Jewish reaction to President Obama’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage was swift. Liberal Jewish groups, including Hadassah and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, praised the president’s statement, and the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center declared, “History will regard the president’s affirmation of this core right for the LGBT community as a key moment in the advance of civil rights in America.”
Orthodox Jews stood apart. The centrist Orthodox Union proclaimed itself “disappointed” with the declaration, while the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel of America took the opportunity to attack not Obama, but liberal Jews. Responding to National Jewish Democratic Council Chair Marc Stanley, who declared admiration for the president’s upholding the Jewish value of tikkun olam, Agudah spokesman Avi Shafran wrote that “to imply that a religious value like tikkun olam — and by association, Judaism — is somehow implicated in a position like the one the president articulated is outrageous, offensive, and wrong."
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