Gay Clergy Ban May Be Dropped by Some Synagogues

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which interprets Jewish religious law for the Conservative Jewish scholars, announced Wednesday that they had adopted three dramatically opposing policies that will give gays the chance to serve as clergy, leaving the final decision up to individual seminaries and synagogues.

The 25-member panel held a closed-door meeting in an Upper East Side synagogue. Students from a gay advocacy group at the Jewish Theological Seminary stood nearby waiting while the results of the decision were announced. The seminary is the flagship school of Conservative Judaism, whose leaders are fighting to hold on to traditional middle-of-the-road American Judaism. Liberal Reform Jews, on the one hand as well as the smaller Reconstructionist branch of Judaism, allow gays to become rabbis. The Orthodox branch, on the opposite site, bars gays and women from ordination.

The debate that was the focus of the meeting is the Bible verse Leviticus 18:22, which states, "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman." The verse is at the center of many mainline Protestant arguments against homosexuality. The committee, after debating the issue, decided to adopt three policies from which seminaries and synagogues can choose an approach to follow.

One policy upholds the traditional prohibition against gay rabbis. The second policy upholds the ban on gay sexual relationships in Jewish law, but mentions the option for gays to undergo therapy aimed at changing their sexual orientation. A third policy, considered to be a compromise position, maintains a ban on male sodomy but permits gay ordination and allows blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. Four committee members who adamantly wanted to uphold the ban on ordaining gays resigned in protest after the vote to adopt the third policy.

It remains to be seen whether any congregations in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the synagogue arm of the movement, will break away from the fold over the issue of gay clergy. Several Canadian congregations have said they will consider the idea, but leaders believe it is more likely that anyone who objects to the change will leave to worship in Orthodox synagogues.

The last major vote by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards took place in 1992, when the panel voted 19-3 with one abstention that Jewish law barred openly gay students from seminaries. That vote prohibited the more than 1,000 rabbis in the movement from officiating at gay union ceremonies.

Keshet, a gay advocacy group from the Jewish Theological Seminary, said that it is pleased with the committee decision. But, it added, "There is still much work to do to bring us to a moment where we fully embrace gays and lesbians as part of our movement."