Posted on 12/06/2006 6:27:57 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leaders of the Conservative Jewish movement opened the door on Wednesday to the ordination of gay rabbis and the recognition of gay marriage, but made it clear the more orthodox in the faith may go on opposing such liberalization.
"We as a movement see the advocacy of pluralism and we know that people come to different conclusions," said Rabbi Kassel Abelson, speaking for the 25-member Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards which issued a series of advisory reports.
"These ... are accepted as guides so that the gays and lesbians can be welcomed into our congregation and communities and made to feel accepted," he added.
The statements issued by the committee are not binding on congregations or seminaries. One said openly gay people should be allowed as rabbis and that "committed gay relationships" can be recognized but not blessed. That statement also retained the prohibition in the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) against male homosexual intercourse.
In a separate vote the group also upheld a 1992 statement that advises against gay ordinations and the recognition of same-sex marriages. The result is a mixed approach that will allow both liberals and the more orthodox in the movement to pursue whichever policies they prefer.
With so much left to the institutions' and congregations' discretion, the issue was likely to go on stirring controversy in the movement.
Four members of the committee resigned after the statements were issued, saying they opposed the methods used to reach the conclusions in the paper liberalizing gay rabbis.
There are perhaps 6 million Jews in the United States, only about a third of them affiliated with a congregation. Of those who do attend synagogue 38 percent are Reform, 33 percent Conservative and 22 percent Orthodox, according to one survey.
The Conservative movement holds the middle ground between liberalism and orthodoxy and the gay issue is a matter of division within it, as is the case with many other faiths.
Rabbi Jerome Epstein of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in New York, asked what backing the two differing views might have, said: "Based on the e-mails and phone calls we have been receiving my guess is that it's very close to an even split at the moment."
Rabbi Elliot Dorff of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles said each of the rabbinical schools would hold their own discussions on the papers accepted by the council.
"I imagine each of the seminaries will handle it differently," he said. ""My guess is that within the next several weeks we will be announcing that our rabbinical school will be open to gays and lesbians because we have already had this discussion"
Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, said rabbis who so desire could start performing commitment ceremonies recognizing gay relationships immediately.
They are "Pagans in the Pulpit"
http://www.ritualabusefree.org/Pagans%20in%20the%20Pulpit.htm
I've been to a couple Conservative services and thought there was some political correctness evident in the rabbis' postures. Also the prayer book. OTOH, I heard one Conservative rabbi really blast Bill Clinton from the pulpit, during a discussion on honesty and morality.
This is rediculous: I don't think The Almighty is happy: Leviticus strictly prohibits sexual sin including perverted sodomite sin.
Just so. If your parentage is Jewish, or at least if your mother is Jewish, then you are a Jew, because the Jews are a Chosen People. Jews can disobey the law and refuse the Covenant, which to the extent it is deliberate makes them bad Jews, I suppose.
Or someone can become a Jewish convert, if it is done properly by an Orthodox rabbi.
In much the same way, once a Catholic, always a Catholic, although you can choose to become a bad Catholic or an apostate Catholic. But from the Catholic point of view, baptism and reception into the Church cannot be simply undone.
Anybody check out Mike Savage and his rant on this subject Conservative Jews ok gayrabbs?
He got pre-empted on Chicago's WIND am560 and WSAW am 550 for state basketball but could be heard later on WWL New Orleans am 870 going on about H.A.Baker. Found interesting review on Baker and posted it in http://www.theusmat.com
It seems that the gay agenda is a trojan horse (no pun intended) that the left uses to gain full control of the various religious organizations. Some self-proclaimed "moderate" seeks "dialog" about "issues over which honest people can disagree" and then watch out! As soon as some committee votes 51% in favor of a leftist position, all talk about "dialog" goes away and the more conservative members quit or are forced out and the far left has complete control of that denomination.
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Sounds like conservative Jews aren't that conservative after all. If I were a conservative Jew, I'd be looking for the nearest Orthodox community about now.
That was their stated objective back in the 80s.
Check the summary in comment #10.
Here's the link, duh:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1147428/posts
After the Ball--Why the Homosexual Movement Has Won
There already are gabbis. A gabbi is a syngagouge lay leader responsible for doling out honors (such as who gets to carry the Torah) and making sure services run smoothly (i.e. approaching people who are talking or behaving inappropriately and getting them back in line).
I'm sure you were being facitious, but I just thought I'd give you a bit of education.
Not quite. American "Conservative Judaism" basically formed from two groups -- Reform Rabbis who were disgusted with the liberalness of Reform Judaism, and formally broke with Reform after non-kosher food was served at a Hebrew Union College commencement, and more traditional Jews who observed Halacha. At the time (late 19th century) there was no organized "Orthodox" movement, and the burgeoning Conservative movement grew to fill that role. Many synagouges that are today Orthodox, such as the prestigious Spanish-Portuegese synagouges in Philadelphia and New York were instrumental in forming Conservative institutions such as the Jewish Theological Seminary ("JTS").
During the early half of the 20th Century, there was no practical distinction between the Conservative movement and what today would be called Modern Orthodoxy. My childhood rabbi, for example, attended JTS on scholarship and then returned to serve his extremely traditional community in Calcutta, India for twenty years, until that community all emigrated to Israel, London or the US.
In the decade following WWII, there was a strong break between Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, which was finalized when the Conservative movement issued a Halachic ruling allowing people to drive on Shabbat.
Today, theologically, very little separates Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. On paper, both accept that the Torah (both Written and Oral) came from God (although many Conservative rabbis have broken from this) and accept that Halacha (Jewish Law) is binding. The difference is that the Conservative movement is willing to allow Jewish Law to "evolve" using Halachic processes (rabbincal debate and discussion) that have not been in place for centuries and reconsider "settled" opinions.
Orthodoxy, on the other hand, is extremely reluctant to disturb settled Jewish precedent, to the point that it preserves laws and stringencies that it acknowledges were instituted by men and have outlived their usefulness. There are exceptions to this principal, but they are rare.
In practice, however, the Conservative movement -- while going through the motions of Halachic processes -- does it only for show. In other words, while they claim to look at the sources to find an answer, in reality they find an answer (based on popular fashion) and then try to justify it by referencing sources. As a result, they allow Jewish law to "change" based on popular fashion, regardless of whether the change is supportable or not.
Reform, theologically, is very different from Orthodoxy and Conservative Judaism. It rejects that Jewish Law is binding, and doesn't even go through the motions of trying to justify their positions. In practice, it doesn't differ much from Conservative Judaism.
They define the term CINO (conservative in name only.)
Thanks for the explanation, and good to see you!
Yup.
It could be that the Conservative branch has just slowly gotten more liberal over hte years, so they're moving away from the Orthodox. This friend once told me that in Reform Judaism, it's not unusual to find people who don't even believe in God. When she told me that, I was incredulous and asked "But if they call themselves a "Chosen people" by whom do they think they've been chosen?" She didn't really know.
Conservative Jews are Episcopalian analogues. Reforms are like Unitarians.
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