Keshet, the Jewish campus group for GLBTQA students, will host a panel highlighting the stance of each denomination on same-sex marriage. The event will occur at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at Uras’s Fireside.
The debate surrounding the issue is one of the most divisive subjects in Judaism today, mirroring its role in American culture and other religions. Both the Episcopal and Catholic churches have been re-examining their positions on the inclusion of gays in recent months.
The Reform and Reconstructionist movements have both publicly expressed their support for same-sex marriages. The Orthodox movement has rejected the concept of both civil and religious same-sex unions. The Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, its law-making body, plans to put the question of halachic same-sex marriage on its future agenda.
Rabbi Hyim Shafner (Orthodox), Rabbi Ryan Dulkin (Conservative), Rabbi Thomas Alpert (Reform), and David Roberts (Reconstructionist) will participate in the panel.
Rabbi Shafner is the spiritual leader of the Bais Abraham Congregation. Rabbi Dulkin is a Ph.D candidate at the Jewish Theological Seminary and lives in St. Louis. Rabbi Thomas Alpert leads Congregation Ohabei Shalom, and David Roberts is president of the Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community.
For more information about this event, visit Facebook or contact Margaux Buck.