News
2007-05-02
Conservative
Jewish seminary picks first gay student
A long-standing
religious barrier fell Tuesday when a Conservative Jewish
seminary announced its acceptance of its first openly gay
A long-standing
religious barrier fell Tuesday when a Conservative Jewish
seminary announced its acceptance of its first openly gay
cantorial student. Marisa Elana James will attend the
Jewish Theological Seminary after years of membership
with the Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York
City, which identifies itself as the world’s largest
synagogue for LGBT Jews.
“My
rabbis, cantor, and music director work to instill in
congregants a love of yiddishkeit [Jewishness],
music, and social justice,” James said in a
statement. “I'm excited to have been given the
opportunity to learn to do the same for others, and it gives
me great pleasure to be part of the first class of
students at JTS who will never have to hide any part
of our identities. My dream is to bring my own love of
music and yiddishkeit and social justice to the
generations of Conservative Jews for whom gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender rabbis and cantors are a blessing,
not a controversy."
The Jewish
Theological Seminary, based in New York, is considered the
top school for training of Conservative Jewish rabbis
and cantors. Conservative Judaism occupies the
middle ground among the three primary Jewish
movements, between the highly traditional Orthodox and the
liberal, gay-friendly Reform. The seminary announced in
March that it would begin accepting openly gay and
lesbian students.
“This has
been a long struggle, and we are very proud that one of our
members will break this barrier,” lesbian rabbi
Sharon Kleinbaum of the Congregation Beth Simchat
Torah said of James’s acceptance into the
seminary. “This is a bold step toward justice
for all.” In April, Kleinbaum was named
one of the most influential rabbis in America by
Newsweek. (The Advocate)
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