Rabbi Nevins Reflects
by Daniel Septimus • December 26th, 2006 3:00 PM
Category: History & Community, Ideas & Beliefs
This week on MyJewishLearning, Rabbi Daniel Nevins reflects on his role in the Conservative movement’s recent debate on homosexuality and halakha. Rabbi Nevins co-authored the responsum that allows for gay rabbis and commitment ceremonies.
Nevins writes:
My “ah-hah” moment came a few years ago when I was studying daf yomi, the daily Talmud page, and came back to a passage I hadn’t thought of in this light before. In Tractate Brakhot 19b there is a discussion of human dignity–kvod habriot–and its legal implications.
As I looked up parallel sources and then later applications of this concept in halakhic sources, I realized that this might be the key to the conundrum: How to be inclusive and sensitive to human dignity, while still being authentically halakhic? (MORE)
The responsum in its entirety (it’s 55 pages including notes) can be found here.
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