Six Could Get You Four...

While reading the recent Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) teshuvot on the Halakhic Status of Gay Men and Lesbians and the associated survey, one thing really got my attention; they were teshuvot, not teshuvah. I was reminded of the old joke, “two Jews- three opinions” but in this case I guess it would be, “one Movement- three opinions”. As I spent my Tuesday night curled up with my laptop and notepad reading the teshuvot and the survey, I realized in essence the CJLS was saying “Yes, no, and maybe” all at the same time.

After reading all of the hoopla in the press about how the Conservative movement had embraced its homosexual membership and moving toward more tolerance and diversity, I was now finding out not much had really changed. By the same number of votes the CJLS had passed a teshuvah upholding the traditional prohibitions against homosexual acts. I was a little confused and decided I needed to learn a little more about the CJLS.

The Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Assembly (RA) founded the CJLS in 1927. Currently the Committee is composed of 25 rabbis and 5 lay members. Only the rabbis act as voting members, while the lay members participate only participate in deliberations.

When any six or more members vote in favor of a position that position becomes the Committee’s official position. As you math lovers out there may have noticed, six is not a majority out of twenty-five. So the Committee can end up with multiple positions, sometimes up to four, and sometimes almost opposing positions (and in some cases members will vote for multiple positions.

During my online readings and research I was able to find several lists of these Responsa produced by the CJLS, but I was unable to discover a comprehensive list. Apparently there isn’t a big book (or collection of books) that contains all of the Responsa.

I came across one Responsa from February of 1993 titled, “ A Principled Defense of the Current Structure and Status of the CJLS” which basically addresses the issue of whether the CJLS should even exist or exist in its current form. I, for one, agree that there should be a central Law Committee that serves to handle Halakhic questions for the Rabbinical Assembly, but I’m not entirely sure that I agree with the current method of making decisions. And I am more concerned that it seems some of the teshuvot seem to be influenced by public opinion.

It seems that, according to the Cohen Report, a large percentage of respondents to the JTS Survey agree with me on that point. On page 34 we see the results of the question, “Do you feel the decisions were an accommodation to political correctness?” 41% of Clergy, 43% of Professional Leaders and 49% of Lay Leaders agree.

This is not how Halakha works. Halakha is not decided by public opinion or political correctness, it is decided by Torah. Believing that, however, seems to put me in the minority of Conservative Jews. Some days it starts to feel like I was “sold a bill of goods” in regards to joining a Conservative synagogue.

When I read from “Emet Ve-Emunah”, which supposedly puts to print the principles of Judaism for the Conservative Movement I felt that I had found where I should be. From the Wikipedia article on Conservative Judaism (taken from Emet Ve-Emunah):

“The principles of Conservative Judaism include:

• A “dedication to Halakha… [as a] guide for our lives”;

• A deliberately non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish principles of faith;

• A positive attitude toward modern culture; and,

• An acceptance of both traditional rabbinic modes of study and modern scholarship and critical text study when considering Jewish religious texts.”

I was in agreement. I read Maimonides Thirteen Principles of Faith and I agreed with what he said. Now I wonder if we should present the above principles and the Thirteen Principles in survey form and see what the clergy and membership agree and disagree with. I’m afraid I would be more saddened than surprised with the results.

I will address Halakha and observance in the Conservative Movement on Sunday and then I promise I’ll stop beating this dead horse (at least for now).

Much ado about something...

After I restarted this blog last week, I considered the possible things I could do that would help ensure both you and I would maintain at least a passing interest in this blog's continued existence. One way to improve the blog would come from my reading as much as I could everyday. Whether it be from newspapers, online news, novels, magazines, or online blogs, I would need to keep up-to-date on subjects that matter to me if I was going to have anything to express my opinion about or have discussions with you. Well I assure you that over the past four days my reading intake has spiked upward.

While surfing around the Jewish Blogosphere lately, it became readily apparent that the recent Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) Survey of Conservative Judaism's clergy and lay-leadership was a topic under heavy discussion. To misquote the Trilogy, "Many electrons died to bring us this information."

The teshuvot on the Halakhic Status of Gay Men and Lesbians caused a great deal of discussion on their own in December, but now it seems the JTS survey addressing these teshuvot is causing a stir as well. I've lost count of the various blog entries that link back to one or more of the articles appearing on The Jewish Week website that address various points raised in the survey.

Anything causing this much discussion warranted a closer look. Like everyone else, I read the online articles with interest and took note of the opinions expressed by the writers. I decided to do something that I’m not sure many of my fellow bloggers had done, I went to the sources. It took a little searching but I found the survey and the teshuvot in electronic form and took them home to read. I spent my entire night focused on these documents (okay, except for a brief break between 9 and 10 EST to watch “House”). I realized: 1) my eyes really hurt and I need to wear my reading glasses as prescribed, and 2) I am really surprised that more hasn’t been written about the JTS Survey. It brings up much more than just the Gay and Lesbian issue. So I decided to address some of the points brought up by the articles on “The Jewish Week” site and also some of the points in the survey that I think are interesting and warrant discussion.

I feel, however, trying to jam all of this into one post would be a little ridiculous. So, in order to address these points to my satisfaction, and to present them in a manner that hopefully will be easier to read, I am going to be writing about them over the next few days. You can consider today’s post to be an introduction and background for the upcoming posts.

Conservative Judaism Doomed? The Answer May Surprise You!

On December 6, 2006, the Conservative Movement’ Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) announced their decision addressing the issues of the ordination of Gay and Lesbian Rabbis and the performance of same-sex commitment ceremonies by Conservative Rabbis.

I first became aware of this ‘issue’ over the summer when I read about the CJLS decision to postpone the decision until later in the year. It is definitely a divisive issue that should not and could not be taken lightly. Even before reading about Conservative Judaism’s decision to address this issue, I had already formed some strong opinions on the issue of “gay marriage” and same-sex unions.

It has been my understanding that Judaism, in general, is much more tolerant of homosexuality than many other religions. According to Halacha, if I understand correctly, you can be gay, have gay thoughts and fantasies all day long and not be in violation of Halacha. It is only when you act on these feelings that violations occur. And even then, I’m personally not going to be judgmental of you for those actions. Considering how many violations of Halacha are being committed by your fellow congregants (me included) with regards to Shabbat observance, Kashrut, and daily observance, I cannot judge your life without considering myself to be a huge hypocrite.

I read an article from The Jewish Week titled “The End of Conservative Judaism” written by Michael J. Broyde. Since my earliest experiences with Conservative Judaism, at least once a year (if not more) I read or hear about the end of Conservative Judaism. After a while it starts to sound a lot like, “Apple Computers is going bankrupt and will be out of business soon”, but they’ve been going out of business for the past 20 years apparently yet my stock seems to be doing okay, so I’ll keep it just a little longer.

But this article was a little different and I think it was due to the subject matter addressed. Will the recent CJLS decision on allowing gay and lesbian ordinations and same-sex commitment ceremonies spell the end of Conservative Judaism in the long run? Will Judaism in the United States evolve into two primary groups, Liberal and Traditional? These are very good questions and he makes several good points in the article.

I have always thought of the Conservative Movement as the “third bowl of porridge”, not too hot, not too cold, but just right (for me anyway). Broyde says in the second paragraph:

The truth is that there is a grand divide in the Jewish community worldwide between two groups: those who think that Jewish law (halacha) is really, truly, binding and those who do not. This division is both religiously and culturally important — it reflects a basic worldview about what being Jewish really means. Throughout the world, other than in the United States, this distinction formed the basic denominational divide and one could well understand the need for almost a schism over this issue.

I don’t agree with the idea of there only being two ways of looking at this issue. I don’t think that this is an issue of on/off, black/white, or right/wrong. Conservative Judaism was created to fill that grey area. I truly believe there is a need to view Halacha through a modern lens. Times do change and our interpretations of Torah and Talmud do have to be adjusted to some degree. For instance, I disagree with several Orthodox understandings of Halacha and feel that these understandings go too far and prevent people from enjoying Judaism. At the same time I disagree with many of the Reform Movement’s understandings of Halacha and feel that they are too loose with their interpretations and this too prevents people from fully enjoying the benefits of Judaism. And so I am left with the Conservative Movement. Until recently, that is. I believe there is a limit to how far we can stretch this “modern lens” notion before we just lose all focus of what we are trying to see through that lens.

Perhaps, in the long run, it will spell the end of the Conservative movement as we know it today, but I think there will always be some movement to fill that middle ground between Reform (Liberal) and Orthodox (Traditional).

Regardless of what I think, or what you think, it’s a good article and worth the read.

Hattip: Hirhurim, but I'm sure plenty of others are posting about this by now.

Just Who Do I Think I Am?

My name is Binyamin and I am a Jew. I did not grow up in a Jewish home, but for the past 18 years I have been on a journey into Judaism. It started out almost as a joke, but it has turned into a life long quest. Just when I think I've read all that I can read, or my observance has gone as far as I can take it, I take another step. I've realized that it will always be this way, but I also realize this is one of the primary reasons I keep looking to take that next step on this journey.

I grew up in the Deep South in what I can only now consider severe poverty. I firmly believe without Jim Kirk, Fred Rogers and the United States Navy I would be some half-educated Appalachian-American Hillbilly working in a dead end job today. Television was my window to the world. It showed me that there was a bigger world out there than anyone in my simple family could ever comprehend. I saw different races and cultures and wanted to meet them. I saw distant lands and ancient ruins and wanted to visit them. I saw people with lifetimes of learning and experience and I want to be like them. So I left home and spent ten years in the Navy.

I am currently member of a wonderful Conservative Synagogue that I do not attend nearly as much as I would like, that I do not support as much as I would like, and that I do not participate in as much as I would like. Someday, I'd like to be President of the Temple (or at least one of my kids to be) but that's a long term goal.

I live with the thought that I will never be Jewish enough and my children and their children will always be considered not Jewish enough by their peers. Due to my very Scots/Irish last name it is always obvious that we don't have the same background as the families we go to shul with. It always frustrates me that my one of my best friends will always be accepted in a shul due to his name and his "look" while I have to endure questions about my mother and who in my family was Jewish. Ironically it wasn't until he met me that he started showing any interest in Judaism, and is still about as secular as you can get.

I have five wonderful children. I want to give them the Jewish childhood that I didn't have, and I feel an immense amount of pain and guilt every time I miss an opportunity to do so. I will always love my children. They are the only family I have left in this world and I won't give that up. So I will struggle to make sure the kids go to Hebrew school and stay connected to the Jewish community, with the hope and prayer that I will have Jewish grandchildren someday. I am too much of a realist to overlook the statistics and know that odds are my children will marry "out" and that only through providing them with a connection to Judaism now will I have any chance of seeing Jewish grandchildren and being called Zeide. Some days I wonder who, if anyone at all, will say Kaddish for me. But then some days I see that Jewish spark in my children's eyes that reassures me that someone will.

So that's my story. It's not the whole story by far, and maybe overtime I'll post more about it, but I want to take time here to post about my day, good or bad. I want to talk about things I wonder about, things I have learned and things I want to learn. I want a place to vent and a place to celebrate. And, like most Jews, I want to be part of a community (online or otherwise). I read several Jewish blogs everyday, and I've attempted to start one on several occasions. Maybe this will be the one that sticks, maybe it won't. It's all up to me and how dedicated to this I become.

I have always felt the need to write, and I have kept scores of journals and logs (‘cause macho dudes like me don't keep diaries) but it has never been a consistent thing. I've always been critical of my ability to write and felt inferior when I read what others write. But maybe through the shield of Internet-anonymity I can feel free to write, good or bad, and grow as a writer (and hopefully as a person).