"Efrat's rabbi: Same-sex couple can raise a family" Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Speaking at conference on Jewish learning in UK, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin says that although he cannot advocate gay marriage, religious establishment must accept homosexual Jews who wish to stay part of their congregations - Elad Tene 01/01/09 Ynet News
WARWICK – "I don't object to gay-lesbian parents or single mothers bringing a child into the world, as long as they do so responsibly," said Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the rabbi of the Efrat settlement, during a discussion on the subject of Orthodox Judaism and homosexuality Tuesday.
The meeting took place as part of the Limmud annual conference on Jewish learning, which is being held in Warwick, Britain this week. Some 2,500 people from the UK and the world participated in this year's conference.
The session was attended by many gays and lesbians who spoke of the difficulties they had to endure once their sexual orientation became known in their religious communities.
Gregg Drinkwater, the executive director of Jewish Mosaic, The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity who chaired the session, said that "young people are scared to approach the rabbi and share their distress… the Orthodox rabbinical establishment in the US and Britain refuses to address this phenomenon."
Rabbi Riskin presented to the audience his approach to the subject: Accepting the other despite the ideological differences, so as not to push them out of the congregation.
"The synagogue is meant to accept any Jew. I must love the foreigner, as well as those who are different. Our role as parents is to love our children, and the rabbis' role is to love the members of their congregation," he stated.
The rabbi spoke of his first encounter with the dilemma through a young member of his congregation in Lincoln Square, a "sensitive and wonderful" young man who one day confessed to Risking that he was not attracted to the opposite sex.
"He also asked me if I wanted him to stop attending prayers as part of the minyan. I hugged him and we studied together. He's the one who made me realize that human beings are human beings, and that rabbis must not judge, but accept. Of course I asked him to continue coming to minyan," Riskin recounted.
One of the youngsters at the session said that he had been "pushed" to marry by an organization that claimed it could cure his sexual orientation. Rabbi Riskin replied by saying that if someone is bisexual then it would seem right to encourage him to marry, but that it would be wrong to offer this to someone who finds no satisfaction in a relationship with a woman.
Despite all this, Riskin stressed the importance of adhering to Orthodox practices, and clarified that he could not advocate gay marriage instead of heterosexual ones.
"The Bible goes out against homosexuality and defines it as an abomination," he said. "However, when a man doesn't engage in the act itself – there's no problem. We must remember that we are subordinate to the Halacha, but also to humaneness. When such a large group of people wants to stay part of Judaism, the religious establishment must not ignore it," he concluded.
Other Blogs/Websites
-
JPost – The Lost Tribes of Israel: Who are their descendants today?
-
The Lost Tribes of Israel: Who are their descendants today? There is a
group of people looking to uncover the truth behind the lost tribes in
order to dete...
2 days ago
-
Australia Day 2023 honours for elder abuse law trailblazer, Indigenous activist and a fossil hunter | The Guardian
-
Australia Day 2023 honours for elder abuse law trailblazer, Indigenous
activist and a fossil hunter Other recipients whose work might go under the
national...
6 days ago
-
Bar-Ilan Conference draws 1000 participants
-
“Rabbi, Lord, Professor”: Conference at Bar-Ilan University honouring Rabbi
Sacks draws 1000 participants Israel’s Bar-Ilan University hosted a
three-day c...
1 week ago
-
The Refreshed, Reset Cup
-
My favorite cup of coffee each year is the one sipped the morning after Yom
Kippur. It’s not only holy for its absence from my life for the past 48
hours ...
3 months ago
-
Are Jews Allowed to Gamble?
-
There’s a lot of debate surrounding gambling and whether or not it’s
ethical. But what about when it comes to Jews? Can they gamble without
transgressing a...
8 months ago
-
Bible Stories for Grown Ups
-
1 Start 2 Complete
Contact 1
First Name
Last Name
Email
Submit
1 year ago
-
Parsha with Chana
-
I've decided to write meditations on the weekly Parsha at my new substack,
'Parsha with Chana.'
Feel free to click here to subscribe and have it deliver...
1 year ago
-
Giving credit where it’s due
-
On the 1 year anniversary of the WHO calling Covid 19 a pandemic I received
my second Moderna vaccine. When I received it I felt an obvious sigh of
relief ...
1 year ago
-
Parsha Perspectives: Parshat Terumah
-
Parsha Perspectives: Parshat Terumah
Insights into Parshat Terumah by Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum – Director of OTS's
Beren-Amiel and Straus-Amiel Emissary Tra...
4 years ago
-
Update on Tuvia Perlman
-
On Tuesday, I published a Facebook post about a man named Tuvia Perlman,
who worked as a teacher and a choir director in Milwaukee after moving
there from ...
5 years ago
-
"Coming out” as a parent of a gay child
-
March 7, 2017, 1:47 pm
My elder son David was fifteen when he told us he was gay – not that he had
actually intended to tell us quite then.
He said he was...
5 years ago
-
When There Is No Derech from Which to Stray
-
This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to represent (JQY) Jewish Queer
Youth at Keshet's Shabbaton for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
and ...
8 years ago
-
All this happened!
-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/orthodox-rabbi-gay-marriage_b_4452154.html
A modern orthodox rabbi "comes out" in support of gay rights...
9 years ago
-
Blogging for Me
-
When I came out, it wasn’t for anyone but myself. I came out to be true to
who I was, because there was something inside of me that kept me from being
my...
9 years ago
-
Dvar Torah, Parshat Terumah
-
I delivered this Dvar Torah at Saturday morning services during this past
weekend’s KOACH Kallah at the University of Pennsylvania. Shabbat Shalom.
In this...
9 years ago
-
Remember me?! UPDATE!
-
Hello everyone!
Sorry I haven't written anything in quite awhile, but these past six
months have been very grueling! I was in two schools (LIM Col...
10 years ago
-
Everyone is Special
-
A few weeks ago, I was at a popular yeshiva day school in the tri-state
area. While I was there, the school was holding a “parade” to celebrate the
boys’...
10 years ago
-
Impact
-
I know I haven't written in quite a while- over a month, actually. It's
partly been because life has been extra-busy recently, and mostly because
of the wr...
10 years ago
-
The Spouse Hunt
-
I grew up with the mentality of looking at anyone who even thought to get
married before securing a job as completely ridicules and irresponsible. I
have r...
13 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
R' Riskin's gradual acceptance of a Gay presence in congregations is encouraging. I appreciate his oratory and vlogs, honestly.
ReplyDeleteMy cousin is a rabbi, also in Efrat, and he and his family totally accept me. He and his wife were secular until they because religious in the university and made aliya.
ReplyDeleteRegards from Tel Aviv
I think that Rabbi Riskin is speaking the truth. He is not saying that Homosexual relations is permitted by the old testament, rather that the problem is with the act and not the person. He does make the strong case to bring those closer, even those who struggle with keeping all the commandments. If we discarded people that did not keep shabbat, cheated in business, had illicit relations, or any other sin.. WE WOULD HAVE NO ONE IN SHUL! How can we discard people that do not keep all 613 commandments? How can we bring people closer to Judaism, if we leave them outside the tent? Who is the judge? If someone says they eat pork and they think they are correct in eating it, do we throw them out? Again, would we have any Jews left if we did. No human is perfect and no one has a right to judge them. Am I correct?
ReplyDelete