Liberal Jews to celebrate gay marriages

By Chris Greenwood, Press Association

Members of the UK’s Jewish community have become the first mainstream religious organisation to create and authorise a gay marriage service.
Liberal Judaism, one of the three major strands of Judaism in the UK, has created a liturgy called Covenant of Love, a service of commitment for same-sex couples. The service has been produced to tie in with the Civil Partnership Law which will come into force in 10 days’ time, on December 5.
The modernising group said rabbis, and gay and lesbian couples, can construct a commitment ceremony from a compendium of texts.
The ceremony would take place in a synagogue or a private venue, following a civil registration at a registry office as required by the Civil Partnership Law.

Liberal Judaism’s chief executive, Rabbi Danny Rich, said: “When the Civil Partnership Law comes into force, Liberal Judaism will be in a unique position to meet the needs of lesbian and gay people.”

Earlier this week, Sir Elton John and his long-term partner, David Furnish, announced they are to “marry” in a low-key, private ceremony on December 21. They will become one of the first same-sex couples to “wed” under the new Act, which permits gay couples to register their partnership, entitling them to the same rights as married heterosexual couples. Bishops in the Church of England have not supported a blessing service for couples joined in civil partnership, but concede that clergy must respond “sensitively” to each case.

The Orthodox Jewish movement, led by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, said it will not be following suit.
A spokesman said: “There is no prospect of the mainstream Orthodox community permitting same-sex commitment or marriage ceremonies.”
The Liberal Judaism service follows parts of the Jewish marriage service. However, members said the aim is not simply to imitate a wedding, but to create a ceremony celebrating love within a committed and faithful partnership of two Jews.
Although individual rabbis have officiated at private ceremonies for lesbian and gay couples for some time, the materials showed Liberal Judaism’s official public endorsement and support for the first time.

Of the 31 rabbis who are currently full members of Liberal Judaism’s Rabbinic Conference, four are lesbian and two are gay.
Liberal Judaism has more than 30 congregations and 10,000 members in the UK. Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue’s Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, who was part of the group behind the liturgy, said: “The Civil Partnership Law is a historic milestone, granting legal status and recognition to lesbian and gay partnerships.

“Liberal Judaism champions justice, equality, compassion and inclusion.
“The new liturgy ensures that these values are put into practice as far as lesbian and gay Jews are concerned, by enabling lesbian and couples to celebrate their partnerships in a Jewish framework.”

Liberal Jews pioneer gay marriage services

By Ruth Gledhill, The Times Religious Correspondent

RABBIS from Britain’s Jewish community have become the first mainstream religious grouping to authorise a gay marriage service.

Liberal Judaism, which counts Michael Howard and Michael Grade among its adherents, has produced a new liturgy, Covenant of Love, to coincide with the Civil Partnership Act, which takes effect on December 5. In accompanying literature, Liberal Judaism says the ceremony may be described as a “wedding” by rabbis and follows the format of a traditional Jewish wedding service under the chuppah or canopy and with the ceremonial breaking of glass symbolising the brokenness of the world. It also includes a same-sex version of the seven blessings said at heterosexual Jewish weddings.

The service, in a booklet read from right to left and printed in Hebrew and English, invokes God as the “divine presence” who embraces both male and female. It warns the happy couple as they begin their new lives as consecrated partners: “We remember that we live in a world as yet unredeemed, where joys and sorrows, love and hatred, acceptance and prejudice are commingled.”

There are 33 Liberal congregations in the UK, and the community numbers about 12,000. Of the 31 rabbis who belong to the movement’s Rabbinic Conference, four are lesbian and two are gay. The flagship Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John’s Wood, North London, is one of the best-known synagogues in the world.

Rabbi Alexandra Wright, senior rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, said she would be offering the new liturgy to anyone who asked for a gay wedding. “It is consistent with the religious and ethical principles to which Liberal Judaism adheres, namely that each individual is created in the divine image and that, regardless of sexuality or gender, all are equal. It would be unethical for us to discriminate against members on grounds of sexuality.”

Rabbi Roderick Young, a member of both the Reform and Liberal movements, this year went to Canada, where gay weddings are legal, to marry his partner David Mooney. He said: “I applaud the Liberal movement for doing this. It is fantastic.”

Rabbi Danny Rich, chief executive of Liberal Judaism, said: “We are not worried it will be controversial although we expect it may be. It is a matter of justice for us.”

The Reform movement, which trains its rabbis alongside Liberal rabbis at Leo Baeck College in North London, is still considering its response to the Civil Partnership Act. The Orthodox movement, headed by the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, refuses to entertain the concept.

Rabbi Dr Julian Shindler, of the Office of the Chief Rabbi, said: “There is no prospect of the mainstream Orthodox community permitting same-sex commitment or marriage ceremonies. Orthodox Jews are bound by biblical and rabbinic law, which only condones sexual relationships between a man and a woman who are married.”Bishops in the Church of England have ruled out a blessing service for couples joined in civil partnership, although many clergy are expected to perform them illicitly to meet pastoral need. The Vatican has ruled that gay men cannot go to seminary if they are sexually active or, if their homosexuality is “transitory”, unless they have been celibate for three years.

Liberal Judaism creates gay wedding service

The Guardian

Members of the UK's Jewish community have become the first mainstream religious organisation to create and authorise a gay marriage service.

Liberal Judaism, one of the three major strands of Judaism in Britain, has created a liturgy called Covenant of Love, a service of commitment for same-sex couples. The service has been produced to tie in with the civil partnership law, which will come into force on December 5. But the Orthodox Jewish movement, which is led by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, said that it would not be following suit.

Liberal Judaism launches gay marriage ceremonies in Britain

Benjamin Cohen, PinkNews.co.uk Editor

Liberal Judaism is to be come the first mainstream religious group to perform gay marriage services.
The movement, which includes four lesbian Rabbis, and two gay Rabbis will introduce its ‘Covenant of Love’ to coincide with the Civil Partnership Act which comes into force on December 5th. However, the ceremony does not replace the need for a couple to perform a civil partnership, as there are no legal entitlements flowing from the blessing. This is unlike a heterosexual marriage where Rabbis, as ordained ministers are authorised to perform both the civil and religious aspects of a marriage.

The Liberal movement first offered same sex commitment ceremonies in 2003, however there was no standardised liturgy and couples did not receive a Ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract). The ceremonies that will be offered from 21st December 2005, will have the same status as a heterosexual marriage in the eyes of the Liberal Rabbinic authorities. The marriage which will be performed in English and Hebrew will include a declaration of love between the participants: “I will be a loving partner to you in the spirit of the Jewish tradition for you are mine and I am yours.”

Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue’s Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, who was part of the Rabbinic Working Party that devised the liturgy, said: “the Civil Partnership Act is a historic milestone, granting legal status and recognition to lesbian and gay partnerships. Liberal Judaism champions justice, equality, compassion and inclusion; the new liturgy ensures that these values are put into practice as far as lesbian and gay Jews are concerned, by enabling lesbian and couples to celebrate their partnerships in a Jewish framework.”

The movement have also announced that provided conditions are met they will offer blessings to mixed faith couples: “When same-sex partners are from mixed faiths, as in the case of heterosexual partnerships, Liberal Judaism would stress the benefits of the non-Jewish partner converting to Judaism, but would, if the Rabbinic Conference’s conditions were met, offer the couple a mixed faith blessing.”
Neither the Reform nor Orthodox movements in Britain are considering launching similar ceremonies.

A spokesman for the Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks (who heads the Orthodox community) said: “there is no prospect of the mainstream Orthodox community permitting same-sex commitment or marriage ceremonies. Orthodox Jews are bound by biblical and rabbinic law, which only condones sexual relationships between a man and a woman who are married.” Indeed, the Chief Rabbi does not recognise the validity of the Liberal or Reform movements nor the marriages or conversions they perform.