Conservatives Mull Gay Ban
Members of Conservative Judaism’s top lawmaking body met outside Baltimore this week to debate the movement’s ban on same-sex ceremonies and gay rabbinical ordination.
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards took up the issue during meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. Movement sources said that a final decision could come at a meeting in June or September.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, has warned that a reversal would split the movement. But in 2002, the president of the movement’s congregational arm called for a review of the policy; others have warned that some congregations will abandon the movement if the prohibitions are not dropped.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
