Conservative Judaism (also known as Masorti Judaism outside of the United States and Canada) is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.

Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism, developed in 1850s Germany as a reaction to the more liberal religious positions taken by Reform Judaism. The term conservative was meant to signify that Jews should attempt to conserve Jewish tradition, rather than reform or abandon it, and does not imply the movement's adherents are politically conservative. Because of this potential for confusion, a number of Conservative Rabbis have proposed renaming the movement, and outside of the United States and Canada, in many countries including Israel and the UK, it is today known as Masorti Judaism (Hebrew for "Traditional").

In the United States and Canada, the term Conservative, as applied, does not always indicate that a congregation is affliliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement's central institution and the one to which the term, without qualifier, usually refers. Rather, it is sometimes employed by unaffiliated groups to indicate a range of beliefs and practices more liberal than is affirmed by the Orthodox, and more traditional than the more liberal Jewish denominations (Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism). In Canada, several congregations belong to the Canadian Council of Conservative Synagogues instead of the United Synagogue. The moniker Conservadox is sometimes employed to refer to the right wing of the Conservative spectrum, although "Traditional" is used as well (as in the Union for Traditional Judaism).

Menachem Creditor is the rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom, in Berkeley, California. He is chair of Bay Area Masorti, a co-founder and facilitator of ShefaNetwork.org: The Conservative/Masorti Movement Dreaming from Within, co-founder of KeshetRabbis: The Alliance of Gay-Friendly Conservative/Masorti Rabbis, and author of TheTisch, a commentary on Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Creditor sits on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly, is a member of the Chancellor's Rabbinic Leadership Team at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and is the International Co-Chair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall.

A popular speaker at synagogues, college campuses, and various Jewish communities around the country and in Israel on questions of Jewish Identity, Leadership, and Spirituality, Rabbi Creditor also continues to record and perform original Jewish music, having just released his first solo album "Within" (2011).

Creditor has been described as "a vocal proponent of gay and women’s rights" and "a leading advocate of gay ordination." He was noted for his controversial 2005 speech at the biennal conference of the Conservative movement, urging the expulsion of non-egalitarian congregations from the movement. He also appears as a "central figure" in Josh Kornbluth's 2010 monologue Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?