Submitted by Editor on
Same-sex Marriage: Special Issue of New Menorah
Dear Chevra,The pre-Pesach issue of ALEPH's quarterly journal New Menorah will address the question of same-sex marriage, from practical, emotional, legal, and spiritual/ celebrational perspectives.
This special issue offers hands-on help to same-sex couples who have decided to get married and to those who have decided to (or are in the process of deciding to) support them in various ways.
The issue will especially address the questions of those who officiate at same-sex weddings, give emotional and/ or legal support to the couples, celebrate with them, etc.
A description of the contents of this issue will be found below. It includes articles by Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and renewal-oriented rabbis and teachers.
Copies of this issue will go, as usual, to members of ALEPH -- meaning people who have contributed $36 or more each year and who normally receive New Menorah .
In addition, copies will be made available to others on this basis:
1) Join ALEPH NOW, and send $36 (more if you can) to ALEPH, 7318 GERMANTOWN AVE, PHILADELPHIA PA 19119, together with a self-addressed stamped LARGE envelope (9" x 11") -- 77 cents stamps, please. (That way, we can get the issue off to you as soon as it comes off the presses without waiting till we enter you in the database. You will get further copies as a regular member.)
OR 2) Send JUST for the one issue. In that case, send A CHECK FOR $9 TO ALEPH, PLUS the SAME self-addressed stamped (77 cents) 9" x 11" envelope, with a note asking for just this one issue.
OR 3) Order MULTIPLE COPIES: 10 for $55, or 100 for $400. FOR MULTIPLE COPIES YOUR ORDER MUST REACH ALEPH BY MARCH 1, so that the print order can take these into account. For these, simply send the order and your check: ALEPH will take care of postage and handling.
The articles are arranged through the issue in roughly the order in which someone might grapple with the questions involved:
1) The process of internal change within the person who decides to celebrate in this new way (Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, "Learning About Homosexuality and Taking a New Stand");
2) Two pieces on counseling a same-sex couple (Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener, "Pre-Marital Counseling for Same-Sex Couples"and Susan Saxe, "Legal Protections for Same-sex Couples--More than a Checklist";
3) Two pieces on ways to shape a wedding ceremony (Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, "Wedding Liturgy for a Same-sex Marriage"and Eyal Levinson, "Same-sex Kiddushin v'Nissuin: A Neo-Halakhic Assessment";
4) Some thoughts on the relation of same-sex marriage to American law, American culture and psychology, and Jewish theology (Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, " Same-sex Marriage and American Law," Susan Saxe, "Gay Marriage--What