A trans bride in Israel was just married by an Orthodox rabbi

The bride was a transgender woman, the groom a bisexual man, the rabbi a pioneering iconoclast.

What made it special – unprecedented, in fact – was that the ceremony was officiated by an Orthodox rabbi and adhered to the strictest religious standards.

To be sure, this wedding will probably never be recognized by the rigidly Orthodox Chief Rabbinate, which means the couple will probably never be registered as married in Israel. But the fact it took place at all suggests that attitudes in Orthodoxy toward transgender people are shifting, if very slowly.

The officiating rabbi was Zev Farber, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem who received his ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (an institution affiliated with the Open Orthodox movement). That alone would probably disqualify him in the eyes of many Orthodox rabbis.

But even for an iconoclast like Farber, this was quite a bold move.

Farber, an immigrant from the United States, is clearly the exception in his Orthodox milieu rather than the rule. He was not the first rabbi the couple approached. But all the others refused.

READ MORE
Changing Attitudes? A Trans Bride in Israel Just Got Married by an Orthodox Rabbi (Haaretz)

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Photo: Pride parade in the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva earlier this year  (Eliyahu Hershkovitz/Haaretz)