jeudi 25 septembre 2014

Can Jews Be Gay Or Not

By Karina Frost


If one would ask a Jew what his view on homosexuality is, he would most likely say that God is against it because it is something that it not natural and is not something that was made during creation. However, more and more people are accepting the fact that gays are actually born and usually not made. So if this is the scenario, can jews be gay or not.

Now the main teaching of Judaism when it comes to this aspect is that Jews are not against gays at all. What they do not allow would be the sexual acts that gays would commit with each other. So basically, what they are trying to say is that Jews are actually allowed to be homosexuals but they are just banned from committing any of the sexual acts that heterosexuals would do with each other.

Now to see as to where this kind of teaching came from, one would first have to look at the Bible as a source. Now the main source as to where the scholars got this teaching would of course be from Leviticus eighteen verses twenty two. This verse states that a man cannot lie with another man like he would with a woman otherwise it is abhorrent thing.

Now the thing about this law is that there has been no written reason as to why this law was created. Many Jewish teachers would argue that it is unnatural since the Bible only mentioned there to be a man and a woman in the beginning. It is because of this that homosexuality is a perversion created by humans.

Of course since this claim had no basis, people were not convinced of its validity at all. Now Bar Kaparrah tried to make a conclusion about this issue in Talmud by stating another teaching in the Torah. He claims that the Torah emphasizes the importance of marriage and procreation with homosexuality posing as a threat to it.

So if the Torah states that a man cannot be together with another man, then one would also probably ask where this leaves lesbians. One would also probably ask whether lesbianism is allowed in this religion. Well lesbianism may not be as frowned upon, but it is still not allowed.

Now Judaism does not condone to homosexuality as a whole so this includes both gays and lesbians. Of course for the lesbian couples, they would also use the Talmud interpretation wherein procreation is a must. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, they are not as strict.

So the answer to the question based on the interpretations of this issue is that yes one can be a gay Jew. Since the Rabbis do realize that most gays are born that way, they do not condemn the people. They do however, condemn the act of homosexuality because it goes against the laws of their belief. So if one is gay or lesbian and is a Jew, he or she will not be condemned by the group but he or she must also not do any homosexual acts otherwise he or she will have committed a grave sin.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire