Jewish Seminary's New Leader Supports Ordination Of Gays

The newly named chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the heart of Conservative Judaism in America, said yesterday that he felt it was time for the movement to lift its ban on gay rabbis.
The seminary yesterday appointed Arnold M. Eisen, a Stanford University professor who is not a rabbi but is considered one of the country's leading scholars of modern Judaism, to be its next leader. The decision comes at a time when the movement is grappling with a range of difficult issues, including dwindling membership and whether to sanction same-sex unions or to allow gay people to become rabbis.
Conservative Judaism is defined by its commitment to traditional observance of Jewish law, while also adapting to modernity and contemporary changes in religious practice. But it has been beset by questions of what might happen if it moved to liberalize its stance on homosexuality, with some arguing that Conservative Judaism is becoming too similar to Reform Judaism and too accommodating to the prevailing culture. Others argue that the change is long overdue, and that the movement will continue to lose people if it does not alter its position on the issues.
The seminary's chancellor has traditionally exerted enormous influence on the movement's direction, and Dr. Eisen's predecessor, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, had long opposed any change in the movement's stance on gay rabbis and same-sex unions.
Yesterday, during a half-hour interview at the seminary, in Manhattan, Dr. Eisen outlined some of his priorities, including reinvigorating synagogue life and strengthening the connection of American Jews to Israel. He did not hedge when asked what he thought about gay rabbis.
"My personal position," he said, "I'd like to see it possible for gay and lesbian students to be ordained."
On whether rabbis should be permitted to conduct same-sex union ceremonies, he said, he preferred not to take a stance because it did not directly fall under his purview as chancellor.
"I'm going to leave same-sex ceremonies to the rabbis," he said, noting that some Conservative rabbis were already doing them.
But he added that he believed rabbinical leaders needed to continue to weigh the question of whether to ordain gay rabbis in the context of Jewish law. The movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has been considering the issue for three years. The integrity of that process, he said, should be protected. The committee recently decided to delay further consideration of the question until December.
Dr. Eisen said he planned to begin a dialogue next year among the seminary's faculty on the issue.
"If J.T.S. is going to think about whether or not to admit gay and lesbian students for the rabbinate and cantorial school, the faculty's going to have to have a discussion on this," he said. "They haven't had one. I don't know where they stand."
Dr. Eisen said yesterday that he was not an expert in Jewish law. His opinion comes from "just knowing gay and lesbian people, friends, students, co-workers; and the sense that Judaism has always adapted itself to fit changing circumstances," he said. "Not every change is good, but this is one in which I think it's time."
At the same time, he urged people not to cast aspersions on rabbis who took a different position.
"People of good will differ on this," he said. "You cannot easily turn around a position Jewish law has held for 2,500 years."
from The New York Times