if this is true, why are these conservative jews called 'conservative'??

Israel claims Free Country with democratic goverment They should respect the Gays and thier rights to live - When I read this I feel israel still live in the dark ages and their are behind in everything when it comes to human rights and freedom. Please stop harassing gays, woman and palestinins and respect thier rights to live to vote and practice reliegions..etc. Jewish laws need to be revised and liberated to accomodate current practices. The Tortah was revised so many times by rabbis to fit their needs - so one more adjustment will not hurt!

Does this apply to the Conservative Movement is Israel ? Because we need equality and freedom for all here in Israel instead of being chained to the will of the Hasidic Rabbis who want to dominate our life. Conservative Judaism is the solution to intermarriage, secularism, religous fanaticism, and presents a balance. I am eager to see the new Conservative synagogues in Israel that are being built.

They lost me. Besides, if homosexuals want to start their own movement . . . fine, BUT don't wreck Conservative Judaism. Conservatism made decisions based on what can be transgressed in a difficult situation because something else was more important Halackically. This recent decision is not Conservatism. It is "folding like a lawn chair" to popular culture. There is a place for gay clergy. It's called the Episcopal Church. They don't seem all that happy about it either.

Sammy, you appealed to Israel to let gays, Pals, and women vote. Awesome! guess what? They do. I'm sorry, I think you got Israel confused with other countries in the ME. While, true, Palestinians don't have the right to vote in Israeli elections, that's because they're not Israeli citizens; they did vote in PA elections and their ability to do so, btw, was coordinated with the help of the IDF. Arabs who DO hold Israeli citizenship do vote and even hold positions in Parliament (where they're not even kicked out for having meetings with leaders of countries like Syria with whom Israel doesn't have diplomatic relations). This is in contrast to, say, Jordan and SA, where Arab men don't have the right to vote at all. Let's not even talk about Arab women's rights, which are non-existent in pretty much every country in the ME except for Israel where, once again, Arab women holding Israeli citizenship are allowed to vote. In SA, women aren't even allowed to drive. And gays? They're killed without trial for their practices in many of the Muslim countries in the ME. So you want to talk about rights in the ME?! Perhaps your campaign should be about the derogatory treatment of women in the various countries that I mentioned, certainly not in Israel.

this article is about the conservative movement in the usa. like the proverb says: better to be thought a ignoramus than to speak and remove all doubt.

"...the movement will likely loosen the prohibition..."? If it will loosen - it will lose. It will likely lose many members - those, who respect Jewish tradition.

The words of Rabbi Jesus referring to Pharisees. If your rabbi is going to lead you into a ditch...change to The Rabbi.

messiah by these Rabbis. Maybe the rest of you can realize that Jesus is the messiah and the Lord. Hopefully the rest of you Jews will find your way to Jesus. Another reason Jesus was killed by the Jews, because he was Gay.

WHAT IS IT WITH YNET..THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD TODAY AND ALL WE EVER HEAR FM U IS ABOUT GAY PARADES, GAY RELATIONSHIPS AND GAY RABBIS.. I LOVE GAY PEOPLE, THE ONES I KNOW BRING LIGHT AND LIFE TO MY OTHERWISE DRAB LIFE, BUT I DONT WANT TO BE FED ALL THIS GAY INFO..ITS JUST TOO MUCH..I WANT TO READ THE NEWS THAT AFFECTS MY DAY TO DAY LIFE....LEAVE THE GAY ARTICLES FOR OTHER RECREATIONAL PAGES.

A rabbi is supposed to set the religious standards for the community in accordance with Torah law. Having a gay rabbi is like having a rabbi who desecrates Shabbat or eats pork. One of the main ideals in Judaism is for a man to marry a woman and have children. This is in fact the first commandment in the Torah.

"gay christian," are you kidding? acceptance of homosexuality does not come even close to accepting jesus as the messiah. p.s. we didn't kill jesus, the romans did. try reading a book.

If what they need to do is "reinterpret" the Torah, then they should feel comfortable to reinterpret "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman" to mean that one should not tell a lie to man as he would a woman. It does fit the language, now doesn't it? Ultimately, the Conservatives will reinterpret everything according to their passing whim. They are an immoral bad joke and are a cause for mockery of authentic Judaism.

Though the Conservative movement may gain some adherents by continuing to embrace trends in common society, it will pay for it by through the attrition of its remaining observant core. This might not disturb the JTS/UJ ivory tower rabbis making the decisions, since they're close to pension anyway. But the legacy they leave behind will be to make Conservative more like Reform. That will be the perception among the traditional Conservative and small modern Orthodox contingent who's actually paying attention to the details. The majority of Conservative congregants won't care about how sensitive, creative, or clearly thought out the halachic "process" was, since they understand -- let alone observe -- very little Jewish law anyway. What's missing here is REAL creativity and courage. Maybe it's just the typical YNET tendency to focus on the sensational aspects of a news story, i.e., maybe the Conservative rabbonim are actually addressing the core issue. That is, what constitutes the homosexual behavior banned by the Torah? The abomination (to'evah) referred to in Leviticus relates to anal sex between men. I.e., biblical law doesn't shun all same-sex contact between men, as long as it’s kept within certain limits. So, why not take the courageous (albeit uncomfortable) step of spelling out what the Torah limits are, and THEN determine what's permissible under Jewish law? (Or, is that not PC enough for the rabbis?) For all the alleged scholarship, even the average Jew can see how transparent this all is, as Conservative yet again places the cart before the horse in a matter of major impact. The attitude being: if common Western society says all homosexual relations are OK (with possible exception of pedophilia and rape), then why not OK for rabbis too? Well, why not other things that may be fulfilling to some (foods, Shabbat activities, etc.)? Is sexual fulfillment so sacrosanct that it's a "must" for all, even when certain practices directly contradict the word of God? Does Conservative even advocate belief in God? Maybe this would be a good topic on which to focus in shul this High Holiday season.

but this is just wrong. How can these people represent Torah when they clearly violate it? "The debate focuses on the significance of Leviticus 18:22, which states "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman," and 20:13, which says such an act is punishable by death. " Conservatives are as much hypocrites as the Reform.

Committee of "Jewish scholars"? Perhaps in a relative sense compared to the regular conservative "rabbi", but considering they have as much training as a high school yeshiva student, I would not refer to them as scholars.

Sammy, I’m astounded at your scholarship displayed in your talkback. Nevertheless, without your giving proof, I might be forgiven for suspecting a little bit of bias on your part. It might be helpful if you were to source your statements you shared with us. I am particularly interested in your allegation of rabbinic revision of the Torah. Please share.

Extremism is extremism, and it is wrong in any flavor. The type of bigotry and interference with daily life the Haredi have been known to display sometimes approaches the level of idiocy of our enemies.

Dana, you don't think that these Rabbi's are scholars? They have committed their lives to the study of Torah and thebetterment of the Jewish people. They could talk talmudic circles around any high school yeshiva kid not to mention many orthodox rabbi's in this world. These men and women are ordained Rabbi's, many with advanced degrees, like phds, in Judaic subjects like Talmud and Halacha. What is your standard of "scholarly"? Grow up and stop hating on the Conservative Movement.

What is it about the Torah condemning homosexual behavior you do not understand? Cowards! If homosexual behvior is "now in," what about murder or adultery? These are banned today, will they be acceptable next year? IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE THE TORAH, THEN DONT TEACH IT!

If your going to tell me that the requirements and standards for conservative ordination are even remotely equivalent to that of real smicha , you are either an ignoramous or a liar. Grow up!

WTF..Are you rewriting history? Well actually, since there is no truly historical evidence that the guy ever existed, you're just rewriting mythology.

or abraham, or joseph, or moses, or king david. all myths, eh?

Shmuel, You are quite right about the proper method and quite wrong about everything else. You are right that the place to begin stuying any question of halakha is with Torah. You are wrong in assuming the liberal Conservative Rabbis have not done so. Many of these Rabbis are personal friends and I know both their high level of scholarship and the personal struggles many have gone through to understand what the Torah is saying to our generation. You are also wrong in assuming there will be a net loss to the Conservative movement. The push for re-examining the issue is coming from younger Rabbis, students and movement members. Within 20 years no one will take a moderate to liberal movement like the Conservatives seriously if it denies gay equality as expressed in the Torah and the writings of the Sages. Yes, I know that is probably what you were brought up to believe, but how many of those older Conservatives will leave when their children tell them that they are gay and will not set foot in a shul where they are not welcome. The Conservatives have survived woman Rabbis and Cantors, they will survive and grow stronger by doing the just thing for gay people. Shana Tova

These people perform weddings, funerals, conversions, circumcissions, bar/bat mitzvahs and are the spiritual leaders of Jewish communities throughout the world. The fact is that Conservative communities don't need the same kind of posek figure as do Orthodox communities. As such, the standards are different. However that does not take away the fact that they "are called Rabbi in Israel". However if we are reffering to the leadership of the movement and to the committee of laws and standards, then I woul say that they know just as much as Rabbi's with "real smicha". If you met an expert in chinese medicine who in his culture is referred to as doctor, would you refuse to refer to him as such because he hasn't learned what "real doctors" know? Absurd.

Comparing the conservative clergy to practicioners of traditional Chinese medicine serves your argument quite well. By the same logic J for J "rabbis " are like witch doctors and Rabbis with Smicha are physicians who trained at Mass General. By the way , while many professions can be called "doctor" only one is a physician.

Where in the Torah are the qualifications for a Rabbi given? Or how do we learn what knowledge base and skill set is appropriate to a Rabbi of any denomination?