CLAL - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• RABBI
• Director of CLAL 's Diversity Project

In January 2007, Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Director of CLAL's Diversity Project, went to the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "For the Bible Tells Me So," a new film which explores the challenges Christian families with gay children face in their relationship to the Church and their faith. The film attempts to confront the religious right's efforts to portray gays as being a disgrace against God and nature, and to help people of faith to find new ways of looking at Christian theology. Rabbi Greenberg, who is gay and Orthodox, also appeared in the film with leading historians and religious figures, including Bishop Gene Robinson and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. While at Sundance, Rabbi Greenberg joined a panel discussion on the use of media to address the conflicts between faith, scripture, and homosexuality. The members of the panel included actress Judith Light in a new film, "Save Me," about a Christian women who, in response to her gay son's death, begins an ex-gay (rehab) mission for young men. Light, a Jewish woman, said that she would not have taken the role had she not really liked the character, who despite her misguided mission is a person of deep faith, humility and integrity. The panel agreed that it was time to reject the mutual demonization of those on either side of the cultural debate, to listen to each other better and to find ways to recognize complexity while standing in and for our values.