies. Each ruling was argued, in keeping with the movement's founding principle, from within halakhic sources and precedent rather than simply set aside, though Orthodox authorities have generally rejected the resulting conclusions as illegitimate applications of the method, disputes that illustrate exactly how contested the boundary between faithful development and departure from halakha can be in practice.