Reconstructionist congregations say they’re ready for their movement’s seminary to become the first rabbinical school to accept students with non-Jewish partners, yet the fallout from the expected change could still fracture the troubled denomination.
The new policy, which will face a final vote among members of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s faculty at the end of the summer, would mark a radical departure for a mainstream seminary. None, including those connected to the Reform and Conservative movements and the nondenominational Hebrew College, currently allows rabbinical students to enroll if they are in committed relationships with non-Jewish partners who have no intention of converting.
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