Jewish group opposing marriage amendment

The group Jewish Community Action says the proposed state amendment to define marriage as between a man and woman conflicts with Jewish tradition.

• MPR News Primer: Marriage amendment

They invited hundreds of people to an event in Minnetonka on Sunday in an effort to build support for a campaign against the amendment using ancient Jewish texts from the Torah.

"We believe that all people are made in the image of God and that we need to respect everyone's orientation," says event organizer Adele Brown. "We want to stress that, educate our Jewish community about the values that are in our Torah, and also the tools we can use to make sure this amendment is defeated."

Brown says the event has 18 co-sponsors including some of the area's most of the conservative and reformed Jewish congregations, and local rabbis will speak about the amendment from a Jewish context.

Rabbi Chaim Goldberger, of the Kenesseth Israel Congregation in St Louis Park, won't be among them. He says the Torah's message is clear and shouldn't be distorted.

"Marriage is a sacred ideal that exists between a man and a woman," he says. "It's a relationship out of which a deeper relationship with God can emerge. And there's no way to duplicate that outside of that formula."