Gay Weddings In Shul

Thursday 25th February 2010


Jerusalem's gay pride parade

Gay Jewish marriages could be held in synagogues across the country within weeks following a Liberal Judaism campaign to amend a parliamentary bill.

Liberal Judaism rabbis have joined senior Church of England clergy in supporting an amendment to the Equality Bill that is expected to be debated in the Lords next week. The proposed law change would allow gay and lesbian couples to get married inside synagogues and other religious venues.

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Liberal Jewish synagogues currently host religious commitment ceremonies for same sex couples, but these are not recognised under UK law. If the amendment, expected to be presented by Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli, is passed, lesbian and gay couples will be allowed to hold civil partnership ceremonies that are both legal and religious.

Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, acting head of Liberal Judaism's Rabbinic Conference, said the law would allow same sex couples to have identical rights as heterosexual couples within the Liberal Jewish community. He said: "For synagogues it is a question of religious freedom and for couples it is a matter of religious justice that they are dealt with in the same way as heterosexual couples in English law."

Under British law homosexual couples can become civil partners, awarding them the same tax and pension benefits as heterosexual couples. However, their commitment ceremony cannot include religious language or take place in a religious institution.

Rabbi Goldstein added that the planned amendment would allow same sex couples to celebrate their commitments as they wish. He said: "They will be able to have a spiritual celebration of their commitment to each other as a loving couple in the tradition and religion of which they are a part. Orthodox Jews will oppose this but we believe we are acting in the spirit of prophetic tradition."

Liberal rabbis said the law would only affect synagogues that already perform civil partnership ceremonies.

Rabbi Neil Janes of Finchley Progressive Synagogue said: "The amendment doesn't force religious organisations or individuals to hold civil partnerships in their premises but merely makes this possible.
"Religious communities that wish to offer religious significance to a civil partnership should be allowed to do so within the sanctuary of their own premises. This is natural in a society that has already acknowledged the rights of same sex couples."

Orthodox rabbis have expressed indignation about the proposal, branding it "inconsistent" with Torah Judaism. Rabbi Abraham Pinter, principal of Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School in Stamford Hill, said: "Is this a Purim question? You are having me on! This just confirms what we already know, that such forms of Judaism are simply not authentic. I have never viewed the Liberal movement as a genuine form of Judaism and its policy towards this issue simply proves the point."

Rabbi Daniel Roselaar of Barnet Synagogue said that holding civil partnership ceremonies in synagogues would "entirely inconsistent with traditional Jewish teachings on sexuality". He dismissed the claim that the move was in the spirit of the prophets, saying "It is completely at odds with the biblical tradition."

Rabbi Leivi Sudak of Lubavitch of Edgware said: "Liberal Judaism has rejected the principles of Torah Judaism as divine. I don't endorse what they do under the banner of Liberal Judaism. They've chosen to do something that Torah law forbids."

An amendment to the Equality Bill was debated in the Lords last month but was opposed by the Bishops of Winchester and Chichester. During the debate Baroness Neuberger, president of Liberal Judaism said that gay and lesbian couples had told her that they would be "overjoyed" to have their civil partnership ceremony in a synagogue.

In a letter to the Times this week Church of England bishops in the Lords said it was wrong for the Civil Partnership Act to prohibit civil partnerships from being registered in any religious premises, including Liberal Judaism synagogues. Their letter said: "To deny people of faith the opportunity of registering the most important promise of their lives in their willing church or synagogue, according to its liturgy, is plainly discriminatory."


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