Photos by Daniel Rosen

Marc Kaplan: 'God created me like this; I'm part of a plan. He did not set me up to fail'

their place in a strongly 'family-
oriented religion.
"I remember living in Wichita,
Kansas, when I was in my late 20s,"
Kaplan says. "Whenever I went to ser-
vices, I would hear 'So, when are you
going to get married?' and 'You know,
my daughter just got divorced. Maybe
you should meet her.'
"All that really made me uncom-
fortable, but that's how it is. So much
of what Judaism is about is home,
raising children and rites of passage
centered on the family?"
Jewish opposition to homosexuali-
ty is based on a verse in Leviticus:
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as-
with womankind, it is an abomina-
tion?' The punishment is death.
Biblical scholars say homosex-
uality is an abomination, contradic-
ting the Tarah's first commandment
to "Be fruitful and multiply?'
Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg,
secretary of the local Council of Or-
thodox Rabbis, says homosexuality
has no place in Judaism.
"We must offer them (gays and
lesbians) compassion and solace and
we don't cast stones," he says. "But to
excuse homosexual behavior is a
grave injustice to these people. It's not
good for them; it's not good for Klal
Yisrael; it's not good for the very
fabric of what we are all about."
Rabbi Goldberg says he would no
sooner support a gay-lesbian con-
gregation than a synagogue of
adulterers.

"What's intrinsically wrong with
homosexuality? God said it's wrong,
and we cannot condone anything
abhorrent to God:'
Congregation B'nai Moshe's Rab-
bi Allan Meyerowitz, president of the
Michigan Rabbinical Assembly, says
the Conservative movement has ig-
nored the issue of gay and lesbian
Jews.
"We cannot encourage a homo§ex 7
ual lifestyle when it is so
wholeheartedly against Jewish law
and God's purpose for us as Jews," he
says. "At the same time, we have been
slow to condemn because homosex-
uals also are created in God's image
and are capable of being good, kind
and loving people — which is what
God wants us to be?'
Rabbi Meyerowitz, a member of
the executive council of the national
Rabbinical Assembly, says he does not
see the Conservative movement ever
accepting gay and lesbian
congregations.
Many gay and lesbian Jews say
they are not bothered by what the
Torah says about their sexual
preference. Most suggest it was writ-
ten by men, not God, who
misunderstood homosexuality or con-
demned it because Jews needed to in-
crease their numbers.
They resent Jews who constantly
refer to the Leviticus passage. It's
hypocritical, they say, when Jews who
do not keep kosher or observe Shab-

bat lambast homosexuality as con-
tradicting Jewish law.
In Israel, gays and lesbians have
made progress: last year, the Knesset
legalized homosexual acts between
consenting adults.
Several gay and lesbian organiza-
tions exist in Israel. The most promi-
nent is the Society for the Protection
of Personal Rights. Headquartered in
Tel Aviv, the society operates a
speaker's bureau, runs an AIDS infor-
mation line and hosts a number of
social events.
Magaim, a gay magazine, is
published monthly in Ik-ael and a
new kibbutz, established by
Americans and Israelis, is based on
such principles as Jewish and Arab
co-existence, Jewish pluralism and
gay and lesbian rights, according to
an article in Christopher Street
magazine.
In the -United States, too, there
are signs of change within the
organized Jewish community. The
ReconstructioniA movement ordains
gay men and women and last April
accepted a gay-lesbian congregation,
Bet Haverim of Atlanta, into the
movement. Four such congregations
are members of the Reform Union of
American Hebrew Congregations (see
sidebar), though the Reform move-
ment's Central Conference of
American Rabbis convention last
June tabled a decision to ordain gay
rabbis.
The Reform movement's position

— accepting gay-lesbian congrega-
tions while reserving judgment on
gay rabbis — is indicative of the am-
bivalence in the Jewish community,
where many may sympathize with
the individual plight of gay and les-
bian Jews while resisting attempts to
officially accept gay Jewish groups.
Ambivalence also - describes the
way in which gay and lesbian Jews -
regard the Jewish community.

he Music Man" sang about it.
Zero Population Growth recently
called it the worst city in the
United States. Marc Kaplan calls
Gary, Ind., his home.
He was raised in "the most
classical Reform congregation in In-
diana," he says. "I still remember the
war over whether to have b'nai mitz-
vah?'
Today, he is fighting his own war:
forcing the world to deal with his
homosexuality.
"Six to 10 percent of the popula-
tion is lesbian or gay," he says. "But
because we don't stand out — because
we aren't immediately identifiable —
people ignore the issue.
"Imagine if all the lesbians and
gays woke up one day and found
themselves purple. Then people would
have to deal with us. So that's what
I'm doing when I speak out. I'm mak-
ing people face it. I'm making myself
purple?'
Kaplan's interest in Judaism is
strong. He lights Shabbat candles,

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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