Keshet Rabbis
Encyclopedia
Keshet-Rabbis is an organization of Conservative
/Masorti
rabbi
s which holds that LGBT
Jews should be embraced as full, open members of all Conservative/Masorti congregations and institutions. Based on its understanding of Jewish sources and Jewish values, it asserts that gay
, lesbian
, bisexual and transgender
Jews may fully participate in community life and achieve positions of professional and lay leadership.
The organization was established in order to connect gay-friendly Conservative rabbi
s with one another, to serve as a collective voice of gay-friendly Conservative rabbis, and to offer a point of contact for Conservative/Masorti Jews who are themselves LGBT or who care about LGBT issues.
Keshet-Rabbis provides LGBT Jews and those who love and support them with the means to contact a Conservative rabbi for positive and sympathetic advice and information. The mandate of the organization's rabbis is to provide judgment-free support and advice to those who approach them in the following areas: a listening and sympathetic ear, personal counseling in absolute privacy, halakhic queries, ceremonies of interest to the LGBT community, congregations that are already gay-friendly, referrals to helpful resources within the greater Jewish community and all similar matters.
In addition to Rabbis, Cantors are joining to give support in a similar manner to Rabbis. Further there is now a move towards Keshet Congregations.
and is not endorsed by it; rather, it is a free association of rabbis who are members of the Rabbinical Assembly and who subscribe to Keshet-Rabbis' rationale and objectives. The organization's website was effectively launched on June 27, 2005, and soon after its creation over 100 rabbis had joined it.
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
/Masorti
Masorti
The Masorti Movement is the name given to Conservative Judaism in Israel and other countries outside Canada and U.S. Masorti means "traditional" in Hebrew...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s which holds that LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
Jews should be embraced as full, open members of all Conservative/Masorti congregations and institutions. Based on its understanding of Jewish sources and Jewish values, it asserts that gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, bisexual and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
Jews may fully participate in community life and achieve positions of professional and lay leadership.
The organization was established in order to connect gay-friendly Conservative rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s with one another, to serve as a collective voice of gay-friendly Conservative rabbis, and to offer a point of contact for Conservative/Masorti Jews who are themselves LGBT or who care about LGBT issues.
Keshet-Rabbis provides LGBT Jews and those who love and support them with the means to contact a Conservative rabbi for positive and sympathetic advice and information. The mandate of the organization's rabbis is to provide judgment-free support and advice to those who approach them in the following areas: a listening and sympathetic ear, personal counseling in absolute privacy, halakhic queries, ceremonies of interest to the LGBT community, congregations that are already gay-friendly, referrals to helpful resources within the greater Jewish community and all similar matters.
In addition to Rabbis, Cantors are joining to give support in a similar manner to Rabbis. Further there is now a move towards Keshet Congregations.
Status of Keshet-Rabbis
Keshet-Rabbis is not an official arm of the Rabbinical AssemblyRabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
and is not endorsed by it; rather, it is a free association of rabbis who are members of the Rabbinical Assembly and who subscribe to Keshet-Rabbis' rationale and objectives. The organization's website was effectively launched on June 27, 2005, and soon after its creation over 100 rabbis had joined it.