c. 2006 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Conservative Judaism, with its 1,000-plus rabbis and 750 congregations, was once the largest stream of American Judaism. Today, the more liberal Reform movement has a larger membership, closely followed by a resurgent Orthodox Jewish community.
As a result, the once-dominant Conservative movement is caught in an ominous squeeze between the two other major Jewish movements.
On Wednesday (Dec. 6), the Conservatives’ Committee on Law and Standards did not help this problem when it issued a confusing, tortured set of policies focusing on gay rabbis and same-sex unions.
After 15 years of intense debates, discussions, study papers and controversy, the 25-member committee did break new ground with three policies, one of which permits the ordination of gay rabbis and same-sex unions.
The second allows gay ordination but rejects male sodomy. The third policy prohibits gay sexual relationships and suggests therapy to change homosexual orientation.
The three policies will not satisfy either group in the ongoing debate. Now each synagogue must determine whether it wants a gay rabbi as spiritual leader. The faculties of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and the University of Judaism in Los Angeles will now decide whether to admit openly gay students who want to be Conservative rabbis.
But the historical change on gay rabbis and same-sex unions was accompanied by the resignation of four traditional members of the committee. It was a high price to pay.
The Conservative movement’s struggle is part of a civil war that is currently raging within many of America’s faith communities regarding the ordination of gays and lesbians.
One entrenched side opposes all gay or lesbian clergy. The attack arsenal includes the slangy “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” along with “Love the sinner, but hate the sin.”
Both Christian and Jewish groups point to a handful of verses that are considered to be definitive proof texts for religious law. They believe the biblical language is clear: homosexuality is “detestable,” and, for some within the Religious Right, there is scriptural justification for homosexuals to receive a “due penalty for their error.”
On the other side are are gay-rights advocates who support the ordination of gays and lesbians, and the abandonment of the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy used by some seminary admission committees. They note there are biblical verses covering myriad subjects that are not literally followed today, including the verse to kill a “rebellious son.” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). That grim punishment was long ago banished by the ancient rabbis.
Years ago, the Reform and Reconstructionist movements affirmed the right of gays and lesbians to become rabbis, cantors and other religious leaders. While discrimination still exists, the two movements have publicly accepted gays as spiritual leaders and teachers.
Because Orthodox Jewish bodies oppose gay clergy and the ordination of women, they have taken no public action on the issue. After Wednesday’s vote, Orthodox leaders condemned the action.
The Conservative committee offered three conflicting positions, reflecting the difficulties a centrist religious group faces when confronting such a complex issue.
Because the new policy _ or policies _ leave the decision on the local level, it is unlikely the Conservative movement will break apart on this issue. At the same time, the committee’s tortured recommendations will likely add to Conservatism’s growing difficulties in maintaining the religious center between Reform/Reconstructionism on one side and Orthodoxy on the other.
KRE/JL END RUDIN
(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)
Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.
