Gay rabbi

He is described as the first openly gay Orthodox-ordained Jewish rabbi, since he publicly disclosed he is gay in an article in the Israeli newspaper Maariv in and participated in a documentary film about gay men and women raised in the Orthodox Jewish world. But experts say that Brick is the first openly gay rabbi to serve on the clergy of an Orthodox synagogue in the U.S., part of an increasingly visible cohort of queer Orthodox Jews hoping to.

Rabbi Shua Brick of Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland is the first openly gay rabbi hired at an Orthodox synagogue. Rabbi Goor was ordained in at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. In , Rabbi Goor was appointed the first out, gay rabbi to serve a mainstream congregation. "I meet a lot of people who have this notion that being gay and being religious are incompatible," Michael Lewis said.

We are committed to continuing to learn how to rectify the erasures of the past and to embrace all of our colleagues. We share these moments of truth, and we also share important moments of joy and hard-won milestones. We honor the experiences of queer Reform rabbis, their meaningful contributions, and above all else, we thank them for showing up as their authentic selves and bringing diversity and wholeness to the rabbinate and to their communities.

I am particularly nostalgic as I am retiring from my pulpit soon. When I was ordained a rabbi in by Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion, it was still a time when you could not be openly gay or lesbian and rabbi. There was not even a discussion that transgender people could be part of this equation at that time! The College—Institute did not ordain openly gay or lesbian people as rabbis. This was a burning question and issue in the mid- to late s within Reform Judaism.

And all of this against a backdrop of a horrible AIDS pandemic that was killing gay men in droves in this country. And in the midst of a political scene where the U. In advance of the Convention, my coming out story ran in the Los Angeles Times , helping to give a face and name to the cause. I stood at the bedsides of countless young men dying of HIV, feeding them and visiting them when they had no one, when their families still rejected them.

kabbalah homosexuality

Over the course of the next thirty-five years, I would push the boundaries of inclusion for marriage equality both in our Reform Movement and the larger Jewish world and in society at large. I performed the first legal same-sex marriage in California in when the California Supreme Court found same-sex marriage to be legal in the Constitution. I would do over sixty weddings during that summer of love, before voters in November took away the right to marry until the federal government granted it again in At the Convention, I had a bodyguard.

My colleagues kept asking who the guy was that was trailing me everywhere. It was frightening for me and for my family as my son was with me from college. The world had changed and yet not so much. There still was an expression of hatred and violence against me as an out lesbian, as an out Jewish lesbian. May this Pride Season inspire us to speak louder, fight harder for justice, and be proud of our queer rabbis, family, friends, and community.

Rabbi Denise L. In March she became the 60th of the CCAR, becoming the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi to hold that position. She served from This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. Available at sacredstruggle. Close Menu About. Policies and Guidelines. The CCAR.

CCAR Staff.