We Orthodox Jews sperately need gay rabbis - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Contents:

• FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
• AM I A GAY RABBI, OR AM I A RABBI WHO IS GAY?
• MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI
• GAY RABBIS GETTG MARRIED — AND MARRYG
• WE ORTHODOX JEWS SPERATELY NEED GAY RABBIS
• RABBIS DISCS JUDAISM'S RELATNSHIP WH GAYS

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.

AM I A GAY RABBI, OR AM I A RABBI WHO IS GAY?

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. 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.

MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI

“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. Part Two of a two-part story of a gay rabbil stunt the Reform Movement. Yterday Ari shared his place the history of openly gay rabbil stunts.

In 2008, I ma the cisn to enter rabbil school as an openly gay man. My ncerns centered on one ma qutn: what would my gay and Jewish muny be like? 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. And of urse the biggt qutn: am I a gay rabbi, or am I a rabbi who is gay?

GAY RABBIS GETTG MARRIED — AND MARRYG

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.

” In a recent article , gay wrer J. 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 graduatg om Renstctnist Rabbil College 2018 as a proment openly gay, female and Black rabbi, Sandra Lawson said she applied for two posns that sued her skill set. Gay Pri flags 370. 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.

WE ORTHODOX JEWS SPERATELY NEED GAY RABBIS

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. The sourc of Judaism’s tradnal posn on homosexualy and gay issu are well known.

Two vers Levic (Levic 18:23 and Levic 20:13) exprs unequivol nmnatn of male homosexual sex (although is not clear whether what is referred to is terurse or all sexual acts between men).

”READ: Puttg The Prohibn Agast Homosexualy ContextAs evint by s language, the biblil prohibn do not extend to female homosexual acts, though later mentators disapproved of lbianism. One rabbic source associat female homosexualy wh the activi of the Egyptians and Canaan, om which the Jews are supposed to absta. The Levic vers also imply that is the act of homosexual sex, not the homosexual person, that is abhorred.

RABBIS DISCS JUDAISM'S RELATNSHIP WH GAYS

Several tradnal sourc temper the harshns of the “abomatn” by cg the lack of procreative potential as the reason for the abomable nature of the homosexual act.

Intertgly, the medieval book Sefer HaHuch par homosexual sex to marryg a barren woman. Nohels, the tradnal Jewish posn on homosexualy is still difficult for many liberal-md Jews, and the liberal nomatns have bated the extent to which gays and lbians n be fully tegrated to relig Conservative Halakhah and HomosexualyThe first and least ntroversial step taken by the Conservative, Renstctnist, and Reform movements was to endorse civil equaly for gays and lbians.