Jewish edian Modi Rosenfeld, a mastay for Orthodox dienc, is gay. So what? - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Contents:

• FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
• GAY RABBIS
• MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI
• AM I A GAY RABBI, OR AM I A RABBI WHO IS GAY?
• EVANSTON SYNAGOGUE WEL FIRST FEMALE AND OPENLY GAY RABBI
• FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI TO PRENT ANNUAL WALL LECTURE ON MARCH 22
• GAY, ORTHODOX RABBIS NOT ‘OUT’ OF NSIRATN AT YCT
• JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?
• LGBTQ PRI MONTH: OY VEY, WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS GAY?
• "A MOL FOR PRI": LOL RABBI BE 1ST GAY MAN TO LEAD PROMENT MNOTA SYNAGOGUE

FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM

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.

GAY RABBIS

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. 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.

“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.

MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI

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. 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.

After takg over at the Jewish Renstctnist Congregatn Evanston Augt, Rachel Weiss is the synagogue's first openly gay senr the signifince of that distctn li more the chang that have occurred the last 30 years than Weiss herself, she said. "One of the thgs that is important is that a generatn ago an out, gay rabbi would have had very limed accs to a mastream ngregatn, " Weiss said. "Weiss' strong tn background and experience at a synagogue that valued cln and boasts the largt gay ngregatn the untry "were extremely important to , " Trillg said.

EVANSTON SYNAGOGUE WEL FIRST FEMALE AND OPENLY GAY RABBI

By Rabbi Steve Greenberg, – who is openly gay, and married Yoni Bock and Ron Kaplan at the 6th & I Synagogue Washgton November – over 100 Orthodox Rabbis – among them some of the most proment rabbic figur the Orthodox Jewish world, cludg Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Hershel Reichman of Yhiva Universy and Rabbi Elie Abadie of the Saa Synagogue – issued a statement clarg that, “By fn, a unn that is not sanctned by Torah law is not an Orthodox weddg, and by fn a person who nducts such a ceremony is not an Orthodox rabbi. Many Orthodox ngregatns have homosexuals as members, and generally speakg, they are accepted whout rervatns.

FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI TO PRENT ANNUAL WALL LECTURE ON MARCH 22

One Orthodox rabbi – who did not wish to be named – who has homosexual and trans-genr members his ngregatn told the Algemeer: “There is no such thg as a Jew who do not have spirual stggl and challeng. However, jt as we nnot accept someone who promot secratn of the Sabbath and abandong the laws of kasht (kosher), or actively advot adultery, we nnot accept someone who actively and publicly, promot the practice of homosexualy. Jewish tradn unequivolly teach that marriage n only exist as a unn between a man and a woman, to the excln of a homosexual relatnship.

The Rabbil Council of Ameri recently clared that “the Torah, which forbids homosexual activy, sanctns only the unn of a man and a woman matrimony.

Early his reer, he served as a senr tor for the Natnal Jewish Center for Learng and Learship (CLAL), a thk tank and trag stute where he worked as an tor, curriculum wrer, lecturer and nsultant on wi variety of cuttg-edge projects on the ethics, environment, social jtice and munal is the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi and a founr of the Jesalem Open Hoe, the Holy Cy’s LGBT muny center.

GAY, ORTHODOX RABBIS NOT ‘OUT’ OF NSIRATN AT YCT

In 2001, Greenberg appeared the documentary, Tremblg Before G-d, and joed wh the filmmaker to create a worldwi outreach project nductg more than 500 post-screeng muny dialogu all over the 2004 he fished a long project, a book entled, Wrtlg wh God and Men: Homosexualy the Jewish Tradn, which explor biblil, rabbic, medieval and ntemporary Jewish rpons to same-sex relatnships. Rabbi Dov Lzer, print and rosh yhiva of Yhivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), has been alg wh a maelstrom sce the liberal Orthodox yhiva cid not to orda a fourth-year rabbil stunt who is gay, first reported exclively by The New York Jewish Week, NJJN’s sister publitn.

The stunt, Daniel Atwood of the Washgton Heights sectn of Manhattan, me out his first year at YCT and beme engaged the fall, though that cisn uld be a one-off as the yhiva has sce dited is willg to orda gay stunts. “We are mted to begng a transparent procs that will culmate Sprg 2020 that will brg all relevant voic — om the LGBTQ muny, om rabbis, lay lears, and poskim, to provi clear directn of how to bt chart a path forward so that, while did not prove possible this se, we will be able to grant smicha to gay stunts the future, ” wrote Lzer a statement on April 5. Rabbi Michael Moskowz, a Lakewood rint who is scholar--rince for Trans and Queer Jewish Studi at Manhattan’s Congregatn Be Simchat Torah, exprsed his dismay wh the Atwood cisn, and his hope for openly gay stunts at YCT the future.

“I know that Daniel has worked very hard and YCT was really exced about beg able to orda an out-gay stunt, ” he wrote.

JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?

The pair talk about livg and travelg together, and a recent episo revealed they would be vatng on Fire Island, which has a famo gay scene, wh proment gay Jewish okbook thor Jake Cohen.

LGBTQ PRI MONTH: OY VEY, WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS GAY?

The Variety article was born of Rosenfeld’s epeng belief that ’s possible to merge his Orthodox and gay inti more publicly — somethg that he has long done as a ngregant and sometim-ntor at the Morn Orthodox synagogue he attends the East Village. For Rosenfeld, there’s no tensn between Jewish observance and beg gay — although his articulatn of why reveals an awarens of the pa that others might feel tryg.

“Beg gay, you n keep Shabbos, you n keep kosher, you n keep anythg you want to do, ” he said. When Rosenfeld shared the Variety article on his Instagram page, the vast majory of the nearly 800 ments left by fans and iends showed support for his public embrace of his gay inty. Sce he has started addg gay material to his repertoire, his dienc have been creasgly LGBTQ, like at some of the “Holidazed” shows he performed December at Sony Hall New York.

They also said they were surprised by how weled they felt as a gay uple at a Republin event, and remarked on how many of the polil figur and donors they met were exced to show them pictur of all the other gay upl they knew.

"A MOL FOR PRI": LOL RABBI BE 1ST GAY MAN TO LEAD PROMENT MNOTA SYNAGOGUE

Schneerson nsired homosexualy a s and advoted for Jews to choose not to yield to homosexual urg.

“Some people will see this as a kd of affirmative step that you don’t have to abandon your relig inty bee you’re gay. In 2006, the Commtee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Rabbil Assembly pleted s liberatn regardg ordatn of gay men and lbians and same-sex mment ceremoni, endorsg thuvot (papers) both reaffirmg the stat quo and affirmg change.

The rult of the mtee’s vote means that rabbis, synagogu, and other Conservative stutns may choose to perform same-sex weddgs and hire openly gay or lbian clergy, but they do not have to. Below, Rabbi Daniel Nevs reflects on his part this the past four years, I have spent many of my spare hours readg the volumo lerature on what Judaism has to say about homosexualy. The tradn seems to assume that this ban would lead them back to heterosexual marriag, and ed, for centuri many gay and lbian people have done jt that.