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June 9, 2000/6 Sivan I 5760, Vol. 52, No.40
Reform Jews need some standards
DENNIS PRAGER
Special to Jewish News
The Reform rabbis' recent resolution on same-gender officiation affirms two mutually contradictory actions: It supports any Reform rabbi who wishes to perform a same-sex ritual, including, though not so specified, marriage; and it supports any Reform rabbi who refuses to perform same-sex rituals.
There is nothing new in this resolution. A Reform rabbi could always have performed a same-sex commitment service. There are no religious standards in Reform Judaism. Reform rabbis can do anything they want ritually.
Reform Judaism is very important to the Jewish people. It has served as a way back into Judaism for many Jews who would not set foot into a Conservative or Orthodox shul. It is also a wonderful vehicle for experimentation with the tradition.
But because, as a movement, Reform has no religious standards, it is entirely understandable why movements based on standards would find it theologically difficult, if not impossible, to regard Reform rabbis as necessarily the religious equals of their rabbis.
Those in the Reform movement regard their position on homosexuality as, more than anything, "progressive." The irony here is that it is not progressive, but regressive. Homosexual behavior was regarded as religiously and morally no different from heterosexual behavior throughout the ancient world. Only the Torah lists homosexual behavior as one of the practices of ancient Canaan that Israel must desist from. The elevation of male-female sexual love as the human ideal was the work of the Torah.
Reform Judaism's primary self-image is as a progressive movement. The truth, however, is it has often been a follower of the spirit of its times. For example:
Reform Judaism thought it was progressive when it dropped kashrut and served shellfish at a banquet of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in the late 19th century. Yet, it was only imitating the gentile world. Today Reform embraces kashrut, and many Reform rabbis refrain from eating shellfish.
Reform Judaism thought it was progressive when many of its congregations changed Shabbat from Saturday to Sunday. Yet, it was only imitating the Christians among whom the Reform Jews lived.
Reform Judaism thought it was progressive when it dropped virtually all Jewish religious rituals and Hebrew at its services. Yet, it was only making its services more like those of the Protestants. Today, most Reform services have more Hebrew than English.
And now Reform Judaism thinks it is progressive in equating homosexual and heterosexual behavior. Yet, again, it is only imitating the liberal secular world among whom Reform Jews live.
I love the services that freedom has enabled many Reform synagogues to produce. And I love those Reform Jews, rabbinic and lay, who, though free to do nothing, have embraced Judaism.
It is also critical to add that Jewish life must embrace our fellow Jews who are gay. They are our brothers and sisters. But this latest resolution should make it clear that we need standards-based Jewish denominations.
Maybe this resolution will be the catalyst for the creation of such a movement - perhaps a Torah-based Reform Judaism.
Dennis Prager, author of four books, two on Judaism, has a daily national radio show and frequently lectures before Jewish communities. This article first appeared in the Connecticut Jewish Ledger.
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