Category: Halakhah

How to Get the Get (A Jewish Divorce) and Why It Matters

The Get or “decree of divorce,” plays a fundamental role in the Jewish life cycle of a couple whose marriage has come to an end ...

Daniela Rusowsky November 3, 2024 Divorce Halakhah

?כיצד ראוי לחגוג את שמחת תורה בשנת תשפ״ה

חווינו אחד מן האסונות הגדולים ביותר בתולדות המדינה, ומאז, כיצד ראוי לחגוג את שמחת תורה בשנת תשפ״ה?

Rabbi David Golinkin September 20, 2024 Halakhah High Holidays

How to Appropriately Celebrate Simchat Torah in 5785

With the ongoing tragedy of October 7th and the ongoing hostage situation and war, how do we appropriately celebrate Simchat Torah in 5785?

Rabbi David Golinkin September 20, 2024 Halakhah High Holidays

Medieval Musings on the Emotional Content of a Fast

Can we do work and labor on Tisha B'av? What role do our emotions play in that? The Medieval posek Terumat HaDeshen has an answer.

Rabbi Aaron Alexander July 31, 2024 Fasting on Tisha B'av Halakhah

Are Non-Kosher Animals Permitted for Organ Transplants?

Are non-kosher animals permitted for organ transplants? Rabbi Shai Cherry explains the recent teshuvah from the CJLS.

Rav Shai Cherry July 10, 2024 Animals CJLS

The Jewish Status of a Child Born Using a Gestational Carrier

In a recent teshuvah, the CJLS answers the question, "what is the Jewish status of a child born using a gestational carrier?"

Jessica Chod July 5, 2024 Child Birth CJLS

What blessing do I recite over an eclipse?

A solar eclipse is certainly a unique natural event that causes us to ponder our place in the universe. What blessing do I recite?

Exploring Judaism April 4, 2024 Blessings CJLS

The Mitzvah of Environmental Sustainability

What does Judaism say about environmental sustainability? Yishuv Ha'olam is the mitzvah to build and maintain a sustainable world.

Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin January 3, 2024 CJLS Climate and Environment

Women and Headcovering

In a written teshuvah, Rabbi Jane Kanarek explains the answer to the question, "Should women and girls wear a headcovering?"

Reena Bromberg Gaber January 3, 2024 CJLS Halakhah

Tallit on the Bimah: Optional or Required?

This CJLS teshuva explores where and when a tallit should be worn on the bimah. This also addresses women wearing tallitot.

Reena Bromberg Gaber January 3, 2024 Accessories for Prayer CJLS

What does Judaism say about Abortion?

An overview of what Judaism says about abortion based on the decisions and analysis of the Rabbinical Assembly.

Rabbi Susan Grossman, Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner December 10, 2023 CJLS Halakhah

Non-Fasting Sh”tz on Yom Kippur

When should we use a non-fasting sh"tz on Yom Kippur? This CJLS teshuvah, originally written by Rabbi Gail Labovitz, explains.

Reena Bromberg Gaber September 28, 2023 CJLS Halakhah

Halakha and the Assessment of Risk

Halakha can be used for the assessment of risk; this can be relevant for pikuach nefesh (saving a life) or kashrut.

Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner September 7, 2023 Ethics Every Day

Distinctive Emphasis in Conservative Judaism: Vis-a-Vis the Halakha (1952)

Rabbi Max L. Forman z"' wrote: "the formulation of a dynamic approach to Jewish law; not to a corpus or platform, but to a methodology."

Rabbi Max Leon Forman z"l June 29, 2023 CJ Journal - 1945-1959 Conservative Judaism

Jewish Obligations of Parents to Children

When speaking about family, there is a wide variety of opinions and also a variety of obligations of parents, situations and relationships.

Rabbi Daniel Nevins, The Observant Life (Book) May 30, 2023 Family Halakhah

A New Egalitarian Divorce

Rabbi Barmash's new teshuvah empowers women and infuses the rites of marriage and divorce with more equality and dignity for both partners.

Rabbi Deborah Megdal May 8, 2023 CJLS Divorce

When Using Tribal Distinctions, How Might Women Be Called Up for Aliyot?

While writing a teshuvah on changing our language for aliyot to kohenet from bat kohen, Rabbi David J Fine, PhD, reflects on egalitarianism.

Rabbi David J Fine, PhD April 30, 2023 Blessings CJLS

Mujaddara on Passover

How my family created and passed down cultural traditions, and how the Conservative Teshuvah on Kitniyot impacts our life outside the academy.

Emily Jaeger March 19, 2023 Food Halakhah

When Can a Passover Seder Start Early? Other Festivals?

When is the earliest time that we can begin observing Jewish festivals, on first or second day of Yom Tov, in particular, the Passover seder?

Exploring Judaism March 19, 2023 CJLS Halakhah

What Does Jewish Law Say About Autopsies and Organ Donation?

The halakhah does not generally permit autopsies, due to honoring the dead. However, there are two important exceptions to that rule.

Rabbi Carl Astor, The Observant Life (Book) February 28, 2023 Confronting Death Death and Dying

Is Alcohol the best way to celebrate Purim?

According to a well-known custom, drinking – and drinking to excess – on Purim is required for Jews celebrating the holiday. What is the origin ...

Rabbi David Golinkin, The Schechter Institutes February 5, 2023 Halakhah Learning

How to call Non-Binary Jews to the Torah

Being called to Torah is a moment of sacred encounter. Here's how to call Non-Binary Jews to the Torah based on the CJLS Teshuvah in ...

Rabbi Deborah Silver August 1, 2022 CJLS Halakhah

What are Kitniyot and when can I eat it?

In the early medieval period, it became customary for Ashkenazi Jews to not eat a category of foods called kitniyot. What are they?

Exploring Judaism March 31, 2022 CJLS Halakhah