Joel Roth
Joel Roth is a prominent
rabbi in the
Rabbinical Assembly, which is the rabbinical body of
Conservative Judaism. He is a member and former chair of the assembly's
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) which deals with questions of
Jewish law and tradition, and serves as the Louis Finkelstein Professor of
Talmud and Jewish Law at the
Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) of America, in NYC, where he formerly served as dean of the Rabbinical School. He is also Rosh Yeshiva (head of school) of the
Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. Recently, in 2006, Rabbi Roth took over as chair of the Hebrew Language department at JTS.
Joel Roth is Louis Finkelstein Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at the
Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Roth also serves as Rosh Yeshiva of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Yeshiva, founded and maintained by the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, is under the academic auspices of JTS.
In addition to his teaching post at JTSA, Rabbi Roth has held four key administrative positions, serving as Dean of Students of List College (then called Seminary College), Director of the Melton Research Center for Jewish Education, and both Associate Dean and Dean of The Rabbinical School.
An expert in Conservative halakhah, Dr. Roth was appointed to the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards in
1978, served as Chairman for eight years, and continues to serve today. In addition to articles and responsa for the Committee, Rabbi Roth has written The Halakhic Process: A Systemic Analysis and Sefer ha-Mordecai: Tractate Kiddushin.
Dr. Roth received a BA from Wayne State University in his hometown of Detroit. He also participated in the Herbert H. Lehman Institute of Talmudic Ethics, a special studies program. He received his master's degree at JTS, where he was ordained in
1968. That same year, Rabbi Roth was appointed to the faculty of JTS as he continued his studies toward a PhD in Talmud, which he received in
1973.
He is most well known for writing an influential
responsum supporting the ordination of women as rabbis, which was considered by the JTS faculty as part of its 1983 women's ordination decision. Roth is also author of a responsum arguing that homosexuality is forbidden specifically to Jews, supporting reaffirmation of the Conservative movement's current stance excluding open homosexuals from JTS rabbinic and cantorial schools, but arguing against a view that homosexuality is generally immoral or a social wrong.
He is the author of "The Halakhic Process" and many responsa for the CJLS. These responsa have been published in a number of collections by the Rabbinical Assembly and the book service of the
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
See also:
Conservative Judaism,
Talmud*
Joel Roth, On the Ordination of Women as Rabbis*
Joel Roth, We Can't Legitimate Homosexuality Halakhically*
Joel Roth, Homosexuality (1992)
