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By

JLCohen

Opinion

Liberal Judaism's support of gay marriages

February 25, 2010 11:16
3 min read

Not very much shocks me (my mis-spent youth at rock festivals has seen to that) but some of the responses to Rabbi Aaron Goldstein's blog posts on this website have managed it - some people have told him that Liberal Judaism ought to find another cause because, they say, homosexuality and Torah are incompatible while others have stopped just short of accusing the Rabbi of not being a rabbi at all (in both of these cases, the comments function has since been disabled, presumably to avoid responses becoming overtly offensive). One can only assume that, as a rabbi, Rabbi Goldstein would be able to make a very good counter-argument that homosexuality is compatible with Torah - and he is a rabbi, of course, as a brief Googling of his name will reveal. A well-liked and respected one, too, at that.

Anyway, there's no need for me to defend Rabbi Goldstein as he's doubtless more than capable of doing that for himself, and will no doubt have the support of the members of his popular shul too (which I am not, though I have had the pleasure of some brief e-mail exchanges with him). All I wanted to say was that this reminds me of the famous story about the two Jews who are the only survivors of a shipwreck.

You probably already know it, but in case you don't it goes like this...

Two Jews are the only survivors of a shipwreck (you may have already got that part). They find themselves washed up on an uninhabited island and, as they are Jews and therefore unable to set about the local pig population like the boys in Lord of the Flies, they begin doing what they can in order to make as comfortable and observant a Jewish life as they can while they wait for rescue.