Geller_Fine_Fine_Dissent_Final点击下载源文件到手机、MP4、电脑进行自己编辑哟.doc

The Halakhah of Same-Sex Relations in a New Context RABBIS MYRON S. GELLER, ROBERT E. FINE and DAVID J. FINE The following paper was submitted as a dissent to the decisions of the CJLS on December 6, 2006. Concurring and dissenting opinions are not official positions of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. See note at the end of the paper. ???? Are intimate relations permitted between two men or two women? May members of the Rabbinical Assembly or the Cantors Assembly officiate at same-sex unions? May openly gay or lesbian Jews who are otherwise qualified be ordained and serve as rabbis or cantors? ????? We will address the questions in the following sections: Introduction …………………….…….…….page 1 Essential Halakhic Sources….………………………2 The CJLS on Homosexuality ……………………….5 Reading Parashat Arayot…….……. ……………….11 The Term ????? ……………………………………..15 Our Changed Societal Context ……………………..18 The Systemic Question ………………….……….…20 Responding to an Alternative Approach ……………25 The Requirement of Consecration...…………………28 ??? ??? –Conclusion …………………………………30 Section One: Introduction The present reopening of formal discussion on homosexuals and their sexuality in Conservative Judaism does not vitiate the importance of our earlier teshuvot on this subject. In a series of responsa by Conservative writers in 1992 and since, some approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, others rejected, some submitted in reaction to approved teshuvot and others never having come before the CJLS at all, traditional halakhic sources about those who engage in same-gender sex relations have been fully identified and explored, recorded and debated. These sources are already in plain view and there is little that new teshuvot will uncover in the halakhic canon to impact the outcome of our current effort. There is not much disagreement about what the halakhah was, only whether it is now possible and necessary to decriminalize gay sexuality and allow homosexuals equal participatio