Homosexuality
It’s Time For Conservative Jews To Embrace Sexual Fluidity
“Homosexuality, Human Dignity and Halakhah” was approved by the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) on December 6, 2006, representing a watershed moment for the Conservative Movement. Rigorous scholarship, moral clarity and rabbinic courage provided a compassionate religious response to a complex matter, epitomizing the ethical and redemptive power of halakhah. However, despite wide recognition, its finer details are often ignored or misunderstood, posing ongoing challenges for the lives it impacts, especially gay men and bisexuals.
From Orthodox Teen Lesbians To the Holocaust, An Author Courts Controversy
Leanne Lieberman, who has written about Orthodox teen lesbians is no stranger to controversy. Her latest novel, ‘Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust’ is no exception.
The Dilemmas of Andrew Solomon
Andrew Solomon’s award-winning new book ‘Far From The Tree’ addresses his family’s troubling reactions to their Jewishness and his being gay.
Anastasia Michaeli: Gay People are Miserable
First it was scuffles and water fights in Knesset; now it’s homophobia. Anastasia Michaeli just doesn’t seem to get the conventions of normal inoffensive behavior.
Director David Weissman on the AIDS Epidemic
There is a heart-wrenching moment in “We Were Here,” David Weissman’s documentary about the AIDS crisis in San Francisco, which stands out from the rest of the film. Ed Wolf, an activist and one of the five people extensively interviewed by Weissman, remembers a conversation he had with the father of a hospitalized and infected man.
France: The Dumbest Right-Wing in the World
Charles de Gaulle famously observed that France had “la droite la plus bête au monde” [“the dumbest right-wing in the world”]. Events over the last couple of days reveal that the French Right continues to work hard for bragging rights to that dubious moniker.
'Gay Cure' Idea Offends Day School Students
Sixth formers (high school seniors) at JFS, the oldest and largest Jewish day school in England, are being taught that homosexuality can be cured. At least, that is how some students, parents and community leaders understand the inclusion of information about JONAH — Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (an American organization that maintains that homosexuality can be “mitigated and potentially eliminated”) — in a Jewish text class on homosexuality and the Orthodox viewpoint.
Vayera — He Appeared
Genesis 18:1–22:24
Last ‘Pink Triangle’ Holocaust Survivor Dies at 98
Another living link to the Holocaust was lost last week when the last surviving man to have worn the pink triangle — sewn onto concentration camp uniforms to signify homosexuality — died at the age of 98.
Conservative Rabbis Predict Gay Ban Will Fall, Canadian Shuls Weigh Split With Movement
With leaders of Conservative Judaism predicting an end to the outright ban on gay ordination and same-sex marriage, some of the movement’s more traditional Canadian synagogues are threatening to form a breakaway coalition.
