Local Rabbi Paves Way for Jewish Gay Rights : Religion: Harold Schulweis’ bold stand on the issue has triggered unprecedented change among mainstream congregations.

When the senior rabbi of the San Fernando Valley’s largest synagogue declared in a holiday sermon last fall that, contrary to the Bible, homosexual acts were not abominations and that mainstream temples should give gay and lesbian Jews special support, he braced himself for the worst.

Instead of the mass resignations he anticipated, however, Rabbi Harold Schulweis got an unprecedented standing ovation from his congregation, Valley Beth Shalom in Encino.

Since then, nearly 100 gays, lesbians and parents have met monthly at the synagogue to talk openly of their struggles with family, friends and a traditionally hostile Jewish faith. This makes Valley Beth Shalom, a synagogue aligned not with the liberal Reform branch of Judaism but with the cautious, middle-of-the-road Conservative wing, the first mainstream congregation in the Los Angeles area to open its arms to a regularly meeting gay and lesbian group.

Breaking more ground, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles has approved a first-of-its-kind, $3,800 grant to the synagogue so that the gay and lesbian group might conduct communitywide forums and other educational efforts.

Finally, about two dozen parents, gays and lesbians in the group, which calls itself Response, will take part in today’s 23rd annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in West Hollywood. Although not officially representing Valley Beth Shalom, the contingent will make it plain that they are Jewish, wearing T-shirts bearing the six-pointed Star of David with three points of the star formed by the emblematic pink triangle of the gay movement.

“This has been one of the most moving personal experiences of my 22 years here,” Schulweis said in an interview last week. “I am convinced that the Bible and religious lore were not meant to punish people who have no choices.”

The Hebrew Bible calls homosexual acts an “abomination” punishable by death, but the rabbi said he believes that gays and lesbians do not choose homosexuality over heterosexuality. He said he came to that conclusion after talking with homosexuals and reading about research that suggests genetic makeup determines same-sex orientation.

“It’s a shame that the secular community generally is more morally advanced than the religious community on this issue,” Schulweis said. The grant from the federation’s Council on Jewish Life is small, he added, “but an important symbol of the need.”

Reform Jewish leaders praised the Valley synagogue’s efforts. “Rabbi Schulweis, given his stature in the Jewish community, has strengthened the hand of those who want to enable gay and lesbian Jews to feel comfortable in mainstream synagogues,” said Rabbi Lennard Thal, the Los Angeles-based regional director for Reform congregations. Some Reform temples, such as University Synagogue in Brentwood, state that Jews with same-sex orientation are welcome as integrated members of the congregation.

Los Angeles also has two gay synagogues, both aligned with Reform Judaism, which permits ordination of openly gay and lesbian rabbis.

“I think that gay synagogues should exist,” said Rabbi Jerry Danzig, executive director at Valley Beth Shalom, “but I don’t believe they should be the only option of Jewish gays and lesbians to express themselves.”

Although Conservative Judaism bars openly gay and lesbian Jews from becoming rabbis, its national body of rabbis in 1990 declared that synagogues should increase “awareness, understanding and concern for our fellow Jews who are gay and lesbian.” Provost Elliott Dorff of the Conservative-aligned University of Judaism in Los Angeles said that he believed Valley Beth Shalom is “very much within the spirit” of that resolution.

Some congregants are unhappy with Schulweis’ stance, yet of 1,750 member families in Valley Beth Shalom, only two have resigned their membership over that issue, according to Danzig.

The rabbi said he began looking at the issue seriously after counseling a woman whose son had committed suicide while in anguish over his homosexual orientation. Last summer, Schulweis said he made an unannounced visit to the Friday night service of Beth Chayim Chadashim, a gay synagogue on Pico Boulevard, and saw to his surprise some members of his congregation or children of members.

“I discovered responsible people--doctors, lawyers, business people and people who believe in fidelity--and it was a great shock to me that they were indistinguishable from heterosexual people,” he said. “They were opposed to promiscuity, and they wanted to be in fellowship with a synagogue.”

Orthodox rabbis, whose strict adherence to Jewish law places them to the theological right of Reform and Conservative Judaism, see the move as part of a disturbing trend.

“I oppose this 100%; this is a major rupture of the shared values of the Jewish community,” said Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Landes of B’nai David-Judea Congregation in West Los Angeles. “I believe it offers the wrong education for Jewish children.”

The developments signify Conservative Judaism’s break with Jewish legal tradition, Landes contended. As for the grant by the predominantly secular, sometimes stodgy Jewish federation, an umbrella organization of service and educational agencies that has undergone recent budget cutbacks, Landes said that by “getting itself more involved in synagogue life in its desire to resuscitate itself, (the federation) is now beginning to follow a direction that will increasingly alienate Orthodox Jews.”

Jewish opinion in the San Fernando Valley nevertheless appears to be sympathetic toward homosexual rights in religious life. Schulweis said that among hundreds of phone calls and letters after his sermon, “not one was really condemnatory.” A Los Angeles Times Poll of Valley adults in December, 1991, found that, when asked if it was right or wrong to exclude gays and lesbians from the clergy, 82% of the Jewish respondents said it was wrong, compared to 62% of all adults who did.

Schulweis’ sermon was a pleasant surprise for Marc Rabins, a 39-year-old photographer and videographer who discovered his homosexual orientation as a teen-ager and drifted away from Valley Beth Shalom.

“My parents were at the Rosh Hashana service and were very excited when they heard the sermon,” said Rabins, who later listened to a tape of the sermon. Alluding to the New Testament parable of the return of the prodigal son who realized the error of his ways, Rabins said, “It was sort of like the prodigal temple for me.”

Although Rabins and other men who say they have committed lovers look for Valley Beth Shalom to bless their unions in a quasi-wedding rite, Schulweis said that step now would be premature.

“The question of marriage is a ticklish one, because the state does not recognize them for gay and lesbian couples,” Schulweis said. The debate over that issue also distracts attention from the bigger, first-step issues in overcoming stereotypes and recognizing the worth of each individual, he said.

On a recent Sunday open forum on the subject, however, Schulweis predicted, “In time, there will be covenantal unions, and I will be involved, but I don’t know when.”