SA
Can SA Jewry provide a home for same-sex marriages?
GEOFF SIFRIN
TAKING ISSUE
Numerous American Jewish organisations, including representatives of the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative streams – which together constitute the majority of religiously identified US Jews – backed the Anti-Defamation League’s argument in support of the court’s position.
The difference between South African and US Jewry regarding acceptance of homosexuality stands out sharply. Gay individuals or married couples in America who want to remain in the Jewish fold have a myriad options in the diverse, large – over five million-strong – community. Whereas in South Africa’s small, overwhelmingly Orthodox community of 70 000 people, there are few options: Gay Jews are left virtually “homeless” in a Jewish sense, and generally end up looking outside the Jewish fold for a community.
The Reconstructionist and Conservative streams are all but non-existent in South Africa, while the once-vibrant Reform/Progressive stream has shrunk dramatically and has little influence today.
In many places in the United States, there are small, active egalitarian “minyans” – liberal equivalents of the Orthodox shtieblach which have proliferated in Johannesburg – offering complete openness to gay Jews. They are almost unknown in South Africa.
Worldwide, social attitudes on same-sex marriage are changing fast. It has been legal in South Africa since 2006, based on the constitutional right not to be discriminated against because of one’s sexual orientation.
Twenty-one countries allow it, including Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Argentina, Denmark, Brazil, England and Wales, France, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Scotland and Ireland. Now the US has joined this group. A decade ago, some two-thirds of Americans were against it. Today, well over half support it.
Israeli social attitudes are moving in the same direction, and Tel Aviv is already famous as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world. Yet the legalising of same-sex marriage is still a long way off in Israel because there is no procedure for civil marriage, and all Jewish marriages must go through the Orthodox-controlled rabbinate. However, calls are growing rapidly for change in this realm.
The issue poses a major theological problem for Orthodox Jewry because of the clear halachic injunction against homosexuality. The reaction by Agudath Israel of America to the US court ruling expressed this, warning in a statement about attempts to force any particular religious community to accept same-sex marriages.
This has already happened with Christian groups – a Christian baker in Colorado, for example, has been the subject of an enforcement action for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.
The Agudah said its members faced “moral opprobrium” and were in danger of “tangible negative consequences” if they refuse to transgress their beliefs. The issue, it says, is not whether all human beings are created in the Divine Image, or whether they have inherent human dignity: “Of course they are, of course they do. [But] the truths of Torah are eternal, and stand as our beacon even in the face of shifting social mores.”
South Africa’s Jewish community has experienced tough times in the past few decades because of emigration and anxieties about the country’s future. It has shrunk by almost half since its heyday in the 1970s and lacks the diverse range of Jewish options that the US or UK communities provide.
The increasingly religious Orthodox mainstream has become so dominant in the last two decades, that liberal or secular Jews have almost nowhere to go where they feel a sense of belonging.
While the solid growth of the Orthodox ba’al teshuva movement is to be lauded, the unfortunate flipside of its dominance of SA Jewry is the alienation felt among other Jews whose talents and energies would otherwise have enriched the Jewish community.
It is an important challenge to religious leaders: will they find a way to make all Jews feel at home among them? The gay and same-sex marriage issue is not going to go away, but will only increase in importance.
Geoff Sifrin is former editor of the SAJR. He writes this column in his personal capacity.
Choni
July 2, 2015 at 7:24 am
‘Mr. Sifrins comments are once again completely anti- Torah.’
nat cheiman
July 2, 2015 at 11:44 am
‘That question does not arise. The torah is clear on the at aspect of abomination. ‘
Gillian
July 2, 2015 at 11:46 am
‘Whilst the majority of SA Jews affiliate with orthodoxy, they are not themselves orthodox. The vast majority of SA Jews are not observant of Jewish law, so they should have no problem accepting gay marriage, inasmuch as they accept Sabbath desecration and eating non kosher.’
nat cheiman
July 2, 2015 at 5:48 pm
‘Obviously not!!!!!!!’
Marc Feitelberg
July 3, 2015 at 8:22 am
‘Thanks Geoff for the important article. I wanted to add that Rabbi Greg Alexander from Temple Israel in Cape Town provides a wonderful warm and fully embracing \”home\” for the LGBT Jewish community. He is truly inspiring. I urge other Rabbis to follow his example. ‘
Gabi
July 3, 2015 at 8:33 am
‘I love the way liberal and secular are in the same sentence. You ask a ‘liberal secular’ Jew if they are willing to hear the orthodox side with an open mind. Majority are against it – therefore calling them liberal is unfound and incorrect. Not to say that the religious Jew is any better in that regard but at least they are brave enough to say it like it is, and don’t pretend to be something they are not.’
Choni
July 3, 2015 at 9:23 am
‘See my letter sent by Email.’
Choni
July 5, 2015 at 11:39 am
‘Hymie \”marries\” Abe. Sarah \”marries\” Hannah!
Sifrin, Do you really believe an Orthodox community will ever welcome these couples with open arms especially to a shul.
’
Rabbi Adrian M Schell, Bet David
July 6, 2015 at 8:44 am
‘With great interest I have read your article about providing a home for same sex-couples in our congregations. I agree with you that this is an important theme for all Jewish communities in South Africa, and we should start an open and honest debate about it, rather sooner than later.
However, I don’t share your view that lesbians and gays have no Jewish home in South Africa at all. Although in South Africa the Progressive communities are, in relation to their Orthodox counterparts, smaller, they are still very much alive and reflect beautifully what is the common sense and approach of the Progressive/Reform movement worldwide. This means that gays and lesbians, as well as all other members of our Jewish community are welcomed and have a home in our congregations, to honour their Jewish heritage and to build up a Jewish future.
And without any doubts, gays and lesbians can sanctify their partnership in the form of a chuppah and civil union in all progressive communities in South Africa. Both I, and all my colleagues are happy to officiate for those couples just as we do with any other couple.
Just recently, the Chairman of the Southern African Union for Progressive Judaism Alvin Kushner as well as the chairman of the Progressive Rabbinic Association (SAAPR), Rabbi Greg Alexander, confirmed in a statement following the US Supreme court ruling, the general position for all progressive communities in South Africa:
“In December 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world to grant same-sex couples the same status and rights as heterosexual marriage partners. The SAUPJ, encouraged by the World Union for Progressive Judaism, was in fact one of the first faith groups in the country to allow its clergy to conduct same-sex marriages. The first Jewish same sex marriage took place in Cape Town. In a press release at the time we marked that event with our statement \”The SAUPJ honours the divine within all human beings, and their right to live with dignity.\””
The Progressive Jewish Community in South Africa is robust and growing and is proud to enforce the rights enshrined in the South African Constitution that guarantees equal protection before the law of all citizens regardless of sexual orientation.
‘
Warren
July 6, 2015 at 2:48 pm
‘\”The Progressive Jewish Community in South Africa is robust and growing…\”
Is it really?’