Why Intermarriage Pos Threat to Jewish Life — But Gay Marriage Don’t – The Forward

Contents:

• CONSERVATIVE JEWS APPROVE GAY WEDDG GUIL
• US JEWS AMONG THE MOST SUPPORTIVE OF GAY MARRIAGE
• WHY INTERMARRIAGE POS THREAT TO JEWISH LIFE — BUT GAY MARRIAGE DON’T
• MEET THE RABBI WHO BRGS ORTHODOX LBIANS TOGETHER WH GAY MEN SO THEY N HAVE KIDS

CONSERVATIVE JEWS APPROVE GAY WEDDG GUIL

First, should the Uned Stat ernment legalize same-sex marriage, offerg homosexual upl the same legal benefs that married heterosexual upl have? Renstctnist JudaismThe Renstctnist movement exprsed s support for the full cln of gay men and lbians all aspects of Jewish life s 1992 Report of the Renstctnist Commissn on Homosexualy.

The report affirmed the hols of homosexual relatnships and the need to affirm them a Jewish ntext: “As we celebrate the love between heterosexual upl, so too we celebrate the love between gay or lbian Jews. ” The Renstctnist movement today also fully endors efforts to legalize civil same-sex marriag and grant homosexual upl equal benefs. Renstctnist Rabbi Rebec Alpert, thor of Like Bread on the Ser Plate: Jewish Lbians and the Transformatn of Tradn and -thor of Explorg Judaism: A Renstctnist Approach, has argued that the Jewish prciple of enomic jtice mands support for civil gay and lbian marriage, bee the absence of legal benefs for same-genr upl n e them signifint fancial harm.

US JEWS AMONG THE MOST SUPPORTIVE OF GAY MARRIAGE

The Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis (CCAR), the profsnal associatn of Reform rabbis, passed a rolutn 1996 opposg “ernmental efforts to ban gay and lbian marriage. ” The Unn of Amerin Hebrew Congregatns, the ngregatnal arm of the Reform movement, followed su 1997, rolvg to, “support secular efforts to promote legislatn which would provi civil marriage equal opportuny for gay men and lbians.

Gay and lbian upl should have the legal right, as heterosexual upl do, to form such lastg partnerships. ”The issue of gay and lbian Jewish weddgs, however, has been more ntroversial the Reform movement. In 1997, the CCAR Commtee on Rponsa voted by a majory of 7 to 2 that homosexual relatnships do not f wh the Jewish legal tegory of kiddh.

It also lled for the velopment of sample ceremoni to be ed as a rource for those rabbis who plan to perform same-sex Jewish Conservative MovementUntil very recently same-sex marriage and other gay and lbian issu met wh ltle nsens the Conservative movement. Then, June 2012 the Commtee of Jewish Law and Standards, voted 13-0 wh one abstentn to formally approve gay marriage ceremoni.

WHY INTERMARRIAGE POS THREAT TO JEWISH LIFE — BUT GAY MARRIAGE DON’T

The mtee veloped two kds of ceremoni that n be ed as a gui for a rabbi marryg a same-sex uple, neher of which nta kiddh, and also issued a gui to homosexual divorce.

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.

Ls obv was what the Torah, and then the Talmud, expected of homosexuals. 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. What we do know is that there is no effective way for most people who are homosexual to bee heterosexual.

MEET THE RABBI WHO BRGS ORTHODOX LBIANS TOGETHER WH GAY MEN SO THEY N HAVE KIDS

That was the real qutn behd the Conservative Movement’s recent four-year procs of study and bate on the subject of homosexualy and halakhah (Jewish law) Conservative PolicyIn 1992, when I was still rabbil school at JTS, the Commtee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbil Assembly (CJLS) bated the subject and emerged wh a nsens statement that was self-ntradictory. It proclaimed a broad wele for gay and lbian Jews, but nied regnn of their mted relatnships, their ordatn as clergy, and even their functng other “learship rol. Many gay and lbian Jews, as well as their fay and iends, advoted for a more clive policy.

At the outset is important to emphasize that none of the mtee members uttered anythg like anim toward gay or lbian Jews the entire four years of the ntrary, even those most opposed to halakhic change amed their arguments wh rpect and sympathy for the prediment that gay and lbian Jews face. Abba Borowich, an Orthodox psychiatrist who practiced reparative therapy for Orthodox homosexuals for nearly 30 years before ncludg that this was an effective urse of therapy which only creased sufferg among his patients and their fai.

That is, would not be possible to go om nsirg male homosexual terurse to be a rdal prohibn requirg martyrdom to nsirg same sex relatnships as sanctified marriag. It is forbidn to huiate another person, and yet our policy on homosexualy is clearly huiatg.