Key Conservative Jew sees easing of gay rabbi ban
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Key Conservative Jew sees easing of gay rabbi ban
By Rachel Zoll
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published September 8, 2006
NEW YORK -- A key Conservative Jewish leader is traveling the country to prepare synagogues for a potentially divisive change: The movement will roll back its ban on ordaining openly gay rabbis by year's end, he predicts, with confusion and discomfort to follow.
Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, says a committee of scholars who interpret Jewish law for the movement will likely loosen the prohibition when they vote in December.
At the same time, Epstein expects the scholars will endorse a policy aiming to keep more traditional congregations within the fold. The panel will effectively allow synagogues that believe that Jewish law bars same-sex relationships to hire only heterosexual rabbis.
The vote by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards will test what Conservative leaders call their "big umbrella"--allowing diverse practices within one movement. It will also signal to the wider community how far the Conservative branch will go to reinterpret Jewish law.
"The committee might accept--will accept, I think--two or more" policies, Epstein said at an August meeting of New York Conservative Jewish rabbis and synagogue leaders. "One that actually reaffirms the current position and at least one that will liberalize it."
The effect of the contradictory actions will be that local Jewish communities have more freedom. Conservative seminaries, along with the movement's estimated 750 synagogues and more than 1,000 rabbis in the United States and Canada, will get to decide which policy to follow.
"It could cause confusion, it could cause tremendous angst, it could cause tremendous tension, it could cause tremendous disagreement," Epstein said.
The vote comes as the movement is trying to hold on to a shrinking middle ground between innovation and strict tradition in American Judaism. The Conservative branch follows Jewish law, while allowing limited change for modern circumstances.
It's been a hard road to follow. Many Conservative Jews have joined the more liberal Reform stream, which has recently surpassed the Conservative branch as the largest in America. The Reform movement ordains gays and is more accepting of interfaith couples.
For Conservative Jews seeking more rigorous observance, the Orthodox branch has become a popular choice. The Orthodox strictly adhere to Jewish law, prohibiting women and gays from becoming rabbis.
Rabbi Joel Roth, a leading religious scholar and a member of the Conservative Law Committee, questioned whether people with traditional Jewish views on sexuality will stay, even if the panel allows synagogues leeway to accept or reject gay relationships. Roth said he has been "demonized" for saying that he interprets religious law as barring same-gender sex.
Roth contends the verses in Leviticus considered to ban gay relationships "are really quite clear, despite the efforts by some to call their clarity into question."
"I know the law as it stands causes pain," he said. "But pain is not to be equated with immorality."
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, vice chairman of the Law Committee, supports ordaining gays, saying "it is simply not natural" to demand that gays and lesbians remain celibate.
"We have to interpret God's will in our time," Dorff said. He's confident that synagogues will realize that they share too much to let disputes over homosexuality divide them.
Dorff and Roth are traveling with Epstein to explain their differing interpretations of Jewish law. Along with presentations in Toronto and New York last month, the three plan to speak in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The debate focuses on the significance of Leviticus 18:22, which states "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman," and 20:13, which says such an act is punishable by death.
The last major Law Committee vote on gay relationships came in 1992, when the panel voted 19-3, with one abstention, that Jewish law barred openly gay students from enrolling in seminaries and prohibited rabbis from officiating at gay union ceremonies.
In the latest discussion, the 25-member committee is considering legal papers called "teshuvot," for and against change. Each policy needs six votes to be accepted by the movement. Although it occurs rarely, more than one opinion can be endorsed, leaving synagogues and seminaries to decide which to follow.
Key Conservative Jew sees easing of gay rabbi ban
By Rachel Zoll
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published September 8, 2006
NEW YORK -- A key Conservative Jewish leader is traveling the country to prepare synagogues for a potentially divisive change: The movement will roll back its ban on ordaining openly gay rabbis by year's end, he predicts, with confusion and discomfort to follow.
Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, says a committee of scholars who interpret Jewish law for the movement will likely loosen the prohibition when they vote in December.
At the same time, Epstein expects the scholars will endorse a policy aiming to keep more traditional congregations within the fold. The panel will effectively allow synagogues that believe that Jewish law bars same-sex relationships to hire only heterosexual rabbis.
The vote by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards will test what Conservative leaders call their "big umbrella"--allowing diverse practices within one movement. It will also signal to the wider community how far the Conservative branch will go to reinterpret Jewish law.
"The committee might accept--will accept, I think--two or more" policies, Epstein said at an August meeting of New York Conservative Jewish rabbis and synagogue leaders. "One that actually reaffirms the current position and at least one that will liberalize it."
The effect of the contradictory actions will be that local Jewish communities have more freedom. Conservative seminaries, along with the movement's estimated 750 synagogues and more than 1,000 rabbis in the United States and Canada, will get to decide which policy to follow.
"It could cause confusion, it could cause tremendous angst, it could cause tremendous tension, it could cause tremendous disagreement," Epstein said.
The vote comes as the movement is trying to hold on to a shrinking middle ground between innovation and strict tradition in American Judaism. The Conservative branch follows Jewish law, while allowing limited change for modern circumstances.
It's been a hard road to follow. Many Conservative Jews have joined the more liberal Reform stream, which has recently surpassed the Conservative branch as the largest in America. The Reform movement ordains gays and is more accepting of interfaith couples.
For Conservative Jews seeking more rigorous observance, the Orthodox branch has become a popular choice. The Orthodox strictly adhere to Jewish law, prohibiting women and gays from becoming rabbis.
Rabbi Joel Roth, a leading religious scholar and a member of the Conservative Law Committee, questioned whether people with traditional Jewish views on sexuality will stay, even if the panel allows synagogues leeway to accept or reject gay relationships. Roth said he has been "demonized" for saying that he interprets religious law as barring same-gender sex.
Roth contends the verses in Leviticus considered to ban gay relationships "are really quite clear, despite the efforts by some to call their clarity into question."
"I know the law as it stands causes pain," he said. "But pain is not to be equated with immorality."
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, vice chairman of the Law Committee, supports ordaining gays, saying "it is simply not natural" to demand that gays and lesbians remain celibate.
"We have to interpret God's will in our time," Dorff said. He's confident that synagogues will realize that they share too much to let disputes over homosexuality divide them.
Dorff and Roth are traveling with Epstein to explain their differing interpretations of Jewish law. Along with presentations in Toronto and New York last month, the three plan to speak in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The debate focuses on the significance of Leviticus 18:22, which states "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman," and 20:13, which says such an act is punishable by death.
The last major Law Committee vote on gay relationships came in 1992, when the panel voted 19-3, with one abstention, that Jewish law barred openly gay students from enrolling in seminaries and prohibited rabbis from officiating at gay union ceremonies.
In the latest discussion, the 25-member committee is considering legal papers called "teshuvot," for and against change. Each policy needs six votes to be accepted by the movement. Although it occurs rarely, more than one opinion can be endorsed, leaving synagogues and seminaries to decide which to follow.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:53 AM
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