Just out., January 05, 2007, Page 13, Image 13

JANUARY 5, 2007
JUSt|OUt:13
northwest
Wrestling with God
and Men
•i
First openly gay Orthodox rabbi comes to Portland
b
by Malka Geffen
♦
s revealed by the groundbreaking 2001
film Trembling Before G-d, gay Orthodox
A
Jews—anomalies in more than 3,000
years of Jewish society and abomina­
tions according to Scripture—do exist.
What the film also depicts is their struggle with
conflicting realities and the pain they face whether
living in or out of the closet in their Orthodox
communities. Among the few in the world who
have come out and maintained their strict religious
observance is a lone rabbi.
When dealing with a conflict, Rabbi Steven
Greenberg goes back to the roots. As the first
openly gay Orthodox rabbi, he looks to the
foundation of Jewish law to reconcile his disparate
identities. According to Greenberg, the first code
of Jewish law, the Mishna, completed in the year
200, is grounded in dialogic exploration.
Steven Greenberg challenges millennia of
prohibition as a gay Orthodox rabbi.
%
“The Mishna and Talmud express minority and
through my 20s when I was able to talk to people but
majority opinions, without clarity about which
not use the word ‘gay,’ to my early 30s when I was
opinion we should go by,” he explained. The law is
acting upon it but also trying to get married.” The
originally presented as a series of questions,
rabbi explained that when coming from a tradition­
dialogues and possibilities, which end up as legal
al religious environment like Orthodox Judaism, the
practice as communities narrow down and choose
difficulty with coming out is exacerbated, as every
from interpretations.
fantasy of the future is not only heterosexual but pos­
“Clearly the r<x>t of Jewish law is that of multi­
»
itively celebratory of an ordinary life stnicture.
ple possibilities, and when we have a problem, we
“To say ‘I am gay’ has the sound of a certain
have to confront it from the primary position of
kind of death sentence, so it’s resisted in the
inquiry,” Greenberg said. He argues that Orthodox
extreme because no one wants to articulate the end
communities must open up dialogue and discussion
of life as you’ve known it and to construct a new
alongside serious learning to truly deal with the
trajectory when there are no familiar models or
issue of same-sex love.
they’re somewhat threatening or unpleasant,"
Greenberg grew up in Columbus, Ohio, in a
Greenberg said. “In my view there was a lot of
“middle-of-the-road Qinservative Jewish family.” So
meaningless sex and early death, and it took me
he surprised his parents when, at age 15, he
quite a while to construct a different picture.”
announced his intention to become an observant
In his book, Wrestling with God and Men:
Orthixlox Jew. “1 ended up pretty accidentally at an
Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition, Greenberg
Orthcxlox synagogue and met an English rabbi who
discusses the challenge to integrate gays not only into
rocked my world and introduced me to traditional
larger society but into religious communities of all
Judaism by studying with me,” Greenberg said. He
kinds. “It’s the move away from the ghetto to solu­
continued his studies at Yeshiva University in New
tion—a full-fledged imagination of gay and lesbian
York. “1 was so excited by the potential inside the
belonging,” he said. In line with tradition, the rabbi
materia! I was learning that I decided I wanted to be
asks questions rather than demanding change in his
a rabbi and a teacher.”
quest for resolution. “We usually ask others to mere­
When it comes to neighborhood home loans,
I really know my way around the block.
After working as a religious teacher, a rabbi of
ly be inclusive, but a different kind of self-acceptance
a congregation and a chaplain in a hospital for
would lead to that question. We should ask, ‘Is there
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at the National Jewish Center for Learning and
R abbi S teven G reenberg will speak as part of
Leadership, which is a think tank, leadership train­
the Gus and Libby Solomon lecture series and the
ing institute and resource center.
Harold Schrutzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at
In 1993, the rabbi, while still closeted, caught
7 p.m. Jan. 17 in Portland State University's Smith
the Jewish world unaware with his article “Gayness
Memorial Student Union Ballroom, 1825 S.W.
and God: Wrestlings of a Gay Orthodox Rabbi.” In
Broadway. Admission is free.
1996, he went to Jerusalem to further study bibli­
He will also speak 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 in the Knight
cal and rabbinic attitudes toward sexuality. There,
Library Browsing Room at Oregon State University
he started a gay men’s study group through which
and after a Jewish Film Festival screening of the
he met filmmaker Sandi Simcha Dubowski as she
documentary Trembling Across America 9 p.m.
began her work on Trembling Before G-d. He came
Jan. 20 at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.
out publicly in 1999.
Tickets are $7 from 503'246'8831.
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in clarity and disappeared,”
11 a.m. Jan. 21 on a topic relating to Judaism and
Greenberg said. “It was a long and rather painful
sexual minorities. RSVP to mike@seeingresults.com
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Some products may not be available in Washington and Oregon For Washington and Oregon residents
and properties only This is not a commitment to lend Restrictions apply All rights reserved 61036
process I likely began in my teens, repressing things
for the address and more information.
“Realizing 1 was gay was like a dawning awareness
that both grew
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LP1