From the Balto Sun yesterday:
Leaders of Conservative Judaism will consider interpretations of Jewish law tomorrow that could render homosexual acts acceptable. If approved, the decision would open the door for the ordination of gay men and lesbians and recognition of same-sex relationships within America's second-largest branch of Judaism.Jewish leaders say such a decision would not be binding for rabbis or seminaries, but it would nevertheless mark a major shift in religious direction on homosexuality for the more than 2 million Conservative Jews worldwide.
Uh...no. It will mark a major shift for the RA and the USCJ. Individual Conservative Jews will have to make up their own minds whether or not the Conservative movement will still speak for them after it makes the shift.
It won't speak for this Conservative Jew, that's for sure.
Orthodox Judaism maintains that homosexual behavior is wrong, based on a verse in Leviticus that calls it an abomination to "lie with a man as one lies with a woman."
Yeah, that's pretty clear, right there.
Within the United States, more Jews identify as followers of Reform Judaism, which has allowed gay rabbis for more than a decade. Reconstructionist Jews, a smaller branch, have gay clergy and sanction gay relationships.
That doesn't mean they're right by any stretch of the imagination. That's why I haven't been a Reform Jew for over a decade, too.
For those who oppose the changes, "their basic read of biblical and Talmudic texts is that it's never been permitted," [Rabbi Alvin] Berkun [president of the RA] said. Some within the movement feel "this is a violent change with the past and a way of catapulting us into the arms of the Reform movement and further estranging us from the Orthodox."
Uh...duh?
This article disgusts me...it does not quote anywhere a single dissenting view. As for the rabbi in Pikesville who claims "We would have lost the richness of their insights, their feeling, their passion for Judaism" when he acclaims the decision years ago to ordain women, I have the same response that I'd have about gays: Ya don't have to be a rabbi to have insights, feeling, and passion for Judaism. In fact, in traditional Judaism, you really don't need a rabbi at all.
And I don't believe for a minute that this won't become binding on the rabbis and seminaries (JTS) that really count in Conservative Judaism.
I am SO glad I decided against the rabbinate as a career.
