I cannot say with certainty that I know the intention of the laws revealed at Sinai. The Conservative Jew s quest is to try to comprehend this will as it applies to our daily lives. I am not so brazen as to claim to know God that well. What renders Conservative Judaism unique is its quest to understand God s will. It is only after grappling with this task that the precedents determined by our ancestors can be properly evaluated as regards the core values of halachah.
Precedent is critical in the evolution of halachah in the Conservative movement.
But unlike in many other systems it is not the only factor. Disciplines including psychology, sociology, anthropology, and textual analysis enrich our ability to follow our quest to bring our lives into conformity with God s will. Many Orthodox rabbis have challenged rulings permitting women to read from the Torah based upon the last half of this reading. They view that statement as a position of binding halachah. I perceive it, however, as a sociological observation which prevailed when it was written and may not pertain today.