Conservative Rabbis Avert Debate over Homosexuality at Convention

A potentially stormy debate over homosexuality was avoided by Conservative rabbis last week, when activists on both sides of the issue decided to withdraw conflicting resolutions on the topic.

The decision to avert a confrontation was typical of this year’s convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, and in notable contrast to the heightened tensions and tempers of the body’s past two annual meetings.

“It’s a different convention. People are here to heal,” said Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Even passionate discussion of the ground-breaking pastoral letter issued by the R.A.’s Committee on Human Sexuality was accompanied by little rancor.

In part, this reflected prudent planning by leaders of the organization, who have voiced their concern over the tone the homosexuality debate has taken in the past.

Following the report by the sexuality commission, the rabbis broke into discussion groups, with the explicit aim of allowing all members of the assembly to speak on the issue.

These recorded discussions are to be presented to the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which is to establish Conservative policy on the points raised by the letter.

Among other issues, the report strongly advocated marriage and called on Jews to have three or four children. But it also acknowledged and accepted the notion of loving, committed non-marital relationships.

The letter also discussed Jewish sexual values within marriage, analyzed Jewish teachings on contraception and delicately summed up the debate over homosexuality that has rocked the movement since 1990.

GAY RABBI’S CASE DREW ATTENTION

Last year, a passionate speech by Rabbi Harold Schulweis calling for modifying traditional halachah, or Jewish law, concerning homosexuality was followed the next day by an equally powerful rejoinder by Schorsch.

But after neither address were the assembled rabbis given a chance to respond.

The issue that could have led to conflict this year concerned rabbinic placement, or, in other words, job hunting. This seemingly technical issue is always a major concern for the R.A. insofar as it is a professional association.

But the resolutions at hand were responding to the case of Rabbi Howard Handler, a Conservative rabbi in New York and R.A. member whose contract was not renewed after he was “outed” as a gay man.

Conservative Judaism does not accept into rabbinical school or ordain sexually active homosexuals, a policy implemented after extensive debate two years ago by the Rabbinic Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

How to treat an already-ordained rabbi was a still trickier case. The Law Committee gave no clear guidance on the matter and in the end the R.A.’s executive council decided that while the organization would not circulate Handler’s resume, it would look the other way if he sought a pulpit independently. So far, his efforts at finding a job have been unsuccessful.

R.A. rules generally prohibit members from directly approaching congregations for jobs.

One of the resolutions offered this week would have called on the placement committee not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation — in effect, saying Handler’s resume should be treated like any of his colleagues.

This was sponsored by B’Tsalmenu, a group of Conservative rabbis who support an interpretation of halachah that would allow gay and lesbian Jews to be fully included in Conservative life.

The counter-resolution would have urged the R.A. not to change its current procedures.

This measure was introduced by the Forum for Conservative Jewish Renewal, a group formed to articulate the traditionalist position. In a meeting, leaders of B’Tsalmenu and the Forum agreed to withdraw their resolutions.

Said Schorsch: “I think the membership realizes we’ve done as much as we can to address the needs of gays and lesbians at this time and there is no wisdom in destroying ourselves by pushing for things we’re not ready to do.”

It was the sex lives of heterosexuals that dominated the convention’s discussions, with the pastoral letter on human sexuality coming under most criticism for saying that non-marital relationships “can embody a measure of holiness” if they otherwise embody Jewish values.

GAYS SPEAK AT WORKSHOP

In a section devoted to homosexuality, the letter said that both the traditional view of homosexuality as an “abomination” and the contradictory view that that moral assessment no longer applies have been accepted by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

Those who take the more liberal view toward homosexual activity, suggested the letter, should apply the values and ethics spelled out in earlier sections of the report for heterosexual relations. The letter thereby implies — though it does not directly state — that the “measure of holiness” that can apply to non-marital heterosexual relations could apply to homosexual ones as well.

The letter was criticized as insufficient by Jewish Activist Gays and Lesbians, a New York-based organization, which said its recommendations failed “to address the practical concerns of lesbians and gays in everyday synagogue life.”

At a table at the entrance to the dining room, representatives of B’Tsalmenu and the Jewish Activist group distributed information.

And at one of several workshop sessions, 50 people heard the experiences and perspectives of a founder of the activist group; a Conservative rabbi whose son is gay; and a lesbian who grew up in the Conservative movement.

“I will not join a congregation where I must be closeted” and “where my daughter has to watch what she says,” said Judy Ribnick, describing why she joined a Reconstructionist congregation rather than a Conservative synagogue.

“The encouraging thing is that this issue left the realm of abstract discussion and moved into struggling with real human beings and real human questions,” said Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, director of public affairs for the New Israel Fund and one of the initiators of B’Tsalmenu.