Give gay Jews marriage rights, rabbi says
Jewish gay marriage should be supported whether or not the Conservative moment agrees, according to a US rabbi.
Rabbi Michelle Robinson, a scholar at the Temple Emanuel, New England, told congregants in a sermon, that tradition should not be a stumbling block to “textual interpretations.”
She said: “We must not allow the weight of tradition to stop us from supporting new textual interpretations’ that provide gay people with full participation in Jewish life.”
The influential synagogue’s chancellor, Cantor Charles Osborne was so repulsed by her comments that he walked out and resigned.
Jewish congregations are becoming more in favour of gay marriage, the Boston Globe reports.
The new Temple Emanuel president Michael S. Benjamin and other leaders in Boston say it is now a central issue.
The Jewish Conservative movement in America has agreed to discuss gay marriage rights later this year.