December 6, 2006 -- Rabbis in the Conservative Jewish movement are meeting today to vote on endorsing or condemning same-sex unions and gay rabbis.

As with many things Jewish, they are expected to do both.

"Taking two alternate and conflicting positions is not unusual in our movement," noted Rabbi Gerald Zelizer, former president of the Rabbinical Assembly, which represents Conservative Judaism's 1,600 rabbis.

One position would continue the movement's historic ban on homosexual behavior; another would open the doors to gays, said Zelizer, rabbi of Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J.

Passing both would leave it up to individual rabbis and their congregations to decide whether to permit same-sex ceremonies and would let individual rabbinical and cantorial schools choose whether or not to admit openly gay students.

The Rabbinical Assembly's 25-member Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has five position papers under discussion - and it takes six yes votes for any one of them to win the endorsement. Two papers call for continuing the prohibition on homosexual behavior; three offer different approaches to lifting the ban.

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