On May 24, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that I would be ordaining a gay Orthodox rabbinical student who was denied the opportunity to receive smicha from his own Orthodox yeshiva. On May 26, I did so, ordaining Rabbi Daniel Atwood during a ceremony attended by more than 200 guests.
I have been an Orthodox rabbi for a long time, and I know my decision will be met with shock and exasperation by many members of the Orthodox community.
But I also know that our community desperately needs gay Orthodox rabbis, and we ignore that communal need at our own peril.
Leviticus 18:22, which states that "thou shalt not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination," has not been erased from the Torah. But that biblical commandment does not give us license to ignore or abuse the significant number of carefully observant Jews who are LGBTQ.
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