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.

MAJOR US JEWISH GROUP ELECTS 1ST OPENLY GAY RABBI

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.

GAY RABBIS GETTG MARRIED — AND MARRYG

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. Part Two of a two-part story of a gay rabbil stunt the Reform Movement.

WE ORTHODOX JEWS SPERATELY NEED GAY RABBIS

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.

RABBIS DISCS JUDAISM'S RELATNSHIP WH GAYS

And of urse the biggt qutn: 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.