Tag: Lesbian
The fallacy of the ‘pinkwashing’ argument | Haaretz
‘Where are you for the seder?’ | Haaretz
Religion and our community | Star Online
Don’t let the Passover croissant fool you – Israel has a religious monopoly | Haaretz
Churches damaging their images | Adelaide Now
Poll: 81% of Jews Back Gay Marriage | Forward.com
Jewish submissions to Senate enquiry on Marriage Equality
The following Jewish organisations have made a submission to the Senate Enquiry into Marriage Equality:
- Union for Progressive Judaism (for)
- Rabbinical Council of NSW (against)
- Rabbinical Council of Victoria (against)
- Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (against)
- Institute for Judaism and Civilisation (against)
This list may be incomplete. If you are aware of other Jewish submissions to the Senate Enquiry, please contact Aleph Melbourne.
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Union for Progressive Judaism corrects Rabbinical Council of NSW’s submission to Marriage Equality Senate enquiry
The following note was sent from the Union for Progressive Judaism to the Senate committee on the morning of April 3 2012:
“Good morning
I am aware that submissions to the Senate enquiry have closed. However, I do hope that it is possible to provide some clarification regarding a submission that was made to you by the Rabbinical Council of NSW Inc.
In their submission they state that “The Rabbinical Council of NSW represents all Orthodox and mainstream synagogues in NSW”. However, this is far from the case.
It is true that they represent a number of Synagogues that have an affiliation to the Orthodox denomination of Judaism. However, they do not represent the many thousands of people in the State who are affiliated to the Progressive, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Renewal denominations of Judaism. These Synagogues are definitely part of the “mainstream” of our community even if their views may differ from the Rabbinical Council.
While there are a range of views on this topic in the community there is no question that the views of the people who are members of the Synagogues that are not Orthodox are undoubtedly better reflected in the comments included in the submission made by our organisation to the enquiry panel which is totally supportive of Marriage Equality.
I do hope that this clarification can be shared with the committee,
With thanks for your assistance”
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AJN Letters: Responses to Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz – March 30 2012
30 Mar 2012
The Australian Jewish News Melbourne edition
Letters to the editor should be no more than 250 words and may be edited for length and content. Only letters sent to letters@jewishnews.net.au will be considered for publication. Please supply an address and daytime phone number for verification.
Method not message is wrong on bullying
I FOUND the parallel that letter writer Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz (AJN 23/03) made between opposing the specific homophobia anti-bullying program being promoted by Safe Schools Victoria to “tacitly encouraging the vilification of others” (i.e. homosexuals) to be obscene in the extreme.
Even the biggest critics of this antibullying program were abundantly clear about their opposition to homophobic bullying.
It is the methodology of the specific program in question that has justifiably drawn criticism from some rabbis and concerned members of the community. Entering into a discussion about samesex marriage with kindergarten children, as this program would have us do, is plainly and simply inappropriate.
Moreover, Mr Meyerowit-Katz believes that those rabbis who are opposed to the implementation of this program are adhering to a “medieval idea of morality” and that should they persist in this mentality, they will “only continue to stand there scratching their heads as shul attendance continues to plummet”.
With the deepest of respect, falling shul attendance has nil to do with rabbinic attitudes to current issues and everything to do with the increasing secularisation of our community whereby communal prayer is no longer appealing.
YONASAN KABLINSKI
Caulfield North, Vic
A morality tale for boosting attendance
WE should all be grateful to Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz (AJN 23/03).
He bemoans what he perceives to be the persecution of homosexuals, and then proceeds to offer us the panacea for declining synagogue attendances.
“In advocating that Jews adhere to a medieval idea of morality” he writes, “certain members of the Orthodox rabbinate are tragically out of step with the modern world. Should this mentality persist, they will only continue to stand there scratching their heads as shul attendances continue to plummet”.
So, to be clear, his message is that promoting and practising immorality is the way to get those “bums on seats” in our congregations?
By the way, I think he is also historically inaccurate in implying that homosexuality is a new phenomenon of this modern world that those rabbis are so “out of step” with. It was rampant in many civilisations such as ancient Greece and Sodom. So it is just as “medieval” a concept as morality. Go figure!
ROBERT WEIL
Caulfield North, Vic