Conservative Scholars Ease Gay Rabbi Ban

[Daniel]

This is a big deal. Zimnah- have you gotten wind of this?


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/A...rtner=homepage

NEW YORK (AP) -- Conservative Jewish scholars eased their ban Wednesday on ordaining gays, upending thousands of years of precedent while stopping short of fully accepting gay clergy.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which interprets religious law for the movement, adopted three starkly conflicting policies that nonetheless gave gays a wider role. Four committee members who wanted to uphold the ban outright resigned in protest after the vote.

One policy maintains the prohibition against gay clergy. Another, billed as a compromise, maintains a ban on male sodomy but permits gay ordination and allows blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. The third policy supports the ban on gay sex in Jewish law and notes that some gays have successfully undergone therapy that changes their sexual orientation.

That leaves seminaries and synagogues to decide on their own which approach to follow.

[Daniel]

http://www.truthdig.com/eartothegrou...rriage_rabbis/

Washington Post:

A panel of rabbis opened the way Wednesday to allow same-sex commitment ceremonies and the ordination of gays within Conservative Judaism, which occupies a difficult middle ground between orthodoxy and liberalism in American Judaism.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards committee accepted three teshuvot, or answers, to the question of whether Jewish law permits homosexual sex. Two of the answers uphold the status quo, which forbids homosexuality. But one of them allows ordination of gay men and lesbians and same-sex ceremonies while maintaining a ban on anal sex.

Four of the committee’s 25 members resigned in protest of the decision.

It takes the votes of just six of the panel’s 25 members to declare an answer to be valid—meaning that it is a well-founded interpretation of Jewish law, not that it is the only legitimate interpretation. As Wednesday’s vote made clear, it is possible to approve contradictory answers.

And what's with the anal sex obsession?

[zimnah]

Daniel:
This ruling has been a long time coming in the Conservative movement...and its about time!
I think I know at leat two of the four rabbis who resigned after the ruling, and their resignations will also be a good thing in the long run. But I do worry about the direction the Conservative movement is taking at this point.
The big deal about anal sex, or just even sex among gay men, has to do with biblical rulings relating to the "spilling of seed." In short, if a male ejaculates with no possibility of procreation, this causes some distress amongst traditional Jews. As I posted previously, I believe we have the ultimate responsibility of "Tikkun Olam," or (loosely translated) 'Care of the World.' And G-d never did actually define whom we should love in the Torah. The concept in Judaism of "basheert," or "destined one' suggests that we are half souls searching for the other half of our given souls, and I have to say that I subscribe to that theory. A gay man may avoid judgement, by Jewish law, by donating semen to a local fertility bank, hence not spilling his seed in vain, and still find his basheert.
As our technology advances, our religious laws struggle to catch up. It is a fast-paced race, and we continually lag behind. Thank G-d our movement has made a definitve decision regarding the LGBT community. Our movement has straddled the fence for so long that we all have splinters in our tush!!! On a more serious note, I have noticed over the last 20 years that the Conservative Movement of Judaism lags behind, but ultimately makes the correct decision in most of the issues presented to the religious world. It takes us a bit to dismount from the fence, but I wish to believe that we usually end up on the right side.
Love to all
--Dawn