Reform Judaism and Same-Sex Marriage 181
ways changed the meaning of kiddushin, and the real question is, given the changes, does it still constitute kiddushin in any meaningful sense of the term as used by tradition? Or to put it another way do Reform Jews and the tradition” use the terms differently and therefore, following a Reform definition of kiddushin, same sex marriage would be legitimately included. This is a very important point. The question is whether such a time has arrived. Halakhic change often takes place gradually. In the body of the paper,| will argue that the halakhic process prov ides for significant change when there is a social, moral economic or scientific breakthrough that makes it appropriate. Reform decisors are more self-conscious than Orthodox decisors in their use of extra-halakhic considerations to change the halakhah. We have often ignore the halakhah when we make changes than offer a halakhic justification for the change. Prof. Warshofsky ’s paper“Reinforcing our Jewish Identity: Issues of Personal Status,” Central Conference Of
American Rabbis Yearbook, 1994, describes the competing narratives that
dominate Reform decision making Simeon Maslin, in the introduction to Gates of Mitzvah argues that the burden of proof is not on the one who wishes to preserve prior practice, but upon the one who wishes to make the change. From a halakhic perspective mutual kinyan is no kinyan.“Processes in which icipants are explicitly rejected. The man must take and the woman must be taken.” Rachel Adler p. 176: Egalitarian marriage is a new institution or at least a very significant modification of an older institution. Judith Hauptman in her book Rereading the Rabbis: A Woman's Voice makes it clear that there are trends within rabbinic Judaism to mitigate the partriarchal character of marriage but at best they make of women second class citizens. She points to precedents, that, if they had been adopted, would have made even more profound changes in favor of equal rights for women.“The changes they(the rabbis of the Talmud ) made and, in particular the direction in which they were headed makes them fitting precursors for us. As we face our own problems with the practice of Judaism today, we can turn to the rabbis of the Talmud for solutions. They laid the groundwork and pointed the way In the Talmud , women seemed content with gaining a measure of control w ithin a patriarchal system. Today armed with the knowledge that Jewish law is open to change, women are likely to seek to become full-fledged members of the Jewish community.” pp. 247-249. If we move from property law to partnership law we may be creating something new but we are doing it w ithin the framework of“tradition.” Here I disagree. These phrases need not be empty slogans. They have a history of usage with Reform
halakhic implications, and they have “tradition.” Modern philoso
Judaism that also constitutes a portion of the al backdrop that affects the reading of texts. We Their authority for us may be limited and ct their language but Reform Judaism is a postmodern reality. These intelss of our constituency. We seek
phers are part of the cultur cannot pretend they do not exist. we may choose consciously to reje itself a product of modernity and inhabits lectual trends are part of the apperceptive ma
what might be described as a“Maimonedean synthesis.