JTS gay ceremony held off campus

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Controversy forced a celebration of the Conservative movement’s decision to admit openly gay rabbinical students to be held off campus.

A controversial ceremony marking the decision by the Jewish Theological Seminary was held in Jerusalem away from the campus of the Conservative movement’s main educational institution there, the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.

The ceremony was moved off campus after consultations with the student organizers, visiting students from the seminary in New York and Rabbi Danny Nevins, the dean of the JTS rabbinical school, according to a news release from the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.

Schechter said the organizers refused to “give equal expression” to a valid religious opinion that upholds the traditional ban on homosexuality.

Student organizers reached in Israel refused to comment on the situation.

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