We’re a halakhic egalitarian community where Jews join together in Torah Lishmah – תורה לשמה – study for it’s own sake. We believe that Judaism is for all Jews, regardless of our ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, or marital status.
It is not only in the non-Orthodox world that their is growing acceptance of LGBT Jews; this is developing also within parts of Orthodoxy. This photo is from then-Maharat student Leah Sarna (now at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel) – “My shul will be a place for all Jews to lead lives organized by rigorous love of Torah, Mitzvot, and the bounteous diversity of creation. ”
In our community we include all Jews – end of story. Doesn’t matter if they are LGBT or not, married or not, with kids or not. It doesn’t matter if they are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, or Mizrachi, or if they were born Jewish or they underwent gerut (conversion.)
My heart breaks when I hear any person, from any of those groups, made to feel like they don’t belong in any synagogue, or at a Pesach Seder, Sukkot festival, or Tikkun Leyl Shavuot service. Judaism is for Jews.
Halakhic thoughts
It is often assumed that to be pro-LGBT one must thus be against halakhah (living an observant Jewish life.) However, that is not so. One can still accept Torah as normative in a way that is inclusive. It is now widely accepted within Masorti/Conservative Judaism, and beginning to become accepted within parts of Orthodoxy, that one can be observant and also inclusive.
For historical context about the peshat of the Biblical text, one can read The JPS Torah Commentary – Leviticus, commentary by Dr. Rabbi Baruch Levine.
Many recommend this – Homosexuality, Human Dignity and halakhah: A Combined responsum for the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. By Rabbis Elliot N. Dorff, Daniel S. Nevins and Avram I. Reisner
See “Dear David – Homosexual Relationships: A Halakhic Investigation” by Masorti Rabbi Simchah Roth (זכר צדיק לברכה). He also offers look at this straight from the Talmud, Tosafists, and other rabbinic commentators.
From a more Orthodox yet ethically evolving perspective see Statement of Principles on the Place of Jews with a Homosexual Orientation in Our Community.
A fascinating discussion takes place at Hakirah, Metzitzah, and More. By Marc B. Shapiro, a modern Orthodox rabbi.
And then there is On Orthodoxy and the observant LGBTQ Jew by Rabbi Ysocher Katz of YCT (Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.)
Also from Orthodox community, one may note developments such as Homosexuality: Another Orthodox Perspective. Rabbi Gil Student presented without debate this guest post by Dr. Alan Jotkowitz.
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In this community we recognize that all Jews are Jews: We support each other. One would thus imagine that LGBT groups support all LGBT people but that is not the case. LGBT Jewish people across the United States and Europe report antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and LGBT alliances with groups which persecute and wish to exterminate Israel. There have been increasing acts of incitement to violence, and even occasional attacks against LGBT Jews, from parts of the LGBT movement.
This is concerning, frightening, and unacceptable. This is why many LGBT Jews and their friends have created A Wider Bridge
A Wider Bridge was founded to provide opportunities for LGBTQ people in North America to build meaningful relationships with the State of Israel, and LGBTQ people in Israel. It has since become a strong voice fighting against antisemitism from all groups, even from otherwise progressive groups. The goal is to make LGBT Jewish respected and safe.
AWB board chair Alan Schwartz said that the organization provides an ideological home for people who identify as queer, religious and Zionist. “A Wider Bridge is the only place where people can wear all three identities,” said Schwartz.
Felson, who worked at the Human Rights Campaign in the 1980s, told JI: “We don’t have to compartmentalize our passions or identities. We need to be our full selves and AWB helps make that possible.”
… In 2016, AWB was scheduled to host a reception at the largest LGBTQ conference in the U.S., run by the National LGBTQ Task Force, which was canceled at the last minute. After mounting pressure, conference organizers reversed the decision to cancel. But the reception was interrupted by groups including Jewish Voice for Peace, and presentations by some of the event’s speakers could not be completed.
Steven Goldstein, a gay, Zionist political activist, posited that AWB should become even more aggressive in countering anti-Zionism. Goldstein is founder of Garden State Equality, former director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect and an occasional donor to AWB.
He said anti-Zionism “has never reared its ugly head more strongly than in the LGBTQ community. AWB is going to have to continue calling other organizations and leaders out on that. Right now, anti-Zionism is a cancer infecting the LGBTQ community, and AWB is the organization best positioned to fight that cancer.”
Ethan Felson, the new head of A Wider Bridge, is ready to confront anti-Zionism in LGBTQ spaces
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