Rabbi Steven Greenberg Talks About Being Orthodox and Gay

Daddies? Girl: Steven Greenberg and husband Steven Goldstein are raising their daugher, Amalia. Image by haaretz

Amalia, two and a half years old, has an abundance of self-confidence and a winning smile. Her parents, Orthodox rabbi Steven Greenberg, 57, and actor and opera singer Steven Goldstein, wed last year in a civil ceremony in New York, while holding the toddler in their arms.

A few weeks ago, Greenberg and his family were staying with friends on Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem. Upon seeing Amalia with her parents, I wondered aloud who the biological father was. She looks just like him ‏(he eventually confirmed with a nod that he’s the biological father‏). She calls him “Abba” and Goldstein, “Daddy.” Both men speak Hebrew.

How do you share the childcare and who gets up with her at night?

Greenberg: “We both get up. The division of labor changes from day to day. But the one who always knows where the clothes she likes are, and the toys and all of her stuff, and never forgets where her barrettes are and is also great at taking care of her hair − is my husband. He’s more obsessive than I am about those details.”

By more obsessive do you mean more feminine?

“No, I didn’t say that,” Greenberg hastens to reply. His partner, who was busy making a cheese sandwich for their little girl, interjected. “Yes, a little more feminine: Why don’t you want to admit it?”

For more go to Haaretz

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO