Gay Rabbi Leads Conservative Effort To ‘Radically Reimagine’ Traditions

Rabbi Gil Steinlauf

By Daniel J. Solomon April 20, 2017

Gil Steinlauf, the prominent Washington, D.C. rabbi who made waves when he came out three years ago to his congregation, will leave his post as senior rabbi at Adas Israel to head up a new “innovation lab” for the Conservative movement.

Steinlauf described the initiative as “far reaching” and “designed to radically reimagine the ancient traditions of Judaism to meet the needs of future generations across the movement and the world,” in a letter to his congregants.

He added that the innovation labs, developed along with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Jewish Theological Seminary, would allow him to expand on his “passions in researching, writing, speaking, teaching, and collaborating with leading innovative Jewish thinkers and institutions.”

Steinlauf has led Adas Israel through a dynamic period in which it has grown and attracted high-profile visits from former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and several Jewish members of the Supreme Court.

His new position will put him at the center of efforts to revitalize the Conservative movement, which has shed hundreds of thousands of members and hundreds of synagogues since its post-war heyday.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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