Local Conservative rabbis are embracing the their movement’s Dec. 6 decision that opens the door to gay ordination and commitment ceremonies.

In Monmouth County, unlike other areas around the country or even around New Jersey, opinions, at least among the rabbis, are not sharply divided by the decision of the movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, released last week (see related story).

If anything, local rabbis don’t think the decision went far enough.

Rabbi Robert Fine, interim rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Ocean, was “pleased” with the decision of the committee to accept a paper that condones commitment ceremonies and that would permit the various Conservative seminaries to begin ordaining gay rabbis.

Still, he acknowledged some “disappointment” that the paper he coauthored, offering a more liberal stance, did not pass.

“It was a privilege to be part of the process; it was exciting to participate in the seriousness of study with passion and commitment on all sides,” said Fine, discussing his participation on the 25-member committee. “There was great division on the issue, almost down the middle, reflecting the division in the movement and the society as a whole.”

Fine defended the process on halachic, or Jewish legal, grounds, despite the resignation of four committee members who felt the liberal decision was not halachically sound. “The position passed was argued in the traditional manner, it used traditional arguments, but it reached a conclusion that admittedly had not been reached before,” said Fine. “But it’s not new for rabbis to reach a conclusion that breaks new ground. I disagree with those who say that.”

Rabbi Michael Pont of Temple Beth Ahm in Aberdeen called the decision — known as a “teshuva” — “a small step,” but an appropriate one. He also defended the continuing ban on sodomy — a decision that disappointed gay rights activists within the movement — which he said specifically addresses the passage in Leviticus that says, “Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination.”

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