Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., January 09, 2010 Tevet 23, 5770 | | Israel Time: 19:58 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books Haaretz Store
Share |
Last update - 13:39 26/06/2009
Meet Aaron Katz, Poland's first openly gay rabbi
By The Associated Press
Tags: Jewish World, Poland 
 

When Rabbi Aaron Katz walks the streets of Warsaw's former Jewish quarter, scenes of that lost world fill his imagination: Families headed to synagogue, women in their kitchens cooking Sabbath meals, his father as a boy with the sidecurls of an Orthodox Jew.

But Katz's life could hardly be more different from that prewar eastern European culture, at least in one key respect: He is Poland's first openly gay rabbi.

Born in Argentina 53 years ago to parents who fled Poland before the Holocaust, Katz is the latest rabbi to play his part in reviving a once vibrant Jewish community that was all but wiped out by Hitler.
Advertisement
He settled into Warsaw's historic Jewish district in March with Kevin Gleason, a former Hollywood producer on such reality TV shows as "The Bachelor" and "Nanny 911," with whom he entered into a registered domestic partnership in Los Angeles two years ago.

They live only three streets from the birth home of Katz's father in a modern and spacious apartment with their dogs, two gentle brown boxers. Katz says he is moved by the links to his past, but keeps his focus on the future.

"I don't think we will come back to this great Jewish life," he said, referring to prewar Poland, a country where one person in 10 was Jewish and where synagogues, yeshivas and shtetls defined the landscape. "But I hope we will have a normal Jewish life in Poland."

Katz is certainly an anomaly in conservative Poland, where to be either Jewish or gay is challenge enough ? at least outside the cities. Of a population of 38 million, about 5,000 are registered as Jews, while thousands more have part-Jewish ancestry, and some have returned to their roots since Poland shed its communist dictatorship.

Katz is the second rabbi to serve Beit Warszawa, a Reform community with 250 members that was founded in the capital 10 years ago by Polish and American Jews who felt little affinity with some Orthodox practices, such as separating men and women during Sabbath services. The Reform movement ordains gay rabbis.

Homosexuals have won acceptance at differing levels throughout post-communist Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic and Slovenia recognize same-sex partnerships, as will Hungary from July 1. Poland hasn't gone that far. It has an active gay rights movement and gay nightclubs in the cities, but the Catholic church and some conservative politicians still publicly describe homosexuality as abnormal and immoral.

Katz, a citizen of Argentina, Israel and Sweden, says so far he has not faced anti-Semitism or homophobia in Poland. But some community members, speaking in private, reveal a degree of discomfort.

One woman at a Sabbath service whispered that she found Katz's open sexuality too "aggressive." A longtime male member counseled against writing about the rabbi, lest anti-Semites use it against the community.

A third member, Piotr Lukasz, said he himself supports gay rights, and marched with an Israeli flag during a recent gay rights parade in Warsaw. But he said he had heard others complain that it would weaken an already small and fragile community.

"They say that Poland is not a ready for a gay rabbi because the outside society is very conservative," said Lukasz, a 23-year-old student of cultural anthropology. "An openly gay rabbi is something very controversial."

Others, though, seem comfortable, as evidenced by a recent string of dinners where Jews and non-Jews joined Katz and his partner at their home, digging into goulash or chicken-and-potato meals around the dining room table and socializing through the evening.

Katz is the chief cook ? it's because he likes to be in charge, says Gleason, who instead welcomes guests warmly at the door and keeps their wine glasses filled through the evenings.

"I think the rabbi's home should be open," Katz said. "The moment that you take a position, your family takes the position too. It's a role."

Katz's life as a rabbi has been an evolution from one world to another. In the 1980s and early 1990s he was Sweden's chief Orthodox rabbi, married to a woman with whom he had five children now aged 16 to 31. Later he lived and worked in Berlin and Los Angeles. He had a dark beard, but today is clean-shaven.

The only photograph in their living room shows Katz and Gleason on the day they sealed their partnership ? which they refer to as a marriage ? surrounded by both their families, including Katz's sons and daughters, who are close to the couple and who showed their acceptance of the union with a gift of a ketubah, a traditional Jewish wedding certificate.

Katz's journey away from Orthodox Judaism was part of his "coming out process," he explains, but also was influenced by the realization that some of his children were not attracted to Orthodox worship. He concluded that Reform Judaism was more attractive to the young.

Still, he insists that as modern as he is, he loves tradition.

He keeps a kosher home and has enthusiastically embraced the Jewish tradition of matchmaker, using his dinners to introduce singles ? usually heterosexuals but not exclusively.

Asked how many marriages have resulted, he said "a couple," but Gleason jumped in to correct him: "You're being modest," he said.

Gleason, 50, was born into a Catholic family but converted to Judaism for Katz. He left Hollywood and now does administrative and fundraising work for the synagogue. He attends services, sitting in the back and tapping on his watch when he feels the rabbi's lively sermons are getting to long.

Still, the openness of their relationship can catch people in Warsaw off guard.

"I introduce him as my partner they say, 'Oh he's also a rabbi?"' Katz said. "When I say 'my partner' they think I mean like in business. So I say 'no, no, no, we are living together."
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Emanuel's threat
Rahm Emanuel reportedly told Israeli official U.S. fed up with Israel, Palestinians
Portman's dilemma
Natalie Portman tries to stay away from Jewish roles and scripts about the Holocaust
  1.   Cool !!!!! 17:54  |  Tomasz 26/06/09
  2.   Is he also black? 21:49  |  Schmidlap 26/06/09
  3.   Kobi former Swede 01:25  |  TA 27/06/09
  4.   katz 06:17  |  matt 27/06/09
  5.   He has a lot of courage. 20:03  |  Liliane 27/06/09
  6.   Why not? 22:49  |  David 27/06/09
  7.   Just for the record 13:37  |  Daniel 28/06/09
  8.   To Matt #4 20:56  |  Schmedley 28/06/09
  9.   Aaron Katz, Poland`s first openly gay rabbi 23:07  |  Yisroel Feldman 28/06/09
  10.   What a mixed up bloke! 00:06  |  mashgiach tamidi 29/06/09
  11.   Gay Rabbi ! 01:10  |  Nina 29/06/09
  12.   to Schmedley and Kobi 11:43  |  Harry 29/06/09
  13.   TOTAL CONTRADICTION 11:52  |  Reuven 29/06/09
  14.   Katz the Disaster 12:30  |  Swedish Jew 29/06/09
  15.   flies to crap? 19:00  |  tooclose2detroit 29/06/09
  16.   To Harry #12 22:57  |  Schmedley 30/06/09
  17.   good for him 01:42  |  ruth 01/07/09
  18.   Don`t Ever Lend Him Money 01:46  |  L.A. 01/07/09
  19.   hey nona and all the rest 01:51  |  ruth 01/07/09
  20.   Aaron Katz,Polands first openly gay rabbi 06:17  |  pedro lopez 02/07/09
  21.   To Ruths (London / Tel Aviv) 14:42  |  ricardo levy 05/07/09
  22.   Polands Gay Reform Rabbi 18:13  |  Marvin I. Wolfe 05/07/09
  23.   Why be threatened by pluralism? 03:00  |  Michael 12/07/09
  24.   To Ruth 05:40  |  Kohen 13/07/09
  25.   Rabbi or con-artist? 02:15  |  Regina 29/07/09
  26.   katz 02:22  |  Alex 29/07/09
  27.   Aaron Katz 02:25  |  MyDear 29/07/09
  28.   Swedish Jew 02:33  |  ex-friend 29/07/09
  29.   Aaron Katz 11:06  |  Moshe Josua 19/08/09
Special Offers
Advertisement
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
100% Pure Dead Sea Salt
Lowest price in the U.S.A. for genuine Dead Sea Salts
Award-Winning 'Obsession'
Watch 'Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West' Online FOR FREE!
Unrwa
Peace Starts Here
Your Aliyah starts here.
Nefesh B'Nefesh Aliyah Workshops and Personal Meetings in your area
Camp Kimama Israel - Summer 2010
An incredible experience with Jewish youth from all over the world
More Headlines
19:36 Report: Hezbollah funded by drug trade in Europe
19:18 Palestinians reject U.S. call for renewed Mideast peace talks
18:12 'Iran won't back down one iota despite pressure over nukes'
17:41 Report: Egypt bans Gaza-bound humanitarian aid convoys
16:54 Islamic Jihad: Israel wants to drag us into war
09:35 Israel basks in heatwave as Europe freezes
16:12 How have Portuguese Jews retained their genetic identity?
09:30 You decide: Who was your Person of the Decade?
00:18 TV ROUND-UP: PM limits Shalit deal; IDF hits Gaza after Qassam barrage
16:40 Ahmadinejad demands WWII reparations from Allied powers
16:38 Lebanon asks U.S. to reverse ban on Hezbollah TV channel
14:27 Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas must wait until Israel is ready
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved