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

In the Princeton Mercer Bucks area, as around the country, opinion is divided over the decision of the movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, released last week (see related story).

Rabbi Dan Grossman of Adath Israel Congregation in Lawrenceville is overwhelmingly supportive of the committee’s decision to accept a paper that condones commitment ceremonies and that would permit the various Conservative seminaries to begin ordaining gay rabbis.

“I’m very pleased on a number of levels, and I think it was the right decision,” said Grossman, who was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College but has spent his 25-year career in the Conservative movement. “I have been actively supporting the notion of a commitment ceremony for over 20 years.”

In October, Adath Israel passed its own resolution supporting both ordination and commitment ceremonies.

“The congregation knew this decision was coming up, that it was a hot-button issue, and that they needed to become educated,” said Grossman. “They wanted to decide whether this individual community congregation would dig in and say no, would do nothing but acquiesce, or would actively support the message.”

Similarly, Rabbi Adam Feldman of The Jewish Center of Princeton supported the acceptance of the liberal teshuva, or ruling.

“I’m impressed with the process,” he said. “This is an important step into fully accepting homosexuals into the Jewish community.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Rabbi Jay Kornsgold of Beth El Synagogue of East Windsor referred to the decision as “splitting hairs” and said, “I don’t think this decision should have passed. I believe they went too far.”

Kornsgold said the liberal teshuva failed to address the passage in Leviticus that says, “Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination,” even though it specifically prohibits sodomy.

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