Synagogue offers same-sex marriage ceremony

[Timothy_Fitzpatrick]

Written by Joanne Hill     
Monday, 16 January 2012

TORONTO – Same-sex marriage is now offered at an unaffiliated synagogue in Winnipeg whose senior rabbi was ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement and lists the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as an influence.

Although the website for Shaarey Zedek Synagogue states it is "one of the first Conservative Synagogues [in Canada] to welcome Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Jews with full rights and privileges including family membership, burial rights and performance of weddings," its Associate Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker told the Jewish Tribune that, in fact, Shaarey Zedek left the Conservative movement several years ago.

"Our synagogue is no longer officially linked to the Conservative movement," said Pinsker. "Since 2004 or 2005, we are no longer a dues-paying member of the Conservative movement."

Even so, he said, Shaarey Zedek's "practices, its rituals committee, and its rabbi, strive to apply much of the material defining Conservative practice."

The synagogue's website states that Senior Rabbi Alan Green "received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder and dean of the Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal, in 1991.... Rabbi Green's other significant spiritual influences include His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...."

According to a synagogue  representative, Green will be out of town and unavailable for comment until mid-February.

Pinsker said Green had "devised" a three-step plan for inclusion of GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) persons following extensive study by, and consultation with,  members of the congregation and the GLBT community at large.

Same-sex couples were first permitted to become members; next, they could purchase burial plots; and finally, "they would be accrued all rites and rituals without distinction," said Pinsker.

Although there was "enormous positive support" for the plan, "there were people who objected...[who] questioned whether this was permissible and of course they had the option of leaving if it was so offensive."

One of the texts consulted by the congregation was a 2006 report by the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. Pinsker said the report spoke about creating a distinct ritual, such as a commitment ceremony, for same-sex couples. It did not find for or against same-sex marriage, but rather left it "up to the local community...led by its rabbinical authority, to determine what its practice would be."

As the spiritual head of the synagogue, "ultimately it was his [Rabbi Green's] decision."

Pinsker was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1976 and is a member of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. He was the rabbi at Toronto's Congregation Darchei Noam from 1991-2002 and associate rabbi at Beth David B'nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue for about 10 months before joining Shaarey Zedek in 2004 (while it was still a Conservative synagogue).

Philip Scheim, rabbi at Beth David, told the Tribune that the issue of same-sex marriage "wasn't really dealt with" in the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly's report.

"I don't want to disparage," said Rabbi Scheim, "but it's not something that we [at Beth David] would feel comfortable with.... I know that's not happening in the Conservative Movement here [in Toronto]."

Upon close inspection, it doesn't appear to be happening in the Conservative movement in Winnipeg, either.

Arthur Blankstein, 67, and Ken Ure, 58, were married in a 2004 civil ceremony in Vancouver. Ure's conversion to Judaism in June 2011 and Shaarey Zedek's new policy mean they can now "have a chuppah," Blankstein told the Tribune.

Blankstein was a member of Holy Blossom Temple while he lived in Toronto in the '70s.

"I believe that the only way you can be a Jew is to be a member of a synagogue," he said, adding that his husband's conversion process has brought him closer to his own Jewish upbringing and, although they don't keep kosher or attend synagogue on a weekly basis, they now have regular Shabbat dinners.

Blankstein, an interior designer, and Ure, a registered nurse, have been together for 13 years.

Rabbi Pinsker will lead the religious ceremony on Jan. 21. Instead of gifts, the couple have asked guests to donate to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights being built in Winnipeg, or to a fund they've set up for Anakhnu, a local Jewish GLBT group.

Last Updated ( Monday, 16 January 2012 )

Source: http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/i ... &Itemid=53

[LordLindsey]

Timmy, this is happening to almost all of the major religions, if not now, then eventually.  THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FAMILY IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE jewish-UTOPIA TO COME INTO-BEING.  In fact, it is one of The Protocols.  The destruction of the family is one of the tenets of divide-and-conquer.

LINDSEY