And the Messiah has not yet come. This can’t bode well:
In a closed-door meeting this week in an undisclosed site near Baltimore, a committee of Jewish legal experts who set policy for Conservative Judaism will consider whether to lift their movement’s ban on gay rabbis and same-sex unions.
In 1992, this same group, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, declared that Jewish law clearly prohibited commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples and the admission of openly gay people to rabbinical or cantorial schools. The vote was 19 to 3, with one abstention.
Since then, Conservative Jewish leaders say, they have watched as relatives, congregation members and even fellow rabbis publicly revealed their homosexuality. Students at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, the movement’s flagship, began wearing buttons saying “Ordination Regardless of Orientation.” Rabbis performed same-sex commitment ceremonies despite the ban.
The direction taken by Conservative Jews, who occupy the centrist position in Judaism between the more liberal Reform and the more strict Orthodox, will be closely watched at a time when many Christian denominations are torn over the same issue. Conservative Judaism claims to distinguish itself by adhering to Jewish law and tradition, or halacha, while bending to accommodate modern conditions.
If we recollect how God treats His Chosen People every time they decide to start ignoring His commands given to them in their holy scriptures, I can’t imagine that this is a good sign for Jewry. When I was a kid, reading the Old Testament, it always puzzled me that the Jews would ignore God, get the Hell beaten out of them by the Assyrians, the Hittites or somebody, shape up for a few generations, and then go right back to worshipping idols again.
So naturally, it makes sense that after twenty-five years of AIDS ravaging the homosexual community, the Conservative Jews are considering embracing homosexuality. As long as they’re at it, why don’t they just go for broke and set up a golden calf in the middle of New York City.
Not that the Christian church is a whole lot better on the obedience thing, but you’d think that Jews, with their consscious dedication to tradition and remembrances, would have a better collective memory.