The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

s. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards for the Conservative movement. It organizes conferences and coordinates the Joint Placement Commission of the Conservative movement. Members of the RA serve as rabbis, educators, community workers and military and hospital chaplains around the world. Rabbis ordained by

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

(New York, New York), the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University (Los Angeles, California), The Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires, Argentina), The Zacharias Frankel College (Berlin, Germany) and The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary (

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) automatically become members of the RA upon their ordination. Rabbis whose ordination is from other seminaries and

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...

s may also be admitted to the RA. As of 2010, there were 1,648 members of the RA.JTA
Barriers broken, female rabbis look to broader influence
, accessed 12-17-2010 The majority of RA members serve in the United States and Canada, while more than ten percent of its rabbis serve in Israel and many of its rabbis serve in Latin America, in the countries of Europe, Australia, and Africa.

History

The Rabbinical Assembly was founded in 1901 as the Alumni Association of the

(JTS). Henry M. Speaker served as the first president. In 1918, the association changed its name to the Rabbinical Assembly, opening itself up to rabbis ordained at institutions other than JTS. The longest-serving executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly was Wolfe Kelman, who accepted the post in 1951 and continued in the post until 1989. In 1985, the RA admitted its first female member,

Amy Eilberg Amy Eilberg (born October 12, 1954) is the first female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism. She was ordained in 1985 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, one of the academic centers and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism. Yo ...

, the first female ordained at JTS. It immediately proceeded to admit Rabbis Jan Caryl Kaufman and Beverly Magidson, who had been ordained at

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. By 2010, 273 of the 1648 members of the Rabbinical Assembly were women. In 1989, upon Wolfe Kelman's retirement, Joel H. Meyers became executive director of the RA. In 1991, Meyers was appointed executive vice president, and he served in this role until his retirement in 2008. In October 2008, Julie Schonfeld was named as the new executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, making her the first female rabbi to serve in the chief executive position of an American rabbinical association. She has since become Chief Executive Officer of the RA.

Bodies for interpreting Jewish law

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, wit
Max Drob
as its first head. It presently composed of 25 Rabbis, who are voting members, and five laypeople, who do not vote but participate fully in deliberations. When any six (or more) members vote in favor of a position, that position becomes an official position of the Rabbinical Assembly. An individual rabbi, however, functions as the ''mara de-atra'' (מרא דאתרא, lit. "master of the house" in

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

, 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 Rabbinical Assembly of Israel (the Israeli arm of the RA) has its own decision making body, the ''Va'ad Halacha''.

Responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars ...

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 CJLS and the Va'ad do not always come up with the same answer to a question. Individual rabbis are free to decide which responsa to adopt or to develop their own halakhic positions.

Publications

The RA has also published

prayer books A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...

for Shabbat and weekdays, most recently

Siddur Sim Shalom Siddur Sim Shalom ( he, סדור שים שלום) refers to any siddur in a family of ''siddurim'', Jewish prayerbooks, and related commentaries, published by the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. There are fo ...

and ''Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom'' by Reuven Hammer. It has also published

for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, most recently Mahzor Lev Shalem. The RA has also published liturgical texts for other days on the Jewish calendar, such as ''Megillat Hashoah: The Holocaust Scroll'' for Yom Ha-shoah and ''Siddur Tishah B’Av'' for the fast day of Tishah B’Av. In cooperation with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the

Jewish Publication Society The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krausko ...

, the RA published the Etz Hayim Humash, a Torah commentary for synagogue use. In cooperation with the

, the RA also publishes a scholarly quarterly journal, ''

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generati ...

'', which is edited by Martin Samuel Cohen. Under its Aviv Press imprint, the RA publishes books on Jewish spirituality and contemporary Jewish practice written by its members. The earliest publications by Aviv Press were: *a Torah commentary by Ismar Schorsch *meditations on the Jewish year by Jonathan Wittenberg *meditations on the psalms by Martin Samuel Cohen *a volume describing different approaches to Jewish law edited by

Elliot Dorff Elliot N. Dorff (born 24 June 1943) is an American Conservative rabbi. He is a Visiting Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and Distinguished Professor of Jewish theology at the American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism) in ...

*an introduction to Judaism as a compassionate, mindful practice by Jonathan P. Slater *an introduction to Musar as a spiritual path by

Ira F. Stone Rabbi Ira F. Stone (born 1949) is a leading figure in the contemporary renewal of the Musar movement, a Jewish ethical movement. Career Stone was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1979, and proceeded to serve ...

In April 2012, the Rabbinical Assembly published new guide to Jewish law and practice, ''The Observant Life: A Guide to Ritual and Ethics for Conservative Jews'', edited by Martin Samuel Cohen and Michael Katz. Members of the RA have their own private discussion group, "Ravnet".

Leadership

The Rabbinical Assembly has been served by a variety of volunteer Presidents over the course of its history. Below is listing of those who began to serve as Presidents during the 21st Century. * Reuven Hammer (2002-2004) * Perry Rank (2004-2006) * Alvin Berkun (2006-2008) * Jeffrey Wohlberg (2008-2010) * Gilah Dror (2010-2012) * Gerald Skolnik (2012-2014) * William Gershon (2014-2016) * Philip Scheim (2016-2018) * Debra Newman Kamin (2018–present)

References

External links