Jewish Theological Seminary to Ordain Openly Gay Students

From the JTA, Monday, March 26, 2007:
" The Jewish Theological Seminary announced Monday that it would change admission policies to accept openly gay students at its rabbinical school.

Arnold Eisen, chancellor-elect of the Conservative movement's flagship institution, made the decision after consulting with the seminary community and conducting a movement-wide survey, both of which found strong support for the change.

In December, the movement's legal authority, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, endorsed three opinions on the question of homosexuality. Two upheld the movement's traditional stance barring gay clergy and commitment ceremonies, while a third opened the door to gay rabbis and commitment ceremonies while upholding the biblical prohibition on male intercourse.

The conflicting opinions enabled individual Conservative institutions to make their own policy decisions. In Los Angeles, the University of Judaism's rabbinical school has already admitted two openly gay students for the fall term. The movement's other seminaries – in Jerusalem, Budapest and Buenos Aires – are not expected to follow suit."

All we can say here is: finally! (And kol hakavod to all those people who have worked so hard for this.)

You can read the JTS press releases here, and you can also read Chancellor Eisen's letter to the JTS community.

Be on the lookout for LOTS of stuff on Jews, the Conservative movement and Jewish gender and sexuality in the upcoming spring issue, and please leave us your thoughts below!


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The V-Word Strikes Again

So apparently, "vagina" is the new bad word at John Jay High School in New York. So bad, in fact, that you can be suspended for saying it at an open mic session, which is exactly what happened to three female students just recently. That they were performing a selection from Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues", which celebrates the reclamation of our most basic vocabulary, is an irony apparently lost on school officials.

Putting aside, for one moment, the fact that the Supreme Court has made clear that students don't check their rights at the school door, let's just pause to ask: Vagina? Really? Out of all of the potentially harmful things going on in schools today, you're concerned with students employing words that can be found in most biology text books?

You can see more of the controversy up close and personal here (Firefox only), but we also want to here from you. Can you believe that this is happening in 2007? Do you have parallel stories from decades ago? Think Eve Ensler should write these young women college recommendations?

Leave your thoughts below. In the meantime, Mr. School Principal: vagina you.

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No Laughing Matter?

We all know the joke about how many feminists it takes to screw in a lightbulb. ("Just one--and it's not funny.") You would think this stereotype might be combated by the assumption that we Jews are so inherently funny (as so many have worked so hard to prove). But I imagine in this case, feminist trumps Jew in public opinion. So maybe it's time to talk about a specifically Jewish sense of feminist humor.

In an age when Eddie Murphey in a high-tech fat suit qualifies as standard comedic fare, it may be safe to say that our society's standards have slipped. But what about aggressive, edgy, in-your-face comedy? Is it good for the Jews? Is it good for the women?

I don't want to spark a debate on whether Sacha Baron Cohen or Sarah Silverman are positive or negative influences in society (I happen to be an occasionally uncomfortable fan of both), but I do want to talk about--and hear about--how the dueling assumptions about Jewish humor and feminist humor collide in pop culture and people's lives.

The recent JewSchool kerfuffle over Maya Escobar's JAP video really brought home for me the touchiness of the subject and made me wonder where my own sense of humor (which I like to think of as sophisticated, dry and in favor of cleverly offensive absurdism) runs crashing into an indignant self-righteousness. Writing from a generation that simultaneously values "taking a joke" at all costs and teaches us to scream bloody murder at the slightest offence, I think how we understand humor says a great deal about us.

So...what's Jewish feminist humor? What does it look like? What does it permit? Can it exist as an understood canon? Or should we be happy when the occasional funny-woman comes along who fits the criteria?

Please leave your thoughts, or send them in to be published here. We want to hear you talk back!

Cheers,
Mel Weiss
Blog Moderator


Update
After receiving an email from Maya Escobar herself--in which I learned that her art is intended to evoke, provoke and do all manner of other -vokes to people's thoughts, and not just to get the cheap laugh--I am ever the more thoughtful about how humor and offence can intersect at our most sensitive spots.

On her blog, Maya asks, "What does it feel like to be called a JAP?" Check out a range of interesting answers, and be sure to add your own, here.


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