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LEVITICUS 16:00 -18:30
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC
"May He Proclaim Freedom for ALL His Sons and Daughters, and Keep You as the Apple of His Eye...De-ror yik-ra le-vein im bat, ve-yin-tsore-chem ke-mo va-vat."
Our parasha this week includes verse 18:22 from Leviticus, which has put
liberal Judaism in the news and even on the front page of the New
York Times. "You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman." This
law is repeated in 20:13 with the addition of teaching us the penalty for
transgression, which is death. As we read in this web site's recent
d'var Torah, expounding on verses in a manner that ignores their
historical context, can have consequences that affect us still today.
While I abhor the idea of giving publicity to hate groups, I sadly refer
you to the Westboro Baptist Gospel Church of Texas web site of
<<http://www.GodHatesFags.com>>.
Their "logical" syllogism takes the above Lev.18:22 verse and classifies
all homosexuals as an abomination. By quoting Psalm 5:05, "Thou hatest
all workers of iniquity," they believe that if God hates the homosexual,
so should we. They further quote Isaiah 66:24, which they translate as
saying that those who have transgressed against God will not have "their
fires quenched" and that this means that homosexuals will reside in hell
for all eternity. By referring to the death penalty of Lev. 20:13, they
justify the killing in Texas of innocent victim of a horrid hate crime, Matthew Shepard, who was gay. Their Westboro Baptist
Church actually proudly picketed his funeral. But if there is anything
of value about this deplorable web site, it is that they do list the liberal Jewish Temples on their list of "Fag Churches." These are places of worship
where homosexuals are welcome not only as congregants but as rabbis and
cantors and as place where they can stand before the Torah on the bimah
and have a commitment ceremony.
The Anti-Defamation League reports that violent crimes against gays and
lesbians are continuing to rise. The FBI says they are the third highest
targeted group for hate crimes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services says that gay and lesbian youth are at a four times higher risk
for suicide than their straight peers. According to the National Network
of Runaway Youth Services, 40 percent of the homeless teens on our streets are
homosexual.
The rabbis of Reform Judaism in a overwhelming vote,
approved a resolution to back any rabbi's decision to preside over a gay
union through "appropriate Jewish ritual." A compromise was reached to
recognize the diversity of opinion within that movement and to support
those who choose not to officiate at such ceremonies. Rabbi Paul Menitof
vice president of the CCAR, stated, "These are people who are subjected
to signals, subtle and not so subtle, that they are abnormal, sinful, less than
whole. Can you imagine the impact on them to finally hear a confirming
message after so many negative messages from all these religious groups?"
Please note that the URJ does not call these commitment ceremonies
marriages nor does it give them the status of kiddushin
(sanctification). But there is an ecclesiastic imprimatur that makes it
clear that their fellow congregants and God attach a holiness to their
union.
In 1990 the UAHC agreed to ordain openly gay rabbis. This vote comes
ten years later. Two weeks earlier on March 16, 2000, Vermont's House of
Representatives voted to recognize same sex unions, and Hawaii and Rhode
Island moved in this direction as well. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the
Netherlands, and France have created a special status called "registered
partnerships." Other state, most recently California have followed suit. It is interesting to note that for thirty-seven years the
rabbis of the Secular Humanist Jewish movement have performed same-sex commitment
ceremonies for both Jewish and intermarried couples alike.
There are some aspects of Jewish tradition that oppose homosexuality.
These need to be understood in the historical context of the need to have
children and the need to keep us from the bad habits of our neighbors.
Homosexuality was looked upon as a deviant behavior under one's control.
The authors of our laws were not aware of any biological or scientific
basis for homosexual behavior. They looked at it as something in one's
control, and hence an abomination of what was "normal." But just as the
ancient church had pro-gay writers such as St. Aelrod, Ausonius, and St.
Anselm, so did we.
Norman Roth, in his essay "Deal Gently with the Young Man," describes the
flourishing of homoerotic Jewish literature in Spain in the Middle Ages.
This essay, and his " 'Fawn of my delights'-Boy-Love in Hebrew verse"
quote many poems of this nature. Yishaq ben Mar-Saul of Lucena in the
eleventh century writes about his gay lover. "He has inflamed my
passions,
and consumed my heart with fire, like Joseph in his form, like Adoniah
his hair, lovely eyes like David, he has slain me like Uriah!" The Jewish
poet Isaac ibn Abraham twelfth-century Spain writes of his pain of
living in a "closet": "The secret of love, how can it be contained, the
heart and the tear are talebearers."
The Rambam (Maimonides), who was close to being a contemporary of both
above-mentioned poets, accepts Jewish homosexuals as not being violators
deserving of being on his list of apostates. He based this on Talmud Bavli Tractate Chullin 4a
and 5a, which clearly teaches that one who repeatedly violates a
particular commandment out of inner compulsion rather than to flout the
tradition is to be considered a functioning equal member of the
community. Ironically this same tractate, Chullin, also gives credit to
the pagans who practice homosexuality among themselves for not actually
marrying each other with a ketubah.
The rabbis declared in Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 82a that two Jewish bachelors
are permitted to sleep in the same bed because Jewish men are not
suspected of being homosexual. We saw in a recent d'var on this web site
that the same men were allowed to herd sheep because Jewish men are not
suspected of bestiality. Rabbi Harold Shulweis posits that the rabbis
clearly believed that gay behavior was a controlled willful act and
could be avoided if one wished to do so. But they were aware of other
inborn behaviors. According to Jewish law, activities that are
uncontrollable, even if they are prohibited, are patur aval asur, free of
culpability. Talmud Bavli Tractate Nadarim 33a teaches that God "frees one from
punishment who is coerced." Homosexuality is not a disease, not a
compulsion, and not a biological mistake, but the way, as some
researchers report, 10 percent of the population is "wired."
The Talmudic Bavli Tractate Bava Batra 43a teaches that if we are to judge, we
are "to judge according to that which you see with your own eyes." If we
are to see gay men and lesbian women as deviants, sinners, in control of
their abominable behaviors, then we will continue to judge them in this
manner. But if we open our eyes to the scientific evidence and an
understanding of the history of the times when our laws were written, we
will see them as caring, loving folk who wish to stand on our bimah and
declare their love for each other before God, and we will therefore no
longer judge them.
If the rabbis of the Talmud knew that homosexuality was not a learned,
controlled behavior, I believe they would have reformed the Torah in the
same manner they reformed the laws requiring us to kill a rebellious son
(Deut. 21:18), torture the wife of a jealous man (Num. 5:12), and destroy
a city in which Jews worshipped idols (Deut.13:13). The Talmudic rabbis
called these laws theoretical and having no application to life: "Lo
hayah v'lo atid lihyot ." If they knew that gays' sexual orientation was
not an act of their willing, the laws against homosexual behavior might
well have been set aside as well.
The rabbis also abolished another law. In Talmud Bavli Tractate Yebamoth 64a,
the law is given that after ten years of marriage, if the wife has not
given birth, it was grounds for divorce, as the purpose of marriage was
to have Jewish children. The rabbis nullified this. There is also a law
forbidding a man incapable of having children from marrying a Jewish
woman who is capable. But do we see any rabbi refusing to wed a healthy
woman to a man who had (God forbid) prostate, penile, or testicular
cancer, or who is paraplegic? We say that they can adopt and raise
Jewish children. And so can gay or lesbian partners, who can also
deliver biological children. Please also note that in Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin
54b, where the rabbis discuss this Sabbath's parasha verse, there is no
law against lesbianism.
Consider how much Judaism has reformed itself from the days of the
Torah to the days of our prophets. While I am not comparing gay men to
eunuchs, Deut. 23:2 says that a eunuch cannot enter into the
assembly of God. But Isaiah says in chapter 56, "As for the eunuchs who
keep My Sabbaths, who have chosen what I desire and hold fast My
covenant, I will give them in My house and My walls, a monument and a
name. Better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting
name which shall not perish." Isaiah, and hopefully we, would rather have
gay and lesbian couples among us who do good mitzvoth than heterosexual
couples among us who are mean-spirited.
None of us is pure. Few of us follow every halacha to the letter of the
law. Sabbath breakers, according to the Torah were to be stoned--as well
as homosexuals. Yet we do not vilify Sabbath violators today, keep them
from marriage, or call for their execution. The Rambam understood that
none of us is perfect. He reminded everyone of this by signing his
letters "Moshe Ben Maimon who transgresses three negative commandments in
the Torah every day." (He was referring to the prohibitions of a Jew
returning to and living in Egypt. The rabbis overlooked that Torah law
because of the mental anguish a forced move on the Jews living in Egypt
would cause.)
The canard "by allowing gay or lesbian couples on our
bimah, under a kuppah wedding canopy will 'cause' other people to become
gay" is just ludicrous. It is just as silly as saying that mentally
healthy gay men or mentally healthy lesbian women "recruit" children
while mental healthy heterosexuals do not. The URJ did not condone child
molestation. Thinking of homosexuals as perverts leads to horrible
consequences. When liberal movements openly allowed rabbis to welcome homosexuals
to their temples and to partake of every aspect of Jewish life, it was an
indication of another ideal of liberal Judaism.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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