January 23, 2012: Jewish LGBT community marks several milestones

By Michael Regenstreif

There is a letter in this issue’s Mailbag (page 8) from Rabbi Mordechai Bulua of Montreal objecting to Rabbi Steven Greenberg’s being referred to as an Orthodox rabbi, despite, as he notes, Rabbi Greenberg’s Orthodox ordination.

Rabbi Greenberg, who was featured in several Bulletin articles and columns recently because he spent several days in Ottawa as scholar-in-residence at Agudath Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue, made headlines throughout the Jewish world – including the JTA story we carried and to which Rabbi Bulua was responding – in November when he officiated at what was described in the article as a “same-sex wedding,” but which Rabbi Greenberg called a “same-sex commitment ceremony” in an article he wrote for the Jewish Daily Forward in New York (A Place for Gays in Orthodoxy, January 13).

Whether it was a “wedding” or a “commitment ceremony” may be a matter of semantics, but the JTA report, echoed in other news stories, said, “It is believed to be the first time that an ordained Orthodox rabbi has officiated at a same-sex marriage in North America.”

It should probably be noted, in case there was any doubt, that the same-sex ceremony in question did not take place in an Orthodox synagogue. The Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C. describes itself as “non-denominational, non-membership, non-traditional.”

In response to the news that Rabbi Greenberg had performed the ceremony, a group of 100 Orthodox rabbis released an unequivocal statement rejecting the possibility of an Orthodox-sanctioned gay marriage.

“By definition, a union that is not sanctioned by Torah law is not an Orthodox wedding, and by definition a person who conducts such a ceremony is not an Orthodox rabbi,” the rabbis wrote.

Their opinion is reflected in Rabbi Bulula’s letter to the Bulletin.

The rabbis also emphatically state, “The public should not be misled into thinking that Orthodox Jewish views on this issue can change, are changing, or might someday change. The Rabbinical Council of America recently declared that ‘the Torah, which forbids homosexual activity, sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony.’ This is the only statement on this matter that can reflect Orthodox Judaism. Any claims or statements to the contrary are inaccurate and false.”

In his Forward article, written in response to the rabbis’ statement, Rabbi Greenberg argues for “a generous sense of the possible” in the interpretation and application of Halacha on the matters under discussion. And, acknowledging that he doesn’t “expect any other Orthodox rabbi to conduct a commitment ceremony,” he also argues for the acceptance of gays in Orthodox life.

While Rabbi Greenberg would seem to be a quixotic figure on the periphery of the Orthodox world, the Jewish LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is becoming increasingly mainstreamed and continues to mark milestones in other denominations and in the big tent of the Jewish world-at-large.

This month, Shaarey Zedek Synagogue in Winnipeg became the first Conservative shul in Canada to host a same-sex marriage – with the synagogue’s associate rabbi officiating.

And Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, the large Reform congregation in Montreal, has announced that, beginning July 1, its new senior rabbi will be Ottawa-born Rabbi Lisa J. Grushcow, who will move to Montreal from New York with her partner, Rabbi Andrea Myers, and their two daughters.

Meanwhile, the Gaycities.com website – sponsored by American Airlines – recently announced the results of its annual Best Gay City poll for 2011. The over-whelming winner was Tel Aviv with 43 per cent of the vote. New York City placed second with 14 per cent and Toronto was third at 7 per cent.