Sometimes, they will do neither, letting varying customs in different regions determine what the practice will be. The United States is probably more sensitive than most other nations to the need to allowlocal custom to govern, for the federalist system embodied in its constitution establishes the rights of states to determine many, many matters, ranging from education to welfare to zoning to criminal penalties.
In Jewish law, custom has interacted with law in all the same ways. Indeed, in light of the widespread nature of the Jewish people, one would expect custom to have an even greater effec in shaping the practices of the Jewish people than it has had in other communities. Because of the divine status ascribed to the Torah , however, rabbis have not allowed custom to countermanc a prohibition of the Torah , especially in ritual matters(issu v’heter), but even there one first has to define what is a rule wit!
Torah status and what is instead rabbinic level of authority if order to decide whether this restriction applies. Most often, the Torah cannot be claimed as the basis for a custom, and rabbis must confront the custom on its merits, deciding whether to wage war with it, confirm it, or just let it remain as the custom of
some but not necessarily of all.
One thing that has characterized the Conservative Movement from its early history in North America is its evolving practices with regard to the role of women. Mixed seating in worship w#° established totally by the customs of the people affiliated with Conservative congregations; to my knowledge, that practice has never been justified and confirmed in a rabbinic ruling, but it 15
overwhelmingly accepted within our movement.'® Bat mitzv al ceremonies, initiated first by Mordecai M. Kaplan in 1922, val
ied widely in degree of acceptance and in form through the 1960s, with some congregations having girls do exactly what boys did for their Bar Mitzvah, and with others, at the other end of the spectrum, restricting the girls” ceremonies to Friday nights and to parts of the service not halakhically required. Here aga!" custom ruled the day.