When the first openly gay rabbinic students came through the doors of Conservative Judaism’s Jewish Theological Seminary in 2007, there remained in the back of everyone’s mind one sensitive, still-unresolved issue:
What would happen when they went to Israel?
All understood that their curriculum, like that of all JTS rabbinic students, would include a third year spent abroad at the Conservative movement’s seminary in Jerusalem, which has so far refused to ordain gay rabbis.
Now, Ian Chesir-Teran and Aaron Weininger — the pioneering gay students — are poring over their Talmuds and arguing the fine points of Jewish law at Machon Schechter in Jerusalem, JTS’s sister seminary. And so far, say both the students and their school, the year abroad is proceeding smoothly, at least on the surface.
“We haven’t encountered blatant homophobia,” Weininger said. “And yet, there’s a history there. There’s that challenge of, a little bit, walking on eggshells.”
This month marks three years since the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards opened the gates for gay rabbis. Thirteen of the committee’s 25 members voted for the landmark responsum, or religious position paper, advocating the move — more than twice the number of votes required to allow individual Conservative institutions to adopt the gay ordination position as their own.
The change, however, was not complete. Another responsum taking the opposite view also garnered 13 votes, leaving Conservative synagogues and schools free to adopt either position.
The two American Conservative seminaries, JTS and Los Angeles’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, began admitting gay students the semester immediately following the change. But the movement’s two international seminaries — Machon Schechter in Jerusalem and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires — declined to change their policies.
Despite this disparity, “We certainly anticipated that all of our students would continue to study in Israel, including our gay students,” said Rabbi Daniel Nevins, dean of the JTS Rabbinical School. After opening enrollment to gay and lesbian students, he said, “We promptly commenced conversations with our partners in Israel and were reassured that they would welcome all of our students.”
Still, some of the challenges they would face rose to the surface even during those discussions. Chesir-Teran, a former attorney who entered the seminary at the age of 36, recalled one meeting that he, Weininger and Nevins had in New York with Rabbi Einat Ramon, then dean of Machon Schechter’s Rabbinical School. Upon being assured gay students would be treated equally when they came to Schechter, Chesir-Teran said he told Ramon, “I’m assuming that means we’re going to be allowed to lead services and read from the Torah like everyone else,” Her answer, he recalled, was, “I don’t know. I have to get back to you.”
Ramon later confirmed in an email to Nevins that the gay students would, indeed, be allowed to do so. But the equivocation, said Chesir-Teran, was another “red flag” that made him leery about going there.
Ramon’s public pronouncements against gay ordination also stoked the two students’ concerns. In a Washington Jewish Week opinion piece shortly after the committee’s historic vote, Ramon, explaining her opposition to the change, avowed, “Judaism has always been clear and unambivalent toward the centrality of the heterosexual family.” And in a September 2007 policy statement, Ramon wrote, “If we permit [gay marriage and ordination of gay rabbis], we should, in all intellectual fairness, permit also all other forms of prohibited sexual activity and allow the marriage of brothers to their sisters.”
Ramon, who still teaches at Schechter, left her position as dean this past September. And though no one claims the move was connected to her pronouncements on gay ordination, supporters of the historic change say Ramon’s departure has eased the atmosphere for gay and lesbian students at Schechter considerably.
Ramon declined to comment for this article. “I have written and said what I had to say,” she told the Forward.
Nevertheless, during her tenure, the relationship between the two schools was sometimes strained. For example, Schechter put its foot down in March 2008, when several JTS students studying there sought to mark the one-year anniversary of the change in JTS’s admissions policy. The students invited Yonatan Gher, then the incoming director of the gay community center Jerusalem Open House, to speak about his experience as a gay man in the Israeli Conservative movement. But after a dispute with Ramon and others in the administration, the students were forced to hold the event off campus.
Nevins cringed when asked about this event. “That was an incident where no one was at their best,” he acknowledged. “It was a very painful moment.”
Heading into their year abroad with this history in mind, Chesir-Teran, Weininger, and several other students lobbied the JTS administration for alternatives to Machon Schechter.
“The very thought, frankly, of being told by my home institution that I have to study at a school that wouldn’t ordain me, that wouldn’t confer on me the title of ‘rabbi,’ is very challenging,” Chesir-Teran said.
But one option JTS never considered was allowing the students to study at another school. This is a route the Ziegler School took when it announced in January that it would end its 10-year relationship with Machon Schechter. The shift, says Ziegler dean Rabbi Bradley Artson, is unrelated to Schechter’s stand on gay ordination. But Ziegler now sends its students to the Conservative Yeshiva, a co-educational, egalitarian school for Diaspora Jews in Jerusalem.
JTS, said Nevins, is committed to sending its students to an Israeli institution, where they can take classes, taught in Hebrew, alongside Israelis. “The other options out there were American environments, not Israeli environments,” he said.
Though Schechter’s policy against gay ordination continues, the two rabbis selected to fill Ramon’s position this past July are seen as friendly toward the cause of gay students. Rabbi Moshe Silberschein, appointed dean, was ordained at JTS in 1981 and taught for many years at the Reform-affiliated Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, which has admitted gay students since 1990. Rabbi Tamar Elad-Applebaum, appointed associate dean, is a member of Keshet, the Conservative group pushing for gay inclusion.
Among their reasons for taking their new positions, said Silberschein, is a desire “to unite the movement.”
“I’d like to think that we’re bringing a new spirit of conciliation,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a new page.”
Nevertheless, Silberschein says, the school’s ordination policy is unlikely to change anytime soon. While Ramon was dean, she also served as Schechter’s posek, or halachic decision maker. When she stepped down, the two positions were split, and Rabbi David Golinkin was appointed posek. Golinkin decided that Schechter would continue to abide by the more conservative responsum. And Silberschein, whatever his personal views, defers to Golinkin. “I took this job knowing clearly that Rabbi Golinkin is the posek for Schechter,” he said. “But I wanted to once again build bridges with the movement and Schechter and the movement with JTS.”
Now that they’ve settled into their time in Jerusalem, both Weininger and Chesir-Teran are taking stock.
“Having lived now in Jerusalem for almost four months, and really having adjusted well with my husband and three kids here, we’ve indulged a little bit in fantasies about what it would be like to make aliyah, to move to Israel, and to make a home for ourselves here,” said Chesir-Teran. “But I know that that’s really impossible, because I couldn’t continue my studies at Machon Schechter.”
That said, “having a place at the table is a blessing and a privilege,” he said.
Both rabbinical students say that simply being who they are and telling their personal stories has had a profound impact on many of their teachers and fellow students. Being at JTS and at Schechter, said Chesir-Teran, has meant “having opportunities to interact on a daily basis with future rabbis, and to let them see how I live my life, just as I see how they live their lives —to show that my life is equally as holy and equally as mundane as their lives.”
Contact Beth Schwartzapfel at schwartzapfel@forward.com
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Being a Gay Rabbi is a bit like being a Jewish Nazi. Why belong to a group whose basics require their death just for being?
Elaygee,
Thanks for your oh-so-generous labeling of gay and lesbian Jews Nazis. Sure, you didn't mean it that way [Sarcasm]. But that's what you actually did whether or not you intended it.
Disgusting.
Someone should remind the oh-so-erudite Elaygee that gays and lesbians were also persecuted by the Nazis, which renders the analogy not only offensive but complete nonsense. But what do facts matter when it comes to good old homophobia?
The fact that the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary gave Einat Ramon the boot is an indication that even they know that they can not remain with a finger in the dyke.
The school seems to have made some very good moves. But they can not allow a professor to remain on the faculty if she states:" If we permit [gay marriage and ordination of gay rabbis], we should, in all intellectual fairness, permit also all other forms of prohibited sexual activity and allow the marriage of brothers to their sisters.” Intellectual fairness? This statement does not deserve a serious response.
The new dean states: "Nevertheless the school’s ordination policy is unlikely to change anytime soon." Why? "Golinkin decided that Schechter would continue to abide by the more conservative responsum."
So there you have it. One person with his head in the sand stopping the inevitable. The major movement seminaries ordain. Most young rabbis are OK with commitment ceremonies. The Movement's other institutions in Israel are Gay friendly. It is just not right that students must still "walk on egg-shells." Golinkin-wake up or get out!
To Meir, Ramon's statement does deserve a serious response. The same chapter of Leviticus that we read on Yom Kippur that condemns male sodomy, also condemns adultery, incest and bestiality. Once you scrap this one verse of Toras Emess, you may as well scrap the rest of the chapter. Some men may be born gay but their preferred option from a Torah perspective is celibacy, not gay marriage.
Interesting that Rabbi Ramon is a woman, not so many years ago SHE would not have been ordained either.
To Joe: The "pro-gay' decision still upholds the Biblical prohibition. It negates most of the stuff added on much later.
What's more, rabbis have the right to so narrowly define a law that it all but ceases to be relevant (e.g. the law of the rebellious son). We have always had a situation whereby "where there is a rabbinic will there is a rabbinic way.
And by your logic the Conservative Rabbinical Schools should call for a ban on those who practice bestiality. They do not. We can assume that they expect their students to follow Jewish law. It goes without asking. So why ask about what a person does in the bedroom? Do you put those men who have sex with a woman who feels that Mikveh is archaic in the same category as those who practice bestiality? And by your logic, why not accept Lesbians?
To Lynne: The same article that was written about Ramon actually states that, as a women, she was forced to go abroad for ordination which, at the time, was unavailable to women in Israel. Now she passes the same fate to gays and lesbians.
Meir: Thank you for your post. You could have added Capital Punishment. Had the Rabbis taken Joe's position, we would still have be executing people for kindling a fire on the Sabbath. Fortunately, the Conservative movement, like most of the great sages of our past, recognizes that there is an ethical sensibility that does not come from books, but that is a necessary part of Torah.
Conservative judaism is not halachic it is becomming reform Judaism with Kashrut!
Conservative judaism is not halachic it is becomming reform Judaism with Kashrut!
Thanks for the update! From what I have experienced personally re their kashrut-observance this is news to me. For that matter, its laxity with kashrut is no worse than its laxity with the rest of Jewish law, including its position on homosexuality. Halachic? LOL! It's all one big sad joke.
Please, please, why, oh, why does the problem of homosexuals occupy such a dominant places in our discussions of Judaism. The problem has been settled a long time ago. Conform or leave. We live at a time when the tail (and its welfare) has become much more important than the dog. I don't know about most of you, but as for myself, I am sick at heart about this whole business of women who want to be man and man who keep reinterpreting the scriptures. This is not a compulsory organization. If you can not or will not conform with the rules of membership, don't force the rest of us to embrace (that's what you want) your particular peculiarities. Let's move on real problems of concern to the Jewish people: survival and continuity.
This is not just concerning jewish law but what HaShem gave Moses. Even before the law was given in the beginning G-d said for man and woman to be fruitful and multiply. To engage in any sexual activity contrary to G-d's word is misuse of the seed which G-d blessed man with. So to confirm our perverse desires if it be gluttony, greed, etc. do we ignore the Word of G-d and pick and choose what we should follow? I think not we are called to be a light to the nations not lead them into degradation and perversity. G-d's Word is the light which leads us to love one another but that does not mean to accept behavior that G-d has already said is contrary to His instructions.
I see a huge difference between ordaining women and homosexuals. The former is "reversing" a Rabbinic ruling, while the latter is a Biblical prohibition. I also have a lot of difficulty accepting the way the decision was made for (essentially) condoning anti-halakhic behavior. It, however, was not the first time Conservative Judaism [CJ] approved non-halakhic behavior; viz. driving on Shabbat (1950s). As such, I find it difficult to view CJ as a halakhic movement. As someone who believes halakha is binding led me to leave CJ for a community that actively aspires to live a serious halakhic life.
That said, the approval of homosexuals as Rabbis neither surprises me nor disturbs me. No one is "perfect" in observing all the mitzvot they are obligated to keep. Rabbis should not be the paragon of true Judaism, they're merely more learned Jews. If you believe that sexual orientation is a matter of genetics as opposed to personal choice means that they’re fulfilling all the mitzvot they’re able to.
So, if CJ is willing to accept gays and lesbians as full equals (“responsibilities”), then it behooves them to accord them full rights.
There are many thoughts on how one becomes gay, but nevertheless G-D has his own thoughts on it. For they are written in Leviticus 18.
Ian Chesir Teran, my friend, Your love of G-D may it be greater than your love of flesh, or anything that this earth can bring you to desire more than your G-D.
You are in the garden, and this is your apple, that you may not eat of. It is written, that G-D gave Samson strength greater than any man on earth. Samson, failed G-D, and the reason was not that G-D didnot give him enough strength, it was because Samson did not obtain for himself spiritual strength. Ask G-D for the strength that Samson did not ask for, and my friend, may he grant that and more. I will pray for you and your learning.