Thursday 2 January 2014

Open Orthodoxy: Pushing the Envelope or Crossing the Line?

«Goldin responded to Lopatin in much the same way as he did when he spoke to JLBC at press time. He noted that the approach is not what sets Open Orthodoxy (OO) apart from Modern Orthodoxy (MO). Goldin, who, at times in the past has been considered left of the mainstream, feels that some of decisions on issues that the OO approach has made are pushing the boundaries, like recent decisions on partnership minyanim and gay individuals. "We do have to be sensitive to these issues," he said, "but some of the things we are hearing from proponents are already halakhically problematical."

Lopatin responded by saying that some of the stagnation in past approaches have been caused by fear, and that YCT is training their students to create open communities. Where do they draw the line? The emphasis needs to be inclusive. For example the daughter of a lesbian couple was celebrating her bat mitzvah, and one focuses on celebrating the child who was raised by two mothers as a family—just as they would celebrate a child at any other bat mitzvah.»
http://www.jewishlinkbc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2260:open-orthodoxy-pushing-the-envelope-or-crossing-the-line&catid=150:news&Itemid=562


Kol Tuv,
RRW

1 comment:

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

Ah the old refrain: guns don't kill people, bullets kill people so why ban guns?
Sure it's a lesbian couple on the bimah but it's all about the kid they're raising and her special day, right?
Except if it was a heterosexual couple and they were raising their kid to think that eating pork on Yom Kippur was okay and loved openly declaring it to the world every chance they got, would they still get the same enthusiastic approach?
If it was an elderly male and his daughter that were the couple (let's say it's the Deep South) with both insisting their relationship was consentual, would the bas mitzvah even be happening? (Cue the banjos)