Committee on Jewish Law and Standards

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha (Jewish law and tradition) within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. Within the movement it is known as the CJLS. The current Chairman of the CJLS is Rabbi Elliot Dorff.

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 [supreme court of Jewish law] 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. In 1986 Amy Eilberg became the first woman appointed to serve on the Committee.

After the reconstitution of the Committee in 1948, the following rabbis served as chair:

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