Jewish Theological Seminary To Accept Homosexuals

The Jewish Theological Seminary could welcome its first openly gay and lesbian rabbinic and cantorial students this fall, following a landmark decision yesterday that opens the Conservative movement's flagship seminary to would-be clergy who are homosexuals.

While applications for those hoping to begin rabbinic or cantorial studies in the fall were due in December, the seminary has extended the deadline to June 30 to accommodate those affected by the policy change.

The chancellor-elect of the seminary, Arnold Eisen, told The New York Sun that his decision "reaffirms the character of the centrist movement" by embracing modernity within the confines of rabbinic rulings on Jewish laws.

This decision comes about four months after the Conservative movement's law committee adopted a position paper permitting the rabbinic ordination of gays and lesbians, although it maintains a ban on anal sex. That position paper also allows Conservative clergy to perform same-sex unions. Also adopted at that time were two other position papers opposing the ordination of homosexuals.

Law committee decisions, which can be contradictory, are designed to guide Conservative institutions and clergy. They do not dictate the policies of individual congregations or their leaders.

Mr. Eisen, in an open letter announcing his decision, said he believes Jewish law allows for and mandates "revision of legal limitations placed upon homosexual activity."

A seminary Talmud professor, Rabbi Joel Roth, who resigned from the law committee after it adopted the position allowing for homosexual ordination, told The New York Sun that he was disappointed by Mr. Eisen's decision "not because gays will be admitted to the rabbinical school, but because it is illegal from my point of view."

Rabbi Roth said its imperative for seminary leaders to make clear that "this is an issue in which there are different opinions, and in which both sides are equally valid."

He said: "The worst-case scenario is the decision will move the bell curve of the Conservative movement in a way that people who hold my view no longer feel part of the Conservative movement because they're made to feel uncomfortable here."

Earlier this month, a smaller Conservative rabbinic school, the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, announced that it had accepted its first gay applicants.