Rabbinical Assembly Condemns Wave of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Across the US

NEW YORK, NY (April 3, 2023) The Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, has long held that each person reflects and refracts G*d’s own Image (tzelem Elohim) and inheres with inestimable worth and preciousness (k’vod habriyot). These values hold regardless of gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual orientation. The RA has affirmed these values in rendering Jewish legal decisions and resolutions. The RA’s record of inclusion now spans over decades.

Resolution Affirming the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People

Whereas our Torah asserts that all humanity is created b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s Divine Image; and

Whereas rabbinic tradition strongly emphasizes the importance of kvod habriyot (human dignity) and a 2006 teshuvah of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards cites this principle to supersede the rabbinic prohibitions relating to homosexuality; and