Predictions that the ban on ordaining openly gay rabbis and on the sanctioning of same-sex marriage will be lifted in the Conservative movement of Judaism by the year's end have prompted some Jewish leaders to help prepare synagogues for the potentially divisive decision.

``If this becomes official, it is going to be divisive in some areas. This is an emotional issue. In some communities, it's going to cause some waves. In some areas, it will cause some ripples. But I think the vast majority of people would be in favor,'' Rabbi Stephen Grundfast said. ``While I can't speak for everyone, I expect (my) congregation would be receptive.

A committee of scholars who interpret Jewish law for the movement -- the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards -- is expected to loosen the prohibitions on homosexuals, when the committee votes in December. The panel is also expected to endorse a policy that allows synagogues that believe Jewish law prohibits same-sex relationships to hire only heterosexual rabbis, simultaneously.

The vote would result in diverse practices within the movement, which has traditionally served as a middle ground between the Orthodox and Reform movements.

The committee has been actively reconsidering its 1992 consensus statement that upheld the ban on gay marriage and ordination. In March, it received four opinions -- two on each side of the issue -- for review and scheduled a final vote on the documents for the end of the year.

``The committee might accept -- will accept, I think -- two or more of the papers: one that affirms the current state of affairs, and one, at least, that liberalizes it,'' Rabbi Jerome Epstein reportedly told an audience at a gathering in New York last week.

Epstein is executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement's congregational arm. He also said the movement has room for congregations differing in the treatment of homosexuality.

To that end, Epstein and two other key rabbis on each side of the issue -- Rabbi Elliot Dorff and Rabbi Joel Roth -- are traveling the country to help synagogues prepare for the near certain change in policy. In addition to the presentations given last month in New York and Toronto, the trio plans to speak in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Roth, a professor at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, has submitted an opinion that would uphold the ban on homosexuality. He said he has been ``demonized'' for saying that he interprets religious law as barring same-gender sex.

Dorff, rector of Los Angeles' University of Judaism and co-author of an opinion that allows for gay marriage and ordination, says ``it is simply not natural'' to demand that gays remain celibate.

Arnold Eisen, incoming chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship institution for Conservative Judaism, personally supports ordaining gays. But he plans to discuss the issue with faculty and students before any admissions rules are changed.

Currently in the Conservative movement, students who come out while they are in seminary are expelled. And while the movement does not ordain a gay rabbi, it won't excommunicate ordained rabbis who subsequently say they are homosexual.

The vote comes as the Conservative movement is struggling to maintain and grow its membership. The movement went from claiming 40 percent of American Jewish households in 1990 to 33 percent by 2000, according to the National Jewish Population Survey.

While the branch lost membership in the 1990s, both the more stringent Orthodox and more liberal Reform movements grew to the point that the Reform movement became the largest tradition in American Judaism, surpassing the Conservative movement for the first time in 100 years.

The Conservative branch follows Jewish law and allows limited change for modern circumstances. The Reform branch, which ordains gays and is more accepting of interfaith couples, has attracted more liberal Conservative Jews. Those who strictly adhere to Jewish law have joined the Orthodox movement, which prohibits women and gays from becoming rabbis.

The current conflict over homosexuality in the Conservative movement mirrors the battles over ordaining gays that are dividing mainline Protestant groups, including the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA). Just like dozens of individual churches leaving the Christian denominations because of the disputes, some in Conservative Judaism are questioning whether people with traditional Jewish views will stay.

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