UP FRONT

Testing The Waters

The Conservative movement struggles with a
policy regarding homosexuality.

YOSEF I. ABRAMOWITZ

Special to The Jewish News

B

eth Cohen served for
six years as executive
director of Congrega-
tion Sharit Israel, a Conser-
vative synagogue in Wash-
ington, D.C. Her duties in-
cluded leading services,
tutoring for bar and bat
mitzvah lessons and
substitute teaching in the
Hebrew school.
When her name appeared
as "B. Cohen" in an article
in a local Jewish newspaper
about an international con-
vention of gay and lesbian
Jews, the rabbi of her con-
gregation asked her to step
down.
"The rabbi felt that I
became a public sinner and I
would no longer be able to
lead the congregation in
prayer or participate in any
of those rituals that I had
been participating in
previously," she says.
When the synagogue board

Yosef Abramowitz studies at
the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York.

refused the rabbi's request
to have Ms. Cohen fired, a
year-long battle ensued.
During that time Ms. Cohen
left on her own because she
did not want to be the cause
of a split in the congrega-
tion. She was hired "as an
open lesbian," she says, by a
Reform congregation as ex-
ecutive director.
But the debate continued

Some rabbis think
the Seminary is
slow to recognize
and respond to the
sexual climate of
American Jewry.

within Sharit Israel and the
congregation urged the
rabbi to seek a teshuva, or
rabbinic responsa, from the
Rabbinical Assembly's law
committee.
Five years later, that law
committee is about to hear
formal arguments, pro and
con, on maintaining a ban on
the -ordination of homosex-
uals and on removing
homosexual Conservative

Jews from positions of re-
ligious leadership. This
would include teachers,
youth workers and "board
members of synagogues or
other national, regional or
local institutions of the Con-
servative movement, adult
or youth."
Former Detroiter Rabbi
Joel Roth, who heads the laW
committee, will argue fur-
ther that "a heterosexual
leader who advocates the
halachic co-equality of
homosexuality" and permits
homosexual behavior should
be disqualified. If Rabbi
Roth's teshuva comes before
the entire Rabbinical
Assembly, the rabbinic arm
of the Conservative move-
ment, and is accepted, a
rabbi permitting homosex-
ual behavior would be
dismissed from the RA.
The implications of such
action are far-reaching,
given the national network
of Ramah summer camps,
United Synagogue Youth
chapters, Solomon Schechter
Day Schools and hundreds of
synagogues that serve 40
percent of American Jewry
who affiliate.

Artwork by Barbara Cummings. Copyright. 1990, Barbara Cummings. Distributed by Los Angeles Tams Syndicate.

It is indicative of the Con-
servative movement, which
seeks to blend tradition and
modernity, that it is struggl-
ing with a sensitive issue
and hearing two viewpoints
from within. What is
unusual, though, is how ex-
treme those two views are.
For while Rabbi Roth would
seek to ban homosexuals

from leadership positions,
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Art-
son will urge the committee
to sanctify homosexual
unions.
Rabbi Artson argues that
the Torah's prohibition of
homosexual acts does not
apply to a "mutually ex-
clusive, long-term adult
homosexual relationship"

Baskets of wine and foods
also are available, as are gift
packs of kosher wines.
For information about
price and delivery areas,
contact Memo Services, 1-
800-858-2522.

izations." These changes
"have considerably reduced
political risks facing Israel
in the foreseeable future."
In an earlier report, issued
in March 1990, Standard &
Poor's negative conclusions
were based primarily on ex-
ternal security risks facing
Israel and their negative
economic repercussions.
Standard & Poor's latest
report asserts that, against
the backdrop of Israel's im-
proved political climate, the
country's new citizens will
be a major catalyst for rapid
economic development.
"Over the next few years,
the economy as a whole is. set
for rapid growth, involving
significant investment in
housing and industry, as
well as opening up -new con-
sumer markets," the report
says. "While the process of
absorption could lead to
temporary dislocations and
burdens, an improved
overall macroeconomic
climate is expected to
facilitate the adjustment."
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

ROUND UP

Program Honors
522nd Battalion

San Francisco — A recent
program in San Francisco
brought together survivors
of Dachau and their res-
cuers, members of Charlie
Battery of the 522nd Field
Artillery Battalion, an all
Japanese-American bat-
talion.
The event was organized
by the San Francisco Holo-
caust Oral History Project,
according to the New Yorker.
The 522nd was part of the
442nd Regimental Combat
Team, the most decorated
regiment in America's histo-
ry.
Eric Saul, one of those who
helped coordinate the event,
told the New Yorker that
members of the 522nd "talk
only among themselves and
only very vaguely about
their accomplishments. We
keep finding out little
secrets about the battles
they won, the people they
saved."
Mr. Saul also said the U.S.
Army had instructed the
Japanese-American soldiers

never to tell what they had
seen at Dachau, threatening
them with a court martial if
they did.
Hundreds attended the
event, after which bagels
and cream cheese were serv-
ed along with four kinds of
sushi.
Among those at the buffet
table was Ernest Hollander,
a Dachau survivor, who told
the gathering how the Nazis
murdered his father and
brothers.
"I feel like I got something
off my heart by being able to
say thank you to some of
these people I never knew
for giving me a second
chance at life," Mr
Hollander said.

Orange You Glad
You Read This?
New York — The Israel
Investment and Trade
Center is encouraging Jews
throughout the United
States to take advantage of a
new service that exports
Israeli products including
almonds, chocolates and
wines.

L'chayim to increasing Israel's ex-
ports.

"With a minimum of
effort, you can have the solu-
tion to your gift giving and
help increase Israel's ex-
ports," said Kobi Halifa,
Israel's counsel for economic
affairs. "Remember, it takes
$60,000 in exports to create
one job for a new immi-
grant."
The products are being
sold through Memo Services
and include a 20-pound gift
carton of Jaffa oranges,
available from January-
May, and 32 pounds of Jaffa
red grapefruits, which may
be purchased from
December-May.

S&P Revises Its
Outlook On Israel
New York — Recent
events in the Middle East
and the Soviet Union have
prompted Standard & Poor's
to revise its outlook on Israel
from negative to positive.
The outlook reflects "a
significant lessening of the
external threat facing the
nation," as well as the im-
pact tens of thousands of
Soviet and other Jewish
immigrants will have on
Israel's economy.
The update states that
"the transformation of East-
ern Europe has provided
windfall gains for Israel.
(Furthermore), changes in
the Soviet Union eroded its
once automatic political and
financial support of radical
Arab countries and organ-

.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11

