Rabbi Susan Grossman has helped shape the Conservative Movement’s policies on women’s rights and roles in Jewish life through her work as a member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS). One of the first women to become a Conservative rabbi, Grossman was ordained in 1989 by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she also earned a doctorate in ancient Judaism. She served at a congregation in Westchester, New York, then became rabbi of Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia, Maryland in 1997, where she continues to serve as of 2017. She co-edited both Etz Hayim (2001), the Conservative movement’s translation of and commentary on the Bible, and Daughters of the King (2005), which investigated the variety of roles women have played in synagogue life over the centuries. As a member of the CJLS, which settles questions of religious law for Conservative Jews, Grossman created teshuvot (legal policies) permitting partial-birth abortion, allowing women to serve as witnesses and judges for religious matters, and clarifying the role of mikveh (the ritual bath) in modern Judaism.