Conservative Jewish students split on gay ordination anniversary

[Ian David]

Black Collar Douchebaggery vs DoGoodery

March 26, 2008
Conservative Jewish students split on gay ordination anniversary

In an incident that underlines the tension between the US and Israeli branches of the Conservative Movement over ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis, the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem clashed this week with a group of visiting American rabbinic students.

Schechter's administration refused to allow a group of about 35 students to mark on Wednesday the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking decision by the Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement's flagship rabbinic school in New York, to accept gay and lesbian rabbinical and cantorial students.

According to a press release put out by Schechter, Rabbi Dr. Einat Ramon, dean of the Schechter Seminary, met with the rabbinical students last week and requested that the event include an expression of the more conservative, equally authoritative, halachic opinion adopted by the Law Committee of the Conservative Movement that maintained the status quo by prohibiting the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis.

<snip>

Sources opposed to the Schechter decision told The Jerusalem Post that the students were threatened with disciplinary measures if they attempted to celebrate the anniversary on Schechter's premises. As a result, they were forced to move to the woods near the institute, in the Valley of the Cross. The source also said that the students were warned by Schechter not to speak with the news media.

More:
http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/03/conservative-jewish-students-split-on.html

[Meshuga]

1. Sure the Conservative Movement in Israel is much more strict than the movement in the US

But sometimes I wonder if they shouldn't just split. The big tent approach is not going to work for too long. The gay issue is testing it. Perhaps, the movement should just split and agree to disagree holding a cordial relationship.

I have participated in classes and debates about the ordination of gay rabbis in my Conservative synagogue and while the majority is for the ordination and accepting gay rabbis in the community (which, thank God, passed the resolution in favor), there is a minority who is against it, not on the basis that it is something immoral, but because anal sex is explicitly prohibited by halakhah. It right there in leviticus.

People like Rabbi Joel Roth (US rabbi who is anti ordination of homosexuals) used the argument that while he is for civil rights of gays and lesbians in the American society, and welcoming of gay members in conservative synagogues, he thinks that a teacher of Jewish law and Jewish tradition (functions of a Rabbi) should follow Jewish law and Jewish tradition as examples to the community. Gays by their nature would go against halakhah therefore not being fit as an example of an observant Jew in a movement that they refer to a halakhik movement.

However, like Rabbi Elliot Dorff (pro ordination of gay rabbis in the Conservative Movement), I see the appeal to halakhah as flawed. What does halakhah have to do with accepting someone as a rabbi? And what kind of sign are we sending to young members who are homosexuals when we say that a gay Jew is not fit to be a rabbi?

The halakhic argument is flawed because one has to wonder what happens to rabbis who are caught committing adultery? Adultery is obviously against Jewish law. A rabbi who commits adultery might lose his gig at his synagogue but he could find another gig withing the USCJ. Why? Consensual anal sex is a victim-less act while with adultery there is always a victim. If we prohibit gay rabbis then why aren't adulterous rabbis being expelled from the movement? And since the movement views homosexuality itself as not being a problem, saying that anal sex is the only issue since it is agaisnt halakhah, then who is checking whether someone is having anal sex? Isn't having sex during nidah prohibited? Who is to say that a heterosexual rabbi will not have sex with his wife during nidah? Like Rabbi Dorff asks, who is the bedroom police?

One of the flaws I see with the Conservative movement (speaking as a member of a synagogue affiliated to the USCJ) is that the movement seem to wish to be orthodox but lacking the chutzpah in order to become full fledged orthodox. Following halakhah with loopholes. Halakhists like Rabbi Joel Roth argue that if the Conservative Movement claims to be a halakhic movement then it should not go against halakhah, otherwise there is no purpose for a Conservative Movement to exist, that they should just join the Reform Movement. Well, if the Conservative Movement uses halakhah as an answer to every question then the movement should be consistent and no longer exist, becoming full fledged orthodox. It is either shit or get off the pot. :-)

[Ian David]

2. Actually, anal sex is only prohibited if you "waste" the sperm.

A straight couple can have anal sex, provided the man ejaculates inside the woman's vagina.

However, this "double-dipping" is not very sanitary.

Technically, a gay couple can have anal sex provided they save their sperm and put it in a woman's vagina somehow.

A particularly friendly next-door neighbor, perhaps?

[Meshuga]

3. Male to male sexual intercourse is prohibited as it is implied in leviticus 18:22

even without ejaculation. The act, not the outcome (pun intended), is the prohibition in this case. The wasting of the seed issue is separate. It could be used as a double-play as far as breaking Jewish Law but it is a separate issue.

Conservative Judaism is all about the community deciding on how the members should approach Judaism in a meaningful way given the halakhic nature of the movement. For example, is driving to shul on shabbos acceptable? The community decides based on Jewish texts and existing responsa. But I don't think these decisions by the community mean that you must comply with Jewish law or else. It is all about creating a meaningful Jewish life and it is there for you to decide whether you want to follow it or not. So if you feel the need to finish the job in a non-vaginal sense, who in the community is going to be there in your bedroom watching you to see if you are following Jewish law to the very detail?

In other words, who is watching the conservative rabbis to make sure he or she is having kosher sex? And who is going to be watching gay rabbis to see if they are going against Jewish Law in the bedroom? Whose business is it anyway?