Baltimore, USA - The only major branch of American Judaism still debating the role of gays in rabbinical schools and synagogues is preparing to take up the issue in a closed-door meeting that could change the direction of the movement.
Experts in religious law for Conservative Jews are to gather next Tuesday and Wednesday in a retreat center outside Baltimore, where they will reconsider their 1992 decision opposing both ordination for homosexuals and commitment ceremonies for same-gender couples.
The vote of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, if taken at this conference, will not be binding, nor will it resolve disagreements over homosexuality among Conservative Jews. But it will send a strong message to the wider community about how far the Conservative branch will go in reinterpreting traditional understanding of Jewish law.
"It will be an important symbolic case for the Conservative movement," said Jonathan Sarna, an expert on American Jewish history at Brandeis University.
Conservative Jews adhere to tradition but allow some re-evaluation of Jewish law for modern circumstances. The movement occupies a middle ground between the liberal Reform branch, which ordains gays and blesses same-sex couples, and the stricter Orthodox Judaism, which bars gays from becoming rabbis and condemns homosexuality.
Pressure has been building on Conservative Jewish leaders to liberalize core teachings and thus prevent less observant Jews from leaving for the Reform stream, which has overtaken Conservative Judaism as the largest North American branch. Between 5 million and 6 million Jews live in the United States, and Conservative leaders have worried openly about their movement's dwindling appeal - but they have still largely resisted the push left.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative movement's flagship institution, declined to comment on next week's meeting. But he has previously warned that ordaining gays would be such a major break from Jewish law that it could obliterate the distinction between Reform and Conservative streams.
Schorsch and other Conservative Jewish leaders believe maintaining those differences is key to the movement's future, Sarna says.
"They would like this, or related issues, to become the bright yellow line that helps everybody understand how Conservative and Reform Judaism differ," he said. "I think what remains to be seen is whether this is the right issue to use to establish that kind of boundary."
Jewish opposition to gay sex is based on Leviticus 18:22, "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence," and a similar verse, Leviticus 20:13.
Rabbi Joel Roth, a Conservative expert in Jewish law based in Israel, has said that ignoring these prohibitions "would undermine the integrity of the very legal system which stands as the unassailable foundation of our movement."
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, the committee vice chairman and rector of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, has argued that the verses in Leviticus refer to promiscuous sex, not monogamous relations between adults. He said telling gays to be celibate would be "cruel" and "un-Jewish" because Jewish tradition says sexual desires should be channeled into "legitimate modes of expression" not completely suppressed.
"I think the general thrust in American society has been toward recognizing not only the right of gays and lesbians to form committed relationships but almost their duty to do so, in the same way that heterosexuals are both medically and morally better off if they form monogamous relationships," Dorff said in an interview Monday.
The committee is revisiting the issue at the request of Judy Yudof, lay president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which represents about 800 North American congregations. Through a spokeswoman, she declined to comment.
A decade ago, the panel approved a "Consensus Statement on Homosexuality," which stated that Conservative rabbis would not lead same-sex blessings nor "knowingly admit avowed homosexuals to our rabbinical or cantorial schools" or professional organizations for clergy.
"At the same time, we will not instigate witch hunts against those who are already members or students," the panel wrote, prompting comparisons to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the U.S. military. The committee also urged congregations, youth groups, summer camps and schools to welcome homosexuals, but gay Jews said the policy was still discriminatory.
Much has changed in American society since then, with the approval of gay marriage in Massachusetts and recognition of same-sex partners in Vermont and elsewhere. However, these gains have also created a conservative backlash. Seventeen states have amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage.
The disagreements within Conservative Judaism echo those tearing at the U.S. Episcopal Church and other mainline Protestant denominations, with opponents warning that greater acceptance of homosexuality will split their already fragile branch of Judaism.
But advocates for gays say these fears are overblown and contend that similar warnings were made three decades ago over the movement's decision to ordain women. In fact, advocates argue that the movement has suffered for not embracing gays.
Sarna noted that the massively successful Manhattan synagogue B'Nai Jeshurun - considered a national model for other congregations - broke from the Conservative movement to protest its position on homosexuality.