So---the Conservative Movement has voted on three teshuvot, answers, that provide Jewish legal guidance to the Movement's rabbis on the issue of same-gender commitment ceremonies and whether or not gay/lesbian people can serve as rabbis in the Conservative Movement. It's a mixed-result. Two of the teshuvot hold to the status quo that homosexuality is against the Torah and Judaism and therefore gay/lesbian folk cannot serve as rabbis or have their relationships sanctioned. The third breaks major new ground by saying that yes, gay/lesbian individuals who want to become Conservative rabbis can do so.
This third teshuvah is good, not great. But like all legal systems, it opens up the case law for further study and review and can become the building block through which an even more open Conservative Movement can flourish. Right now, however, it is just a beginning, an important one, but just a beginning. The University of Judaism has said it will accept g/l students, while the Jewish Theological Seminary, under its new chancellor, Arnold Eisen, is beginning a process of internal dialogue and reflection.
That's at the elite level. What will happen in the Movement's synagogues is yet to be seen, as well as in the Movement's rabbinical organization, the Rabbinical Assembly. Conservative is in the middle--and is thus faced with pressure on both wings. On the Reform side, g/l folks are completely welcomed in every facet of Jewish life. On the Orthodox side, like so many other aspects of contemporary life, it is something that exists in the background (don't ask, don't tell).
I am pleased that those who wish to go to rabbinical school for five years in the Conservative Movement may now get their desire granted. I hope for them that the Movement will be ready for them when they graduate.
This third teshuvah is good, not great. But like all legal systems, it opens up the case law for further study and review and can become the building block through which an even more open Conservative Movement can flourish. Right now, however, it is just a beginning, an important one, but just a beginning. The University of Judaism has said it will accept g/l students, while the Jewish Theological Seminary, under its new chancellor, Arnold Eisen, is beginning a process of internal dialogue and reflection.
That's at the elite level. What will happen in the Movement's synagogues is yet to be seen, as well as in the Movement's rabbinical organization, the Rabbinical Assembly. Conservative is in the middle--and is thus faced with pressure on both wings. On the Reform side, g/l folks are completely welcomed in every facet of Jewish life. On the Orthodox side, like so many other aspects of contemporary life, it is something that exists in the background (don't ask, don't tell).
I am pleased that those who wish to go to rabbinical school for five years in the Conservative Movement may now get their desire granted. I hope for them that the Movement will be ready for them when they graduate.
posted by Rabbi David Novak at
Friday, December 29, 2006
