Over half of non-Ultra-Orthodox rabbinical students in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+, according to a new study.
Approximately 51% of current non-Haredi rabbinical students projected to be ordained after 2025 claim they are LGBTQ+, the study conducted by Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation found. This is a sharp incline from the 7% of ordained non-Haredi rabbis who identified as such before 2004. The study claims to provide a clear portrait of the contemporary non-Haredi, or non–Ultra-Orthodox, rabbinic pipeline in the U.S. (RELATED: How To Politely Nuke The Liberals At Your Thanksgiving Dinner)
“The student figure may be an overestimate since weighing cannot fully correct for discrepancies without a variable directly measuring LGBTQ+ identity. However, even if it is somewhat overstated, the consistent year-over-year increase in LGBTQ+ representation is almost certainly real,” the Atra wrote, noting Gallup poll data finding an increase in the general U.S. adult population.
Atra said that its study revealed “a delicate and urgent truth: the calling to be a rabbi remains strong, but the pathway to enter and sustain this work has become increasingly fragile.”
Hannah Karpel-Pomerantz met her wife at rabbinical school and grew close due to a shared interest in Jewish texts and rituals, The Times of Israel reported. She said Hebrew Union College shared their “love story” all over their website.
“HUC wanted to feature me and my wife as a love story — as something that makes the school look good,” she recalled. “It signals that American progressive Jewish life has evolved to the point where LGBTQ inclusion is a no-brainer.”
An Israeli man wears a rainbow a kippa, the traditional Jewish skullcap for men, during the annual Gay Pride march in Jerusalem on July 21, 2016. Israeli police said they suspected the man behind the attack on last year’s march, Yishai Shlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jew who killed a teenager and stabbed five other people, had been in contact with his brother from prison about an assault on the event. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
The study also found that the current class of non-Haredi rabbinical students is 58% women, 30% men and 12% nonbinary.
These numbers show a vast shift among rabbinical hopefuls. In 1994, 25% of rabbinical students ordained that year or earlier were women. These numbers began equalizing until women became approximately 49% of rabbinical students between 2005 and 2014.
The study also found that today’s non-Haredi rabbinical students have had lower rates of involvement with the Jewish faith as children. Approximately 20% of students were not raised Jewish, 66% reported that this is their second career path and a growing number of Jewish-born rabbinical students have not been heavily involved in the faith as children.
The study also found that more students (62%) than rabbis (44%) said they were specifically motivated by a “desire to make social change,” according to the study. (RELATED: Israel Carries Out Strike Targeting High-Profile Official)
Founder of the queer yeshiva SVARA, Rabbi Benay Lappe, called the growth of LGBTQ+ rabbinical students a change “upgrading the tradition,” according to The Times. The rabbi compared “the upheaval, resilience, and creativity” of people claiming they are queer to the “toolkit that catalyzed rabbinic Judaism itself.”
“When people who’ve had to reimagine their own lives step into spiritual leadership, they bring clarity and empathy that enrich the whole community,” Lappe added. “The question is not ‘Why so many queer people?’ but rather, ‘Why is this extraordinarily good news for the future of Judaism?’”