BY SHARON GITTLEMAN
WEST BLOOMFIELD – In some people's minds "religious" and "narrow-minded" have come to mean the same thing.
They haven't met P.J. Cherrin.
Cherrin, who is both an Orthodox Jew and gay, said in Judaism asking 'why' and 'why not' is encouraged.
"The tradition of questioning and doubt is the way we grow spiritually and intellectually in Judaism," said Cherrin, 32, a West Bloomfield resident. "Exposing vulnerability is the vehicle to spiritual progress. Dogma shuts down possibility. That is not the Jewish understanding of reaching spiritual heights."
The rabbinic tradition calls for doubt and debate and teasing out issues before you make a choice, he said.
"It's not aligning with a set of fundamentalist outcomes that matters. It's the process of connecting to holiness," he said. "Judaism is about character development, understanding limitation and managing risk."
That tradition is memorialized in the Talmud – a record of rabbinical debates about everything from marriage to agriculture.
The Talmud plus the Torah – the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures and the biblical prophets and writings are at the heart of Jewish tradition.
Cherrin, the publisher of Memoir Press and a community relations associate for the Jewish Community Council, helped found the Jewish Gay Network of Michigan in November 2004.
The Jewish Gay Network offers programs of interest to LGBT people, hosts Sabbath dinner experiences, provides study opportunities and acts as a resource for groups trying to integrate and support their gay and lesbian members.
"I want to help people who are struggling or who are wondering if they can be religious and gay," said Cherrin.
Cherrin wasn't raised in an Orthodox Jewish home.
"When I was 19, I went to Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where I first discovered observant Judaism," he said.
Where did the idea arise that traditional spirituality isn't an option for members of the LGBT community?
Some pluck out a verse from Leviticus 18, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind," to condemn gay people.
While most Orthodox rabbis interpret this passage of the Bible to prohibit male penetrative intercourse, everyone doesn't share this viewpoint, said Cherrin.
"One of the first things we did in the Jewish Gay Network was to bring Rabbi Steven Greenberg to Detroit. He's an openly gay Orthodox rabbi that wrote a book called, 'Wrestling with God and Men,'" Cherrin said. "He's reading it in a broader way that no sex act should ever be done in violence."
Cherrin worships and is welcome at a synagogue, where members of the Chabad Lubavitch sect gather to pray.
"I'm 100 percent openly gay," he said.
It's important to be true to your faith and your sexual orientation.
"If you live in estrangement from yourself or a community you're incomplete," he said. "Every person deserves to live in wholeness."
While secularism and other religions are legitimate pathways to connecting to the mysteries of the universe, the Jewish model resonates most strongly with him, said Cherrin.
"It was only natural to explore within the tradition of my people," he said.
In Judaism, everyday matters, like keeping kosher, create a pattern with joy embedded within, he said.
"How do you describe the sublime?" he asked.
Gays and lesbians are part of that 3,000 year old Jewish tradition, said Cherrin.
"We have a stake in the future of the Jewish people," he said. "The Torah is for all of us. It's for all of us to grasp."
