Sydney rabbis back same-sex marriage

Jewish leaders from the Emanuel Synagogue in eastern Sydney have shown their support for same-sex marriage.

Rabbis from an eastern Sydney synagogue.

Jewish leaders from Sydney show their support for same-sex marriage. (AAP)

Sydney rabbis have thrown their support behind gay marriage, on the day before postal survey forms are mailed out across the country.

Senior rabbi at Emanuel Synagogue Jeffrey Kamins said the perception that all religious leaders were against same-sex marriage was wrong.

"There is this sense that religious leaders are against this and that religious documents don't support this," he said on Monday.

"I think it's important that many religious leaders read our documents in ways that aren't black and white.

"Each and every human being has been created in the image of God, no matter their sexual orientation."

Rabbi Kamins said the synagogue in Woollahra had performed many same-sex unions.

He was one of more than 500 religious leaders who put their names to a marriage equality letter sent to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in August.

Rabbi Kamins once opposed same-sex marriage but said he changed his mind because there was "no logic" behind the reasons.
"All of the things that I came up with to say 'it should not be' were just prejudices ... or things that were part of a psyche formed by society."

He was joined at the eastern Sydney synagogue on Monday by rabbis Nicole Roberts, Rafi Kaiserblueth, Jacqueline Ninio and Sam Zwarenstein.

Rabbis Roberts, who grew up in conservative Nashville, Tennessee before moving to Australia, intends to vote yes in the survey.

"Many of my gay friends struggled with fears of being cut off or being disowned by their family," she said.

"I hope they (LGBQTI people) feel as at home in our community as much as everybody else."



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