Rabbi Steven Greenberg Talks About Being Orthodox and Gay

Daddies? Girl: Steven Greenberg and husband Steven Goldstein are raising their daugher, Amalia. Image by haaretz

Amalia, two and a half years old, has an abundance of self-confidence and a winning smile. Her parents, Orthodox rabbi Steven Greenberg, 57, and actor and opera singer Steven Goldstein, wed last year in a civil ceremony in New York, while holding the toddler in their arms.

A few weeks ago, Greenberg and his family were staying with friends on Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem. Upon seeing Amalia with her parents, I wondered aloud who the biological father was. She looks just like him ‏(he eventually confirmed with a nod that he’s the biological father‏). She calls him “Abba” and Goldstein, “Daddy.” Both men speak Hebrew.

How do you share the childcare and who gets up with her at night?

Greenberg: “We both get up. The division of labor changes from day to day. But the one who always knows where the clothes she likes are, and the toys and all of her stuff, and never forgets where her barrettes are and is also great at taking care of her hair − is my husband. He’s more obsessive than I am about those details.”

By more obsessive do you mean more feminine?

“No, I didn’t say that,” Greenberg hastens to reply. His partner, who was busy making a cheese sandwich for their little girl, interjected. “Yes, a little more feminine: Why don’t you want to admit it?”

For more go to Haaretz

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