History
The Committee on Jewish Law was created by the Rabbinical Assembly (RA) in 1927. Max Drob was the first chair of the Committee. The Committee was tasked with including representatives from the "Various tendencies" of the Rabbinical Assembly. Of the ten members of the committee, four were to represent a "more conservative tendency," four were to represent "the liberal tendency," and two more were to be chosen by the eight. The more conservative rabbis on the initial committee were Louis Epstein, Louis Finkelstein, Julius Greenstone, and Chairman Drob. The liberals were Mordecai Kaplan, Jacob Kohn, Herman Rubenovitz, and Solomon Goldman. The two additional members were Harry S. Davidowitz and Morris Levine. Drob viewed the creation of the Committee as "the first step towards the organization of an American beit din hagadol which will study the problems arising in our new environment and solve them in the spirit of our Torah."
Drob was succeeded by Julius Greenstone, who chaired the committee from 1932–1936 and Louis Epstein (1936–1940). Boaz Cohen, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, served as chair from 1940-1948.
In 1948, the Committee was expanded to 25 members and renamed the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The new name signaled the Rabbinical Assembly's hopes that Jewish practice should be guided by the highest moral standards along with traditional law. The committee was tasked with "raising the standards of piety, understanding, and participating in Jewish life" among Conservative Jews.
After the reconstitution of the Committee, the following rabbis served as chair:
- Morris Adler (1948–1951)
- Theodore Friedman (1951–1954)
- Arthur Neulander (1954–1959)
- Ben Zion Bokser (1959–1960)
- Max Routtenberg (1960–1963)
- Ben Zion Bokser (1963–1965)
- Israel Silverman (1965–1966)
- Benjamin Kreitman (1966–1972)
- S. Gerson Levi (1972–1973)
- Seymour Siegel (1973–1980)
- Ben Zion Bokser, (1980–1984)
- Joel Roth (1984–1992)
Kass Abelson served as the chair of the Committee 1992-2007. Elliot Dorff, a member of the Committee since 1984, became chair in 2007.
Read more about this topic: Committee On Jewish Law And Standards
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