Leader’s Guide - Rabbi Joel Roth and Rabbi Eliot Dorff Video

by Rabbi Joshua Gutoff

Before the Video

Introduce the video:

We are about to hear two statements by, respectively, Rabbi Joel Roth and Rabbi Eliot Dorff. Each addresses, from different view points, the question of halakhah and homosexuality (or homosexual practice). It is important to understand at the outset that the statements are not teshuvot, responsa in English. Teshuvot (singular: teshuva) are closely argued answers to questions of Jewish practice. Traditionally based on close readings of classic Jewish texts, they set out the history of relevant practices and beliefs, and arguing from what Jewish law has been, a teshuva will come to a conclusion of what Jewish law demands now.

In the Conservative Movement, for a teshuva to be accepted as an authoritative Conservative position it must be approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. Over the years the number of votes a teshuva needs to be approved has varied, but an opinion does not need a majority of votes. This can lead to the seemingly paradoxical result that opinions saying “Such-and-such is permitted” and “Such-and-such is forbidden” can both be accepted as legitimate positions within the Conservative Movement.

In 1992 the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards discussed a number of proposed teshuvot concerning homosexual behavior. At that time, the opinions accepted by the Committee were in agreement that homosexual behavior was forbidden by Jewish law, that rabbis could not participate in or solemnize gay and lesbian “commitment ceremonies”, and that openly gay or lesbian Jews could not be rabbis. (The may be seen on the Rabbinical Assembly’s website - scroll down to the section on “Interpersonal Relations”). The issue, though, has remained controversial and once again the Committee is examining a number of teshuvot on the question. As you will see, there is relatively little technical or text-based argument in either of the opinion pieces. What you will find are very deeply-felt expressions of values, the concerns which ground the individual rabbis as they grapple with the issues. Now, the nature of the relationship between a rabbi’s values, and the rabbi’s ability to carefully and clearly interpret the halachic tradition is a complex one, and much has been written on what it is and what it should be. But what is clear is that a rabbi’s values are always relevant, and so it is valuable for us to see these scholars trying to make explicit their concerns.

Pass out the note-taking guides (in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format).