Steven Greenberg (rabbi)

Steven Greenberg is the first person with Orthodox ordination to subsequently announce his homosexuality. [1] [2] [3] [4] Given Judaism's views on homosexuality, this has made him a lightning rod for both criticism and praise, as well as a symbol of the new and growing Jewish gay movement.

Greenberg was born in Columbus, Ohio. He received his BA in philosophy from Yeshiva University, and his rabbinic ordination from YU's RIETS. He is currently a Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL (National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), a think tank, leadership training institute, and resource center.

Controversy

Some gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews have objected to Greenberg's positioning of himself as their representative or as Orthodox at all, citing among their reasons:

• The non-Orthodox views expressed in his book Wrestling with God and Men
• His attempting to bring intermarriage into the mainstream [5]
• Personal accounts of Greenberg trying to persuade Orthodox Jews that the traditional Sinaitic origin of the Torah is untrue

Meeting with Rabbi Eliashiv

Greenberg relates an anecdote in his semi-autobiographical work, Wrestling with God and Men of him meeting Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv while living as a student in Israel.

...beset with an inceased awareness of my attraction to a fellow yeshiva student, I visited a sage, Rav Yosef Shalom Eliashuv [sic], who lives in one of the most secluded ultra-Orthodox communities in Jerusalem. He was in poor health but still taking visitors... Speaking in Hebrew, I told him what, at the time, I felt was the truth. "Master, I am attracted to both men and women. What shall I do?" He responded, "My dear one, my friend, you have twice the power of love. Use it carefully." I was stunned. I sat in silence for a moment, waiting for more. "Is that all?" I asked. He smiled and said, "That is all. There is nothing more to say."

Assuming the incident is accurate as described, it is important to note, as Greenberg does, that Eliashiv's comment was not meant to endorse homosexuality, nor to imply that there is no conflict between homosexuality and Orthodox Judaism, which is the position held by the vast majority of Orthodox sages and laypeople. On the contrary, the point of the story, and the significance of Eliashiv's response, is that it is possible for religious Jews to have compassion and empathy for Jews struggling to remain frum and who have homosexual urges (as opposed to Jews who actually identify as gay, which Orthodox Judaism opposes).

Publications

This is an incomplete list of Greenberg's published works. He briefly published under the pseudonym Yaakov Levado.

• Greenberg, Steven, Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition. University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. ISBN 0299190900
• Greenberg, Steven, The Roots of Secular Humanistic Judaism, Shma magazine, September 2000.
• Levado, Yaakov, Gayness and God, Tikkun magazine, 1993.
• Greenberg, Rabbi Steve, Between Intermarriage and Conversion: Finding a Middle Way.

External links

• CLAL site (National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership)
• Letter to a homosexual baal teshuva, by Rabbi Aharon Feldman
• Homosexuality in Orthodox Judaism Rabbi Dr Nachum Amsel (PDF)
• FAQ on homosexual Jews
• Frum Gay Jews - a website about homosexual Orthodox Jews