Debate over gay rabbis non-issue in Brigantine
By ELAINE ROSE Staff Writer
Temple Beth Shalom in Brigantine has already been there, done that.
"Despite the Conservative synagogue’s don’t ask, don’t tell†policy, everyone knew that their part-time rabbi was gay", co-President Lill Shender said.
"Most of the congregation accepted her very warmly. She was a warm, personable person with a great voice and a great personality", Shender said.
The sexual orientation of the rabbi, who left in July to take a position on the West Coast, may have been an issue for some congregants, but nobody complained to her about it, Shender said.
But the topic is becoming an issue for the Conservative movement in Judaism, as the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is expected to vote this December on four papers regarding gay clergy and rabbis blessing same-sex unions.
Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, is holding a series of meetings around North America to discuss the issue and prepare congregations for the confusion and discomfort that may follow.
He is accompanied by two well-known scholars. Rabbi Joel Roth, a professor at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, opposes lifting the ban on gay rabbis, and Rabbi Elliott Dorf, a professor at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, supports ordination of gay clergy.
Epstein has said it is possible the committee will endorse both points of view, meaning each congregation would decide for itself.
The last time the Conservative movement debated the issue was in 1992, when it decided to retain the ban on openly gay clergy.
The more liberal Reform and Reconstructionist movements of Judaism have both ordained gay rabbis for several years. Orthodox Jews do not, and it is not even considered a topic for discussion.
Ordination of gay clergy has caused major disagreements in several Protestant denominations, with some fearing a schism would result.
Rabbi Aaron Gaber, of Congregation Beth Judah in Ventnor, said he doesn’t believe that the decision, whichever way it goes, will cause a major rift in Conservative Judaism.
It is “a movement with a very large tent that all people can find their place under,†Gaber said.
Still, public debate about ordination of gays and lesbians is premature, and most Conservative rabbis have much more pressing things on their minds, Gaber said. Rabbis are more concerned about getting Jewish people into the synagogues, encouraging observance of Jewish rituals and making decisions in a Jewish manner.
Gaber said the four papers have not yet been made available to members of the Rabbinical Assembly, so he has not had a chance to read them. He has studied with Dorf and Roth, and has a great deal of respect for both men.
"They’re amazingly brilliant individuals who care deeply about Jewish law and the Conservative movement", Gaber said.
For Roth, Scripture makes it clear in Lev. 18:22 and Lev. 20:13 that sex between two males is a forbidden act, punishable by death. Although he agrees that the law as it stands can be painful, “pain is not to be equated with immorality,†Roth said.
But Dorf said that God’s will has to be interpreted for modern times, and it is not natural to demand that homosexuals remain celibate.
Whatever the scholars eventually decide, rabbis realize that gays in the pulpit and in the pews are a fact of modern Jewish life.
Gaber said he knows of Conservative rabbis who are gay, who may have come out of the closet after they were ordained.
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin, of the Beth El Synagogue in Margate, said he knows that some of the 1,500 Conservative rabbis in the country are gay. He is friendly with a few of them, and “they’re accepted by their communities and they’re accepted by the majority of the Conservative rabbinate,†he said.
Beth El welcomes anyone who wants to worship with the congregation, Plotkin said. There are probably homosexuals in the congregation, though no one makes a big deal out of it one way or the other.
"We don’t see them as anything other than children of God. We’re not closed to anybody", Plotkin said. "We don’t judge anybody. If there’s any judging to be done, it will be done by God, not by me."
Congregants at Beth Judah said a rabbi’s sexual orientation is none of their concern.
"That’s their business", said Cliff Rosenthal, of Margate. "If he’s a good rabbi, I have no problem there."
"It’s about time to ordain gays", said Sue Anne Levin. And if people object,if they only have that to worry about, they’re not praying enough."
"If they earn the right to be called ’rabbi,’ God bless them", said congregant Terri Barron.
Some more traditional, Orthodox-leaning congregations will oppose the ordination of gays, said Shender, of Temple Beth Shalom in Brigantine. But for her small community, finding a good part-time rabbi is the biggest challenge.
"Now we have another great one, and he is straight", Shender said.
To e-mail Elaine Rose at The Press: [email protected]
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.