In defense of optimism
When I was learning Hebrew, I asked an Israeli friend the word for “optimistic.”
When I was learning Hebrew, I asked an Israeli friend the word for “optimistic.”
The news Friday that the Supreme Court of the United States had issued a 5-4 ruling making same-sex marriage legal nationwide prompted both tears and enthusiasm from many in the Los Angeles Jewish community.
The right to marry remains out of reach for gay couples in Israel.
For nearly two decades, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been building toward this moment in the history of gay legal rights in America.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether states can ban gay marriage, delving into a contentious social issue in what will be one of the most anticipated rulings of the year.
Reform and Orthodox Jewish groups had opposite takes on the Supreme Court decision not to hear gay marriage cases, effectively extending the right to a majority of the states.
Susan Freudenheim’s coverage of Rabbi David Wolpe’s decision to marry gay couples described a fascinating evolution in the Sinai Temple community (“The Gay Marriage Debate,” July 5).
One comes to understand many things after 97 years of life. Here’s one: Sex may fade, but love … that’s forever.
On Rosh Hashanah in 1992, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis stood before his Conservative congregation at Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) in Encino and declared that despite the words of Leviticus, homosexuality is not an abomination. He argued that the same understanding and compassion Jews afford all human beings should be extended to those attracted to others of their own sex, and he told his congregation: