Orthodoxy and Homosexuality

Orthodoxy and Homosexuality

In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com – Thursday, March 1, 2012

What were the traditional Jewish religious tradition and the Torah on Homosexuality?

The following abridged article is by Avid Shoran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America. It was published in “Forward” on February 24, 2012.

“The chief rabbi of Amsterdam, Aryeh Ralbag, was suspended in January for signing a document that homosexuality is “treatable” and that one can be “healed” from it. Though he was eventually reinstated after apologizing to the community, the episode does provide an opportunity to consider exactly what the traditional Orthodox view on homosexuality is and whether Ralbag was really saying anything all that scandalous.

“Whether homosexuality is fixed or changeable remains an open question. There are well-informed people on either side of the issue, but as of yet no incontrovertible proof of “GAY GENE.” Whether the Jewish religious tradition is fixed or changeable, however, is not arguable – at least not for Torah-loyal Jews.

“The Torah explicitly prohibits homosexual contact (whether by the homosexually inclined or by anyone else). There have been Herculean efforts in recent years, even by some nominally “Orthodox” Jews, to cast the Torah’s explicit prohibitions of male homosexual activity as meaning something other than what Jewish tradition has understood it to mean several thousand years…

“The Torah does not command hatred of homosexuals or label people who engage in homosexual activity as inherently evil. People who transgress the Torah do not forfeit their humanity or, if Jewish, their membership in the Jewish people, … But there can be no denying that the Torah in no uncertain terms forbids homosexual acts and, with equal clarity, sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony…

“The document signed by Ralbag – along with scores of other rabbis and health professionals – counsels “love and compassion” toward those with homosexual inclinations, but also states clearly that the Torah forbids homosexual inclinations, but also states clearly that the Torah forbids homosexual activity. Moreover, it asserts, that homosexual inclinations can be “modified and healed,” which was apparently what brought the lay board of the Amsterdam Jewish community to initially suspend Ralbag…

“Procreation in its traditional form, moreover, is not only a mitzvah, a commandment, but also a Jewish high ideal. Understandably, a Torah-observant Jew challenged by same-sex attraction, even if he is successfully overcoming the urge to give vent to his desires, feels torn between what his emotional landscape is telling him and what his Torah is… And so it is only logical that he seek ways of alleviating that tension…

“Unfortunately, though, instead of receiving support and encouragement from the broader Jewish community, such Jews all too often face a barrage of cultural critics and media that is badgering them to give up on their goal of working to mitigate their homosexual orientation. Those critics and media begin with the premise that there is no reason for anyone to seek to change a sexual orientation. But the premise of someone dedicated to Torah is that God’s will matters most and has been committed to mankind...”

George H. Kubeck-