Local rabbi weighs in on same-sex unions

Andrew Glazer

NEWPORT BEACH -- Rabbis who perform same-sex marriages are breaking from

fundamental Jewish tradition, the senior rabbi of Newport-Mesa’s only

Reform Jewish temple said Friday.

Temple Bat Yahm’s Rabbi Mark S. Miller was reacting to a decision -- made

Wednesday by leaders of the Reform Jewish movement -- to allow Reform

rabbis to officiate same-sex commitment ceremonies.

The group, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, represents the

nation’s 1.5 million Reform Jews.

“This is a radical break in the Jewish definition of marriage, family and

wedding ceremonies,” said Miller, who is a member of the leadership

organization. “This is not a welcome move to me.”

He wrote a letter to the group’s newsletter earlier this week, opposing

the change. He said, however, he has always welcomed homosexuals to

worship in his synagogue.

Reform Jews, who represent the nation’s largest and more progressive

Jewish movement, have strayed from other Jewish traditions by ordaining

women and conducting portions of their services in English instead of

Hebrew.

Rabbi Marc Rubenstein, who leads services at Temple Isaiah -- a

conservative temple here -- said he is not opposed to rabbis conducting

the ceremonies.

While Rubenstein said he wouldn’t officiate a same-sex union himself, he

believes any rabbi should have the authority to do so. He was most

recently rabbi at a congregation in Key West, Fla., a community with a

large homosexual population.

“What took them so long to allow this?” he said. “I know conservative

rabbis who have been officiating same-sex unions for years. But just as a

doctor or a barber or an insurance agent has a right to turn people away,

so should rabbis.”

Gary Collins, pastor at St. Mark Presbyterian Church, also applauds the

rabbis’ decision to authorize the ceremonies.

“They’re daring to lead the religious community in this,” he said. “We’ve

come through keeping women in second-place status, slavery and now we’re

coming through this in the same way.”