Conservatives approve gay rulings (Earth, tradition, homosexuality, marriage, sexuality)

[jewscout]

Conservatives approve gay rulings



The Conservative movement's central halakhic authority approved three contradictory teshuvot - halachic opinions - on Wednesday regarding homosexuality and Jewish law.

Two received majorities in the 25-member Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), meeting at a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. One submitted by Rabbi Joel Roth, a professor at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, reaffirmed the movement's current position, which denies ordination to homosexuals and prohibits same-sex commitment ceremonies or marriages.


The second, drafted by Rabbis Elliot Dorff of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, Daniel Nevins of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and Avram Reisner of Baltimore, retains the prohibition against homosexual intercourse but allows ordination for gays and lesbians, and for their committed relationships to be recognized, although not sanctified as marriages.

The third teshuvah, written by Rabbi Leonard Levy, upheld the traditional prohibitions and urged the development of educational programs within the community to promote understanding for gays and lesbians. This motion passed without receiving a majority, as a teshuva only requires support from six out of the 25 voting members on the panel to be considered an acceptable interpretation.

The advisory nature of the CJLS means that each rabbi and congregation has the authority to decide whether to follow the new rulings.
One of the four main Conservative Jewish seminaries, the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, is expected to begin ordaining gays in the near future.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

[NoahideHiker]

So by their own standards of halakic recognition they could vote that pork is OK to eat too. I mean anything that gets enough votes is OK to change, right? I can't understand throwing out the whole Oral Law but to start tossing out the written too?

Devarim 4:2

2. Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Devarim 4:40

40. And you shall observe His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may be well with you and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth which the Lord your God gives you forever.

[jewscout]

Originally Posted by NoahideHiker

So by their own standards of halakic recognition they could vote that pork is OK to eat too. I mean anything that gets enough votes is OK to change, right? I can't understand throwing out the whole Oral Law but to start tossing out the written too?

Devarim 4:2

2. Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Devarim 4:40

40. And you shall observe His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may be well with you and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth which the Lord your God gives you forever.

well that's the problem that Conservative judaism sometimes finds itself in...they insist that they are halachically based but that it's open for discussion, essentially.

[NoahideHiker]

Originally Posted by jewscout

well that's the problem that Conservative judaism sometimes finds itself in...they insist that they are halachically based but that it's open for discussion, essentially.

This very fact IMHO shows the intrensic connection between the written and the oral laws. They are both fully dependant upon the other and can not be taken one without the other. I don't see how a movement can be halachically based without the oral law.

[jewscout]

Originally Posted by NoahideHiker

This very fact IMHO shows the intrensic connection between the written and the oral laws. They are both fully dependant upon the other and can not be taken one without the other. I don't see how a movement can be halachically based without the oral law.

and this is much of Orthodoxy's criticism of Conservative judaism...they use the oral law but they feel they can tweek things for the times