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Judaism

The Orthodox rabbis urging greater LGBTQ inclusion

Lifelong celibacy is not an option for a 'credible adult life' says Rabbi Steve Greenberg

April 3, 2022 15:40
Rabbi Mike Moskowitz
4 min read

With black hat and tzitzit swinging, Rabbi Mike Moskowitz wears the uniform of the yeshivah world. He was talmudically tutored at one of Israel’s most prestigious Torah institutes, Mir, and in the Charedi powerhouse of Lakewood, New Jersey. 

But his current role is not one his rabbinic mentors would have envisaged: as scholar in residence for trans and queer Jewish studies at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York, the largest LGBTQ synagogue in the world — or “Beis Simchas Torah” he says in his Ashkenazi way.

Over the past five years he has emerged as a staunch advocate for the inclusion of LGBT people within Judaism, producing more than 100 articles and several books. People “shouldn’t have to choose between a gender identity and a religious identity,” he has said.

He was in the UK last week for a conference run by the Ozanne Foundation, which campaigns on behalf of LGBTQ people within faith communities, and also took part in a panel with another participant at the conference from the USA, Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi.