Contents:
- MEET THE GAY RABBI
- FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
- GAY RABBIS
- MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI
- ISRAEL’S FIRST GAY MASORTI RABBI TAK THE PULP
- AM I A GAY RABBI, OR AM I A RABBI WHO IS GAY?
- JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?
- THE OPENLY GAY RABBI WHO’S WORKG TO CHANGE THE FACE OF JUDAISM
MEET THE GAY RABBI
Hey folks, 's me, The Gay Rabbi, back briefly to let you know I ma this webse. JERUSALEM (JTA) — A gay rabbil stunt nied ordatn by a liberal semary New York was weled to the rabbate Jesalem, breakg a longstandg taboo agast homosexualy the Orthodox muny.
Many young gay Orthodox Jews who would have prevly left the fold are stayg “and ’s almost unimagable for them to not have a place, ” he ntued. The Renstctnist and Reform movements began ordag gay rabbis the 1980s, wh the Conservative movement followg 2006. For his part, Lans do not believe that the Biblil prohibn of same-sex relatns appli to people for whom homosexualy is “not an act of voln” and thks that there is room for LGBT Jews the wir muny.
Rabbi Nathan Lop Cardozo, another proment rabbi who has ocsnally e to nflict wh the Orthodox mastream, agreed wh Lans, tellg JTA that while he didn’t have a rabbic source to back up, he believ that “the prohibn [on homosexual acts] only appli to those who are purely heterosexual. Assertg that Orthodox views of homosexualy have been slowly changg, he said that there is a new awarens that “they’re not pedophil, they’re not people of falsehood or whatever, they’re good people. Lans said that the genis of his transformatn om the mastream Orthodox posn, which views homosexualy as a grave s, me several s ago after he explaed to members of his own ngregatn the Uned Stat why he had cled to attend a nference anized by the Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis after the Reform-affiliated group passed a rolutn on LGBT cln.
FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
And while the rabbi ially uldn’t image gay Jews wantg to rema the Orthodox muny, let alone bee Jewish scholars unr s spic, he now has a different view.
GAY RABBIS
“I thk we will start wh the gay muny self and if there is the abily to create a real muny on the relig level will lead to acceptance or maybe will be limed for a long perd, ” he said. The Renstctnist Rabbil Associatn has elected an openly gay rabbi to lead the natnal rabbic Jason Kle, the executive director of Hillel at the Universy of Maryland, Baltimore County, sce 2006, was elected to lead the RRA durg s 39th annual nventn New Orleans, which end on Wednday. It is the first natnal rabbic associatn of one of the major Jewish nomatns the Uned Stat to be led by a gay man, acrdg to the was ordaed by the Renstctnist Rabbil Council 2002 and graduated om Columbia Universy 1997.
MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI
Two years after Israel’s Masorti (Conservative) Movement approved the ordatn of gay and lbian rabbis, the natn’s first homosexual Masorti rabbi has taken his place at the pulp.
So he went to New York, where he spent four years workg toward both a rabbil ordatn and an MA Talmud and Halacha (Jewish Law) om the Jewish Theologil Semary, which has been ordag openly gay and lbian stunts the Conservative Jewish movement sce 2007. Israel’s Masorti Movement shifted s own stance two years later, unrollg a landmark lg April 2012 that paved the way for Israeli-traed lbian and gay rabbis to jo the Conservative movement here.
Asked if he thks his prence the synagogue will draw more LGBT members to the ngregatn, Goldste says he tly thks will not make a difference, as the Masorti movement has already mted self to supportg and embracg gay and lbians at every level. (JTA) — You uld ll bashert: 15 years after a landmark cisn Judaism’s Conservative movement that paved the way for gay and lbian stunts to enter s rabbil schools and for rabbis to perform same-sex weddgs, would seem like sty that two Conservative rabbis would wed. The Conservative movement adopted legal lgs signed to make gay and lbian Jews “feel accepted and weled” s synagogu and muni.
ISRAEL’S FIRST GAY MASORTI RABBI TAK THE PULP
Now, openly gay Conservative rabbis work a variety of settgs — and while many have married, cludg to others who work the Jewish world, none so far have paired off as Rosen and Walker did.
But, I thought, “I am sure that I will not only be weled wh open arms, but I will fd a lovg muny who n help mol for me beg a gay rabbil stunt, and subsequently a gay rabbi…right? I soon disvered, at least for my first year, I was the only openly gay stunt on mp; my therapist always tells me that ’s important to note openly gay, bee you never know, and I do appreciate her optimism. Somehow by flt, I beme a halutz (a pneer), the very inty I had hoped to avoid when I chose to be a gay rabbil stunt the Reform world, as opposed to the Conservative Ccnati, I had to actively thk about how to navigate all of my inti wh a limed support work.
AM I A GAY RABBI, OR AM I A RABBI WHO IS GAY?
In my personal statement, I told a story of buildg a relatnship wh a ngregant a muny Northwt Florida who was ially hant about havg an openly gay rabbil stunt; the fact that I had not yet mentned my sexualy to that muny, but rather had been outed by my precsor is a whole other story.
I was told that foreground my sexualy too much: It showed me as “the gay rabbi” more than “Ari who is gay”…and also holds many other inti and tras, of equal value and import. While this is certaly te, felt strange to hear om – mostly straight – iends, lleagu, and teachers that would behoove me to “tamp down the gay. Bryan Lowr lamented how some public figur have taken to g out by statg that beg gay is only but one small part of who they are, not their whole sence.
Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, tells Libby Brooks how he squar his sexualy wh his fahWhen, at the age of 20, Steven Greenberg discsed his attractn to men as well as women for the first time, his relig unsellor offered a surprisg and optimistic terpretatn of his prediment. " That embattled young man is now Rabbi Steven Greenberg, the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi.
JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?
And sce his early stggl to align his sexualy wh his relign, the 46-year-old has worked to ensure that the wele he received then be extend to all those lbians and gay men who wish to enjoy human timacy whout beg forced to abandon the muni they love. "People blame relign for homophobia, " he begs, "but a pre-morn Jewish rabbi would say that this is one s among many.
The taboo of homosexualy is actually que ntemporary, but tends to mobilise religns s service. " And nant wh this is his sense that the gay rights movement n expand wh, rather than distance self om, relig orthodoxy.
" And when people accept that homosexualy is not a choice, but a part of the self, then the challenge, he says, be a eply moral one: "Are the stutns willg to be unaaid of addrsg the reali of the human ndn? Askg why the Hebrew bible should ncern self wh terurse between men is an tertg and important qutn, but even before you answer that, you regnise that the thought that the Torah is somehow rejectg homosexualy is patently false.
THE OPENLY GAY RABBI WHO’S WORKG TO CHANGE THE FACE OF JUDAISM
" But while the theory may lend self to flexibily, realy many orthodox lbians and gay men face discrimatn. As director Sandi DuBowski not, the late 1990s marked a kd of Stonewall, as the homosexual Orthodox muny moved om isolatn to anisatn, through the foundatn of a global work of support groups and the tablishment of Jesalem's only gay and lbian centre.