Posted on 03/22/2006 2:46:23 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Dear Editor: As leaders of the Jewish community in Madison, including its three synagogues, the Madison Jewish Community Council, and Hillel Foundation at the University of Wisconsin, we express our outrage and deep disillusionment at the Wisconsin Legislature's passage of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Our Jewish values impel us to create a society that is democratic, pluralistic and just. This amendment, however, does just the opposite and promotes hatred. As religious people, we cannot be silent. The amendment denies equal rights to a historically persecuted group and relegates them to second-class status. Under federal law, over 1,000 rights, responsibilities and privileges accrue to married couples and their families. The history of the Jewish people compels us to vigorously oppose any attempt to limit the rights of a minority, and this amendment clearly is intended to do just that.
Moreover, with the amendment's preventing the state from recognizing "substantially similar" relationships like civil unions and domestic partnerships, same-sex couples will be denied critical legal protections and rights they currently enjoy or might enjoy in the future from their employers. This will hurt real families who live in every part of our state.
Proponents inform us that it will be the courts that will decide what "substantially similar" means. Yet, it is those same proponents who claim that the purpose of the amendment is to stop "activist judges" from defining marriage. Either they are being hypocritical with respect to the role that they want or don't want the courts to play, or they are being untruthful. Perhaps they are being both.
Many, though not all, of us recognize the religious status of same-sex marriage. However, this amendment seeks to ban civil marriage for same-sex couples, which is an entirely different matter. It is not for the state to define for religions what is or is not permissible.
We stand firmly in support of the separation of religion and state, a cherished value that ensures religious liberty for the Jewish community and for people of all faiths and beliefs. Whatever else this amendment may be about, it is also about which religion or religious view shall be the law of our state. That is precisely what the Founders sought to avoid and what we in this state have avoided for 157 years.
Jewish tradition teaches us that every human being is created in the image of God. Each one of us is truly sacred and deserves to be treated with equal respect and dignity. We, therefore, must embrace our human diversity and demand equality for all.
As religious leaders committed to fostering values that strengthen the love and commitment between human beings, we urge citizens to vote no on the amendment, and we urge you to join with us in mobilizing other citizens to do the same.
Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, Temple Beth El; Rabbi Kenneth Katz, Beth Israel Center; Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim; Steven H. Morrison, Madison Jewish Community Council; Greg Steinberger, Hillel Foundation; Rabbi Andrea Steinberger, Hillel Foundation; Rabbi Renee Bauer, Congregation Mayim Rabim; Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
I'm SHOCKED.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Forget our religion...politics are much more important!
Hell, they're barely Jews at all.
If Moses were around today, what do you suppose he would say to these rabbis?
I'm not Jewish but I thought even most Reform (liberal) congregations grudgingly accepted that Jewish law strictly forbids the ol' lying-with-man-as-with-woman stuff. Recently I attended a Bar Mitzvah ceremony at a Reform temple and the annotated Leviticus they had there in the pews didn't try to dodge this fact (although the annotator plainly wished that God hadn't said that).
If they're Jews, they skipped that part about Soddom.
And whole chapters of Leviticus.
This is a canard. If Jewish leaders want to object on the grounds of religious freedom to those things that a majority of Americans want their legislatures to pass on the basis that those things also happen to align with Christianity, soon they will be outlawing penalties for stealing and murder, which arose within their own religion, and also are embraced by Christians.
This is not true Judaism.
This is the religion of Liberalism pretending to be Judaism.
Very little connnection between the two.
What do they call it when muslims say the same things, I wonder? That is the true test.
They contend that Judaism is in accordance with their stance on gay marriage. Many other Jewish groups, like the ADL, contend likewise. Why not accept their position about their own religion?
Why do you say there is very little connection between the two? Aren't voting patterns and polls both in contradiction with that statement?
No, I believe Mordichi and Ester, in fact, were of the tribe of Benjamin.
That's toward the end of the Babylonian captivity.
You are part right, though.
Thr tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out by the other tribes (Judges, chapters 19, 20. & 21). However, they survived, and the first king of Israel, Saul, was a Benjamite from Gibeah. When the land was divided into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon, most of the Benjamites remained with the Judahites and formed the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Do these guys read the Old Testament? I don't think their values are the values of the G-D of their ancestors, or the more Orthodox practitioners of their faith.
Can I just say how much Reform Judaism frustrates me? I'm not even Jewish, but it drives me crazy talking to Jewish friends who buy into this stuff. Conservative Judaism? Fine. Orthodox? Great! Branches of Sephardic that border on Orthodox? Spectacular. But Reform just frustrates me. I look at it and say that this can't be Judaism, but who am I to say that it isn't? I can call it ascriptural to anti-scriptural if I want, but that doesn't seem to bother them.
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