•

Insight

Ideas & Issues

?§ A

Mam ffi„,

Preferred Choice

From the pages of The Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

Federation hiring of gay executive removes another barrier to participation.

JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

R

emoving one more perceived barrier to gays and
lesbian participation in Jewish life, one of the
nation's largest Jewish federations has hired an
openly gay man to serve as its top professional.
Harold Goldman, a longtime and, by many accounts, pop-
ular executive vice president of the local
Jewish Family and Children's Service, will
serve as president of the Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia starting in October.
Goldman, who is in his mid-50s, will be
the first openly gay chief executive of a major
federation. He declined to be interviewed.
Despite the view of some traditional
Jews that Jewish law forbids homosexual
activity, Philadelphia federation officials
say there has been no criticism so far of
Goldman's appointment.
"From our perspective, his sexual prefer-
ence is irrelevant," said Susan Bodner, the fed-
eration's communications director, adding
that Goldman was chosen for his "leadership
qualities." The issue "wasn't controversial at all Harold Goldman
at Jewish Family and Children's Services, and
we don't expect it to be here," Bodner said.

Some Movement Approval

The appointment comes as gay and lesbian Jews are enjoy-
ing unprecedented acceptance in the mainstream Jewish
community.
The Reform and Reconstructionist movements both
ordain openly gay rabbis and support rabbis who officiate at
same-sex unions, and a growing number of Jewish institutions
are welcoming the participation of gay and lesbian people.
Federations remain the central Jewish philanthropies in
local communities, although their fund-raising influence
has waned in recent years with competition from secular
causes and Jewish organizations that are more specialized.
As umbrella institutions that aim to serve — and raise
funds from — Jews of diverse religious beliefs, federations
are often in a tricky position when it comes to including
gays and lesbians or embracing any view that might be
deemed controversial.
"For the position he occupies it's no problem as far as
I'm concerned," said Rabbi Joshua Toledano, spiritual
leader of Mekor Baruch, an Orthodox congregation in sub-
urban Philadelphia, in reference to Goldman.
"I can't condone his behavior because it goes contrary to
Jewish law, but it's no different from someone not observ-
ing Shabbat," Toledano said.
"If I were to say" that only Sabbath-observant people

Remember
When I,

are acceptable, "I'd be writing off 90 percent of the com-
munity," he said.
Although the federations' national umbrella group, the
United Jewish Communities, offers domestic partner bene-
fits to gay and lesbian employees, Philadelphia's federation
and many others do not.
Gay activists have criticized federations for not offering such
benefits and have complained that many Jewish newspapers do
not print wedding announcements for gay cou-
ples or personal advertisements by gays and les-
bians seeking partners.

Measuring Inclusion

The World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgendered Jews — which recently
marked its 20th anniversary — launched a sur-
vey in 1998 measuring federations' attitudes
toward gays and lesbians, but the study was
never completed due to lack of funding.
Nonetheless, said Scott Gansl, president of
that organization and a member of Philadelphia's
gay and lesbian synagogue Congregation Beth
Ahavah, the preliminary findings were generally
"very positive." He said federations in the central
and southern parts of the country tend to be less
inclusive than are those on the coasts.
Joel Daner, the UJC professional who helps place execu-
tives with federations throughout North America, said a
candidate's sexual preference has "never been an issue."
Jeff Scheckner, a research consultant at the UJC and a
longtime employee in the federation world, said that his
being openly gay has never posed any problems for him.
Pleased to learn of Goldman's appointment, Scheckner said
federations are "generally a good environment for people to
be themselves, but it depends on the community."
Goldman is not highly visible in Philadelphia's gay
Jewish community, Gansl said. He noted that during
Goldman's tenure at the family service agency, he initiated a
number of programs serving gays and lesbians and has part-
nered with local AIDS organizations.
For Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, the Philadelphia regional
director of the Reform movement's Union of American
Hebrew Congregations and herself a lesbian, the local fed-
eration's hiring of Goldman is momentous.
Just as Sen.Joseph Lieberman's selection as Al Gore's run-
ning mate signaled that "now every Jewish kid in America
can imagine himself becoming a vice-presidential candidate,"
she said, Goldman's appointment shows there is "yet one
more place in the Jewish community that is open to all Jews.
"It's exciting to see such an appointment in a mainstream,
all- American city like Philadelphia," Rabbi Elwell said, adding
her hope that Goldman will . "be able to bring people together
who have been unable to come together in the past." El

WW-*

WW,K

,>fi

tt

Sinai Health Care system opened
the Farmington Hills-based Rose
Diagnostic Imaging Center.
Detroit's boys basketball team
opened the first round of Maccabi
games with a 91-53 victory over
Baltimore.
Jerry Alexis was elected president
of the Windsor Jewish Community
Council in Ontario.

-SW>:
•
,4 2;tgAtiVWXAXINO
Shmuel Tamir, Israeli justice minis-
ter, became the third member of
the cabinet to leave the government
in recent months.
Yeshiva University's basketball
rebounding ace Dave Kufeld signed
with Maccabia Ramat-Gan of the
National Basketball League in Israel.
Jackye Drapkin was appointed
youth director at Congregation
Beth Achim in Southfield.

Dr. Morris Starkman was named
chairman of the medical division,
Israel Bond Campaign.
The first Jewish chairman of the
United Negro College Fund is Morris
B. Abram, former president of
Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.

v7A-4' ,44'444.0WARavi
Zev Levin, Israel consul-general in
Cyprus, was appointed ambassador
to that new republic.
The annual convention of the
Zionist Organization of America
opened at the Detroit Statler Hotel
with an address by Sen. John F.
Kennedy.
Mumford High School senior
Philip Joseph Parker of Detroit was
selected to attend the High School
Science Institute at Michigan State
University.

Nviemirwrowt .0z*vme
„ .h‘Aittz4m1Marmitabih,,
A forest fire destroyed 1 V2 square
miles of olive trees 10 miles south
of Haifa, Israel.
A fifth transport of 362 Jews left
Hungary for Israel.
— Compiled by Sy Monello,
editorial assistant

8/25

2000

35