After 32 years as a progressive voice for LGBTQ Jews, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum heads into retirement

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For more than three decades, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has led the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ synagogue through the myriad ups and downs of the modern gay rights movement. Through the AIDS crisis, the murder of Matthew Shepard, the historic civil-rights advances that included marriage equality, and most recently the backlash against transgender rights. She is now stepping down from that role and heading into retirement. And the New York City synagogue that she led for 32 years — Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in midtown Manhattan — will have to grapple with its identity after being defined by its celebrity rabbi for so long.